#how do i publish? ive heard self publishing is great and all but i really want people to read my book and for it to get spread

[garoumylove]

hi! would you tell about your drawing and writing journeys? how you started, what inspires you, if there were any obstacles etc - everything that you'd like to share! ive seen some of your old arts and can say that you've made a great progress, also some color scemes that you choose for your arts, like red/pink/white are very beautiful ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ

Ah thank you so much for such a kind ask!! (I'm writing this on my PC so I can't use emojis but just imagine a lot of hearts inserted here!! ^.^)

I'll try to keep this as brief as I can as I don't want to go through my life story and sound self important!

But basically I've been writing since I was pretty young, like middle school. I was lucky to have some amazing English teachers who always encouraged me and praised me! I wrote for English class and just for myself since I was like 12. At first they were just fantasy stories and then as I got into high school it became romance stories and fanfiction (that I never published). I have hundreds of pages worth of writing from my high school years omg! I'd stay up late instead of sleeping writing this stuff haha!

I also wrote some crack LOTR fanfic with a friend in high school and we published it but it got taken down eventually and has been lost to time.

I stopped writing for a while because I got older and life got in the way. Then in 2017 I got very sick with some mysterious neurological thing (and i'm sick again now unfortunately) and to cope I got into anime and manga because it was the only thing that held my attention enough to distract me from a pretty horrible health crisis.

I watched OPM as one of my first animes and then read the manga. I ended up just falling in love with Garou's character. As someone who was bullied by other kids and adults in my life pretty constantly I saw A LOT of myself in him and understood his anger and secret insecurity. I felt so much for him that it pushed me to start writing little romantic drabbles again in my diary. Eventually, someone showed me AO3 and I saw people writing xReader fanfiction which I had not heard of before but I was instantly hooked and decided to try write a silly little smut just for fun, just to try it out. I posted it on AO3 in 2019 and got an overnight very positive response and a couple of people asking me to write more. I was very pleasantly surprised, so I did! And then after a couple of fun smutty xReaders I started to write things that were more emotional, a bit deeper and I became very passionate about it.

We get so little of Garou's life and thoughts and feelings about things outside of his hero hatred and his bullying and insecurity that I wanted to fill in those blanks. I wanted to explore the depths of his mind and character beyond the desire to be a monster. Because of course he is very human and very insecure inside just like many of us. I also wanted to explore that romantic/sexual side of him and his thoughts and feelings about that since that's also a basic and huge human need for most people. So that's where my writing inspiration comes from! I feel very lucky and honoured that so many people have read my fanfics and enjoy this characterisation of Garou I have created.

As for the drawing, well I really loved drawing as a kid but I wasn't very good and it's not something I took too seriously even though I loved doing it. It wasn't until I got into One Punch Man and Garou that I became really passionate about learning how to draw. I wanted to dive into the OPM universe and create, create, create. I wanted to make Garou and other characters come to life through my art (and writing).

The ship I draw (Garou and Eiko) is based on my xReader fanfic "Love/Hate". I just fell in love with my own story so much that I wanted to draw it as well as write! So the two things have come together nicely in that way :)

For my colour schemes...I just really love warm colours, that's all I can say really haha! No matter what I draw I always end up gravitating towards the warm reds. It's like a habit/addiction I guess lol!

My ideas for drawings are a mix of completely my own original ideas and using memes or photos etc as reference when I'm feeling the art block. But I do love drawing Garou, light of my life, my love. I've probably done it over 500 times now =^.^=

I hope I managed to answer your questions! Please let me know if there's anything else and thank you again for your kind words!

#garou addict #garou #opm #one punch man #ask box #ask me anything #ask response #my art #my fanfiction

[literature-cult]

ok but if i genuinely wrote a poetry collection...would ya'll read it ?so

#ive been thinking #and i really wanna do it #help me out pls #assuming i get it done and all #how do i publish? ive heard self publishing is great and all but i really want people to read my book and for it to get spread #self publishing #amwriting #poetry #poetry collection #also keeping in mind that im like 14 rn

[quillandink333]

Scarlet Carnations ~ Part V

BotW Link X Zelda ~ Detective AU

Rating: T

Word Count: 1.9k

WARNINGS: death, murder, loss, trauma, blood and gore, terrorism, organized crime, self-harm

Summary: Inspector Zelda Hyrule, assisted by the faithful Constable Link Fyori, is infamous for cracking the most confounding of cases in a town dominated by crime. Her latest assignment is to solve the murder of her own godmother, Impa Sheikah, the late CEO of Sheikah Tech. Incorporated, while staying under the radar of the dreaded Yiga organization.

Part I • Part II • Part III • Part IV • Part V • Part VI • Part VII • Epilogue • Masterlist

“‘Justice is Dead’: Inspector Hyrule Loses her Badge for Lying in Sheikah Murder Trial”

This headline, alongside a photograph capturing the catastrophe that had been Link’s trial, was what had made the front page of the Times not long after it had all transpired. And it wasn’t the only one of its kind. Far from it. It seemed every publishing firm in town had released an article covering my epic blunder in court.

My name wasn’t unfamiliar to the masses either. As the daughter of the last pre-Yiga mayor to stand in office, anyone who read the paper regularly knew who I was. Until now, I’d been known all across town as the prodigy detective dedicated to keeping the streets free of crime, but now, all those people would look upon my face and see nothing but a filthy, lowlife perjurer.

I could live with my name being ground into the dirt by the media. What made me truly bitter beyond words was that the few individuals whom I’d once trusted and looked up to would now think the same of me.

I’d tried reaching out to Prosecutor Sigatur countless times in the hopes that she could in some way continue the investigation in my stead, but every time I called, she would never pick up. She probably saw this case as closed now anyway. I had managed to get a hold of Auntie Purah, but all she’d been willing to say to me was that she needed time to think before hanging up. As for Paya, I couldn’t even bring myself to try to contact her.

It wasn’t something I took pride in. Clearly the best thing for me to do would be to apologize to them all for my actions, most of all to Paya after all the needless grief I’d caused her. But I simply couldn’t do it. Just the idea of it felt wrong. No words that I could possibly say to them would be of any use in bettering the circumstances. I couldn’t bring Auntie Impa back. I couldn’t undo what I’d done. I couldn’t do anything. There wasn’t a single thing I was good for other than making a mockery of myself and disappointing those who’d once dared to put their faith in me. Nothing at all.

And now, to put a cherry atop the sundae of darkness and misery that my life had come to, the one person who mattered most to me, the one I’d dedicated myself to protecting, was gone, forever. Just when we’d finally found each other again. There was still so much I’d wanted to ask him, and even more that I’d wanted to say, but...

What I wouldn’t have given just to be by his side at that moment. What we did didn’t matter. Even if he and I were simply in the same room together, I’d feel more at ease. But who was I to wish for such things? I was the one who had failed him. I should’ve just testified that I’d been the one behind everything. I should’ve been the one on death row right then. Not him.

I thought recalling a happier time would perhaps help to restore me to my rational self, before it was too late, but in the end, it only proved to pour more salt in the wound.

“Alright, I’ll see you around.” Both Paya’s and my own ears perked up at the familiar, jovial voice down the hallway. “Great time catching up with you!” No sooner than we’d heard those words did Link come striding out of one of the classrooms on the left.

“Uhh...!” I turned toward Paya, who was suddenly as red as a raspberry. “I j-just remembered I had something to ask one of my teachers about!”

Just then, Link’s eyes landed on the two of us. Paya gave him a wave and a sheepish smile, both worth no more than half a second.

“You two have fun!”

Then she started to turn on her heel.

My outstretched arm just barely missed the strap of her school bag. “No, wait!”

“Bye!”

I gave a disgruntled snarl as she made her hasty retreat. She was far enough now that if I tried calling out to her, I’d only be drawing attention to myself.

“Everything alright, Zelda?”

“Link!” The boy in question was right there, just a foot’s distance or so behind me. “Oh, yes. Quite. Paya’s just...”

“She seemed busy.”

“Yes, yes,” I grumbled. Busy putting me on the spot, more like. As always. “Who was that you were talking to just now?”

“Oh, you must mean Sidon!” he exclaimed. “He and I knew each other in elementary school. He just transferred here last week, or so I’m told. What a small world we live in!”

He spoke animatedly, gesturing with his whole body as he told me tales of the mischief he and his childhood friends used to get up to. Though he himself had only been enrolled here since the start of that year, it seemed he already knew everyone on campus. Even the members of faculty were fond of him.

“So I heard you got in touch with my father again the other day,” he said as we rounded the corner of the building’s exterior on the way to our usual lunch spot.

“Oh, yes, I did!” He took a seat next to me on the concrete bench in front of the greenhouse.

“How’d that go?” he asked, then tore a massive bite out of his sandwich.

I winced in a mixture of worry and amazement. “Well, he didn’t really have much to contribute to my case, but I appreciate his hearing me out all the same.”

“Ah’m thure you ‘o.” He swallowed his mouthful of food before continuing, to my relief. “But he doesn’t take time out of his busy schedule to talk to just anyone, you know.”

“Oh, certainly. If it weren’t for Urbosa, I’m sure he wouldn’t even give me the time of day.”

Then a teasing grin lit up his face. “Aren’t you forgetting about someone?”

“Oh! Of course. My apologies,” I bowed, swivelling in his direction. “You’ve been a great help as well, Link. Thank you.”

A faint crease formed between his brows. “Come on now, I was only joking.” He gave my shoulder a light shove, nearly making me drop my lunch tray. “You should try being less prim and proper all the time. No one’s counting on you for anything, are they?”

“No, I suppose not.” No one amongst the living, anyway. Besides, he already had me eating lunch outside the cafeteria. How much more improper did he expect me to be? “I think it’s just the way I’ve been brought up.”

He gave a slow nod. “That’s understandable.” No doubt he could imagine how strict the CEO of Sheikah Tech. could be with her daughters sometimes. “Still, if you want my advice, try lightening up now and then. Trust me, you’ll be loads happier that way.”

My heart swelled at his kind words. If it were anyone else, I probably would have dismissed them as just another naïve optimist. “You think so?”

He shook his head, correcting me with, “I know so.”

I’d bumped his knee with my own when I’d turned to face him a short while earlier. It was then that I finally took notice of our sustained bodily contact, which in turn made me notice how little distance there really was between where he and I were now sitting.

He must’ve realized this as well. While I was still in a flustered rut about what to do, he caught me off guard and scooted even closer, until our thighs were just a hair’s breadth away from touching. I, of course, was a gawking, red-faced mess at this point, but he didn’t seem to mind. He simply kept looking at me with that disarmingly sweet smile of his.

Never in my life had I met someone more determined to keep smiling in spite of all the world’s cruelties than he was. It wasn’t ignorance; his father was none other than the district’s chief detective. He was simply, genuinely, fearless.

“Hey, so...” His mannerism had shifted out of nowhere from confident to slightly less confident. “Will you be coming back here for the horticulture club meet this afternoon? I just remembered you mentioning that the other day, and if you are going, it’d give me a reason to go.”

A rush of giddiness took hold of me, causing my heart to thrum wildly within my ribcage. “Really?”

“Oh, wait. Did I just—” He laughed into his palm, then groaned. “Did I say, ‘a reason,’ just now?” I nodded, perplexed. “I meant, ‘more reason.’ That’s what I meant to say, obviously, because I was already thinking about going before you mentioned it.”

He seemed to be telling that more to himself than to me. I did my best to reciprocate his forced chuckle. “Alright.”

“Yep...”

The bell rang in the distance, signalling five minutes until the start of class.

“Oh, dear. I’d better be off.” In a rush, I stood up and gathered my things. “My next class is on the other side of campus. Bye for now, Link!”

“Wait, Zelda!” I halted. “So...are you going?”

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my lips. “That’s what I had planned for today, yes.”

“Oh, spiffing!” His crow’s feet appeared adorably at the corners of his eyes, making my own smile grow. “I’ll see you then!”

By the time the memory had reached the end of its reel, there was a knife situated in the trembling grasp of my hand. Though the cuts were already a great deal in number, I’d barely even felt them until now. Now they stung like venom. In truth, it was most likely a result of the tears that had begun to fall upon the marred surface of my inner forearm. With this realization, my silent tears were only magnified into sobs of insurmountable extremity. The blade in my grip clattered mercilessly onto the desk. I was never going to see him again, was I?

As the salt of my tears mixed together with the little puddles of red that had formed, I caught myself staring blankly at the ball key sitting on the far end of my desk: the one Link had found at the scene of my godmother’s killing and had kept secret until the day before his conviction, when he’d entrusted it to me. Its dim, tangerine glow was just another painful reminder of how hopeless this situation really was.

Of course, being the spectacular mess of a person that I had become, I’d made the oh-so-wise decision to cut myself at the place where I carried out my chemistry experiments. With grandiosity, I oafishly spilled an entire beaker’s worth of fluid just as I’d finished wiping away the blood.

But just as I was about to go and fetch the mop, something happened that I never could’ve expected.

In the darkness of my apartment, the area on my desk where there had once been blood was glowing a strikingly brilliant blue.

I picked up the beaker that I’d knocked over. It bore the handwritten label, “5-Amino-2,3-dihydrophthalazine-1,4-dione.” Scanning the desk’s surface, something else caught my eye—something that could potentially be the “key” that I’d been searching for since the moment I’d discovered my dear godmother’s dead body.

The orange glow of the ball key, which had just so happened to find itself square in the middle of the splash zone, was being obscured by spots of blue light.

#my writing #fanfic #botw #zelink #botw zelink #zelink botw #link x zelda #zelda x link #botw link x zelda #botw zelda x link #zelink fanfic #zelink fic #zelink ff #zelda pov #detective au

[solacefruit]

Hello! This is the person who wrote the one shots on Quotev — the one that anon went through so much trouble to get sent your way. If you’d be willing, I would appreciate genuine critique of my work — I’m genuinely looking for how I might improve my writing, and I haven’t been getting very much feedback. Apologies if you’re too busy or if this bothers you!

Hello there! I’m willing to give you my thoughts on your work, since you’ve asked so politely and gone to such effort, but before I do that, I’d like to preface everything by saying that I’m going to approach this answer more or less the same way I would give feedback to students in a class. I think that’s most helpful. I also hope none of this feedback comes off as harsh or hurtful, because that’s not at all my intention. 

You clearly know how to write well: your work is well-edited, with only a few errors here and there (be careful using semicolons, they can be very tricky). It’s clear you know the rules of writing, so I don’t think you’ve got a lot of room for improvement there. 

The stories themselves, though, didn’t click for me as a reader. I didn’t get pulled into the world you’ve created and I didn’t connect with your characters. That doesn’t mean that what you’ve done is bad, though! But I am going to suggest some ideas for restructuring your work that might help make your stories more dynamic and effective in capturing and retaining your reader, or showing off your skills and ideas to better effect. 

Your first story begins with the description of the character in a lot of depth, but I cannot recommend this as an opening paragraph. If you’re ever writing a manuscript, you need to remember that your first page is your first–and often only–chance to hook your reader and convince them to keep going. (Especially true if you’re sending your work to a publisher!) Because of that, a lot of good stories begin with first page or two that does everything it can to tell you who, what, where, and the tone of the book. 

Very few good stories start with the “I have black hair and blue eyes and today I am wearing a big hat” type character description, unless that is actually important–i.e., The Little White Horse begins with Maria detailing to herself what she’s wearing, because she’s vain and it brings her comfort to know she looks beautiful, which matters because… [and then the plot begins]; the first Harry Potter book describes the Dursleys in very Dahl-esque fashion, which matters because… [contrast them to the peculiar happenings of the plot emerging]. What your character does is almost always more interesting than what they look like, so it’s often a sensible idea to prioritise your narration accordingly. Both of the above examples tell you who, the tone of the story, and then what is happening, while filling in other details so you know where and when by the end of the first chapter.  

Something else I noticed in your work is that you’re a keen world-builder with a lot of ideas, but I found your stories to be a little overwhelmed by that, rather than enriched by it. This is something I’ve seen a lot in young creative writers, so it’s definitely not you and it’s not actually a fault, exactly–but it can detract from your work and make your work actually less inviting to read, rather than more, and that’s something that’s important for speculative fiction writers to be aware of. I’m currently working on a series of tips and tricks requested by popular demand, so I’ll probably elaborate more on this later, but basically, your world-building should be an iceberg: you know how immense it is, but your reader will only see a small delicious fragment of it. 

Oversupplying world-building details often makes works impenetrable or–most commonly–overshadows the characters and plot and sinks interest in the ship story. (For me, the most egregious example that jumps to mind is Foundling by D.M. Cornish but that’s a rant for another day). Your work isn’t too overcrowded, I feel, but for me, I got the sense that you used your stories as vessels for your world-building, instead of using your world-building to decorate and deepen your stories. The reason this causes problems is because people–myself included–are most often motivated to read because they relate, connect to, or are curious about characters, rather than a world. (Worlds are very fun, don’t get me wrong! It’s just that world-building tends to be most fun for the people doing it, not the people reading it). 

Finally, something I wanted to bring to your attention is style, and particularly streamlining it and leaning into your own voice. At the moment, your work is a little heavy with what I think of as “fanfiction-itis” for lack of a better concept. It’s basically an overall tendency to 1. be uncertain about what person the story is told in, or jump between views. This can be a choice! But it’s one you should be making consciously. There’s first-, second-, and third-person, but in third-person, there’s also an omniscient narration and limited narration. Each can be used to huge effect–but you need to pick the right one for the story you’re telling and stick to it. 2. over-rely on epithets and character description. Often this is a result of the above when it’s third-person omniscient. As a rule of thumb, you don’t really need to use epithets much at all. “The taller boy,” “the blonde girl,” and so on doesn’t add anything, but it does often distract and make the writing look a bit… juvenile to experienced writers. Unless the description is saying something about the character that’s worth knowing, it’s usually best not to bother with it. “The black-furred warrior walked by” says a lot less than “Blackfur stalked past, scowling.” 

3. use unnecessary or tautological dialogue tags. I’ve seen a lot of “said is dead” passed around on this site, and that’s great advice to follow if you want your work to be unenjoyable and annoying to read. Said is the most useful dialogue tag, because it is invisible to us, and many other “common” tags are likewise useful–things like asked, or replied. You only need to use a different and noticeable dialogue tag when it changes the dialogue in a meaningful way. For example:  i. “what did you do?” he queried. ii. “what did you do?” he asked. iii. “what did you do? he asked cautiously. iv. “what did you do?” v. “what did you do?” he said, but he was looking away, distracted. The first one’s dialogue tag is useless and clunky: we know he asked a question, there’s a question mark there, but unlike “asked,” queried really stands out and can break the flow of reading. The second one is unobtrusive, but doesn’t tell us anything about the tone of his question: he could be angry, purely curious, scared, who knows! The third one tells us his tone, but be careful not to overuse adverbs–that’s J.K. Rowling’s curse. The fourth tells us that, whatever he’s asking about, he’s worked up about it and it’s probably not great! The fifth is an example of how you can actually turn dialogue tags into full sentences sometimes. By being precise with your dialogue tags, you can make your dialogue really pop, and also not distract your reader. 

4. tell, rather than show. We’ve all heard “show, don’t tell” as writing advice, but there are actually a lot of times when “telling” is perfectly fine. However, broadly speaking, characters tend to feel more alive if you make them act out their personalities, rather than recount them to your reader. If someone has a big personality, you don’t need to say it: it’ll become abundantly clear from their actions soon enough!

By being aware of these things and making conscious choices–even if your conscious choices are to keep doing these things!–your strength and skill in storytelling will improve. It looks to me that you’ve gotten to the point where now you have to hone the talent you already have, which means that being precise and self-reflective about your writing style and choices is probably going to be the best course for you to improve going forward.

I hope this is helpful to you! I want to stress that all of this advice is offered in a “take what is useful to you, leave the rest” spirit. For every piece of writing advice, there’s excellent writing that contradicts it, so honestly a lot of good writing is just knowing when to follow advice and when not to, when to follow a rule and when to break it. Good luck with all your future work!

#reply #advice #this is basically the kind of thing that my tips and tricks guides will look like by the way. thank you everyone for the support! #it's very flattering and lovely to see so many people excited to hear me talk. always takes me a little by surprise but in a nice way. #also i hope this is mostly easy to read and coherent. today was not a good health day and i'm on some wild painkillers right now. #oh also fun fact: joke rowling's favourite book growing up was the little white horse. hence why i've linked them here. #it's such a shame that joke rowling is such a terf dingbat because she's regrettably such a helpful teaching touchstone. #the other month i was teaching high schoolers and it's so useful to be like 'okay so in harry potter--' and immediately they Get It.

[turtle-paced]

Will It Happen In The Books?

That’s the other major theme of the questions I’ve been getting today.

I can’t say I think the show’s taken nothing from future book events. There are those things that feel consistent with the plot trajectory and themes of published material: Jaime knighting Brienne, Sansa overseeing Littlefinger’s trial, Dany making a more aggressive and morally questionable push for the Iron Throne, Jon/Dany (and condolences to people who don’t like the ship).

Below a cut for more spoilers.

The events of 8.03 and the presumable subsequent shape of the story don’t have that quality. In places they outright contradict each other already.

The Night’s King

Here’s what we’ve got about the Night’s King in the books.

The gathering gloom put Bran in mind of another of Old Nan's stories, the tale of Night's King. He had been the thirteenth man to lead the Night's Watch, she said; a warrior who knew no fear. "And that was the fault in him," she would add, "for all men must know fear." A woman was his downfall; a woman glimpsed from atop the Wall, with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars. Fearing nothing, he chased her and caught her and loved her, though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well.

He brought her back to the Nightfort and proclaimed her a queen and himself her king, and with strange sorceries he bound his Sworn Brothers to his will. For thirteen years they had ruled, Night's King and his corpse queen, till finally the Stark of Winterfell and Joramun of the wildlings had joined to free the Watch from bondage. After his fall, when it was found he had been sacrificing to the Others, all records of Night's King had been destroyed, his very name forbidden.

- Bran IV, ASoS

This is arguably more than we know about the Night’s King in show canon, but it’s enough to tell us that they really don’t have the same narrative function. The Night’s King of the books is not the cosmic keystone of the White Walkers, but, essentially, book!Euron. He’s the warning of folktale that some human beings will side with the Others. So “who kills the Night’s King?” is not a relevant question in the books. Not when it comes to resolving the conflict.

The Problem

Is that basically, there’s more to fight than a single enemy, however terrifying and dragonproof. It’s not as easy to focus on.

Tormund turned back. "You know nothing. You killed a dead man, aye, I heard. Mance killed a hundred. A man can fight the dead, but when their masters come, when the white mists rise up...how do you fight a mist, crow? Shadows with teeth...air so cold it hurts to breathe, like a knife inside your chest...you do not know, you cannot know...can your sword cut cold?"

- Jon XII, ADWD

We’ve had hints to this effect as far back in book one.

Finally [Bran] looked north. [...]  And he looked past the Wall, past endless forests cloaked in snow, past the frozen shore and the great blue-white rivers of ice and the dead plains where nothing grew or lived. North and north and north he looked, to the curtain of light at the end of the world, and then beyond that curtain. He looked deep into the heart of winter, and then he cried out, afraid, and the heat of his tears burned on his cheeks.

- Bran III, AGoT

This enemy is not anything like a person. GRRM told us, nothing’s growing or living in the heart of winter. You can’t stab a wellspring of cold and hate to death.

Cersei

Meanwhile, back in King’s Landing...yeah, Cersei’s not going to be the end boss of the series, even if she outlives the conflict. Book!Cersei has received one of  those prophecies.

"I will be queen, though?" asked the younger her.

"Aye." [...] "Queen you shall be...until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear."

Anger flashed across the child's face. "If she tries I will have my brother kill her." [...] "Will the king and I have children?" she asked.

"Oh, aye. Six-and-ten for him, and three for you."

That made no sense to Cersei. Her thumb was throbbing where she'd cut it, and her blood was dripping on the carpet. How could that be? she wanted to ask, but she was done with her questions.

The old woman was not done with her, however. "Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds," she said. "And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you."

- Cersei VIII, AFFC

You know, one of those prophecies. One of the ones that wouldn’t come true if she left well enough alone, but instead in her efforts to avoid it makes it real.

"And you wish to forestall this prophecy?"

More than anything, she thought. "Can it be forestalled?"

"Oh, yes. Never doubt that."

- Cersei and Qyburn, Cersei VIII, AFFC

The only person who can do it is Cersei, and the tragedy arises because she’s not going to. In essence: Cersei is going to self-destruct. Her story is about how she destroys herself. Not about how other people destroy her. Thinking that it’s about how other people destroy her is one of the big mistakes she’s made in her life -  think about what could have been if Cersei decided to love so generously that nobody could ever have hoped to take all that she held dear.

All in all

It just doesn’t feel right. Not for things to be solved so easily, by stabbing a scary-looking guy. Not without sacrifice and existential terror.

No matter what the destination is here, even if the show and the books end up at the same place, the journeys are going to be different. They already are, and the climax of this story I think is going to be a significant divergence.

#anti got #season eight #season eight spoilers #speculation

[lenjaminmacbuttons]

Hope you’re doing okay, I know there’s been a lot going on the past couple weeks. 🌈🌈💛💛

FOOF YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN

thank you for the good vibes anon, i love you and it means a lot to me. however unfortunately now im gonna use this to vent dump exactly how much has been going on the past couple weeks off the top of my head. this is actually pretty far from Everything thats happen but im so tired and dont want to think about any of it anymore

my grandma passed away last week. we were prepared for it and we know she’s at peace in a better place et cetera et cetera, her body was all full of restraints & impediments that she doesnt have to deal with anymore and the next time she’s in a body it’ll be all New And Improved and awesome. i missed so much work in anticipation of this that now i can’t get work off on the day of the funeral, so i can still go to it but i’ll have to go immediately to work right from it and have to pretend everythings fine and dandy and nothings going on.

everyone at work Does know there’s something going on however and the two coworkers i have who are actually like i consider them friends mostly they’re all like Hey Im Here For You Talk About Your Feelings Honestly with me and i. dont. want. to talk about my feelings at work. thats not what work is for and i dont like talking about my feelings anyway and i dont want them to ask anymore

the changes to the handbook and the honor code have completely sunk my heart. i had so much hope up until those hideous ridiculous unfathomably transphobic things they wrote and now i don’t feel like i can trust or have hope in ANYTHING the institution does anymore. ive been up all night going back and forth over whether i want to go to church today. or ever again. it’s not bringing me joy. it’s making me feel anxious and depressed and frustrated and alone. i keep seeing people just on the street or on facebook who are so happy and content with the church and whatever it does and i just…i get struck every single time with this thought of “they don’t care about me. they don’t care about any of these problems. they’re not affected personally by it and so they don’t care.”

and then that makes me feel like such a hypocrite because!!! ive been them too for so long!! what makes this moment so different!!!!! why is this the straw that breaks the camel’s back when the camel should have thrown off the whole burden and run to join its friends at the first strike of the owner’s whip!!!!!!

plus it’s making me feel gross about my mormon memes blogs. idk if i can keep running those anymore.

im failing this semester anyway and i keep getting emails about it. i was planning to take a break from school After this semester but ive missed so much class that i just really can’t go back to any of them so i guess im just dropping out right now. as much as i’d love to participate in all the incredible amazing protests going on right now i really really cant be on campus at all without feeling literally physically ill. and my Hope was to do really well this last semester and then submit mission papers and that way i’d know exactly what next to do with my life until i decide what After, and id be able to Get Out somewhere and travel someplace while still feeling like my life has some semblance of structure and direction. however! HOWEVER!!!!!!!!

i’ve been feeling so, so horrible and so worn down and i dont even know where or what my testimony is anymore. but that’s probably a lot lower on the list of Why I Can’t Serve A Mission, because a. i still don’t trust my Local Bishop enough to talk to him about things The Handbook says to b. i am finding it harder and harder and harder to be perceived as female. i never really have dysphoria about my body or my presentation or anything but like, when people say Sister and Ma’am and Miss and Daughter and Hey Pretty Lady It’s Me Your Relief Society President it’s like…that’s not me. that feels gross. and i wear suits and ties to church, have done so for a while and never get any flak for it, and im gradually working up the nerve to maybe start introducing myself as lev or levi instead of lillie buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut. socially transitioning apparently is not allowed.

not to mention my temple recommend expired ages ago anyway. anxiety about bishops prevented me from ever going in for an interview to renew it. i haven’t visited the temple once since before graduating high school. but every time i see it or think about it i long for it so badly and it hurts so much.

and also like, i get that same kinda horrible regretful longing feeling whenever i hear violin music? because i played violin for a few years and then stopped but i still have the instrument because it was given to me by my grandmother. who played it herself until sickness wouldn’t let her anymore and she entrusted it to me and i Stopped Playing but then i hoped to pick it up enough to at least learn how to play her favorite song and aw wouldn’t that be so nice to play that for her on her violin except i never actually got around to printing out the sheet music or practicing At All. and now she’s gone.

and one of the last things she said to me was that she would love to hear my book since her eyesight was too gone to read it so i said i’d record it as soon as i got the right software/hardware to do that and then i never did that either. also i promised alla yalls that book would be Published Published coming up on four months ago now and i still haven’t done that

i took a pair of safety scissors to my forearms as mentioned in a previous post and surprise surprise, the lines have not healed still, it’s getting warmer outside and thus harder to wear long sleeves, and guess what! a while ago on a separate occasion i complained that i kinda wished my self harm scars looked more like the classic cutter lines and Now They Do!! And I Hate It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and a couple nights ago my little sister saw them and so i told her i got attacked by a spider-pawed bear and fortunately my brother Understands and backed me up like “dang what do they teach in schools these days i cant believe youve never heard of the spider-pawed bears that live in the mountains and are totally normal and real”

and steven universe is ending. that’s a thing.

and like….okay. not everything in my emotions right now is bad. some of it is just complicated. one coworker friend i have recently confessed that she’s had a crush on me for several months now. fortunately when she said this i was able to be honest and say that im not super eager for a relationship right now, im not ready in the slightest to settle down or anything, im still hung up on my high school crush and also dealing with issues from my last relationship, and she replied that’s all perfectly fine and she doesn’t have any expectations and she’s great being friends and we can take things at whatever pace is good

except i also now have a date with said high school crush loosely planned for tomorrow and i told this coworker friend about it and she admitted it’s making her a little jealous and then she said jealous is an ugly word and amended it to Insecure and i feel bad about that

but i also like. am really excited for this date. like it’s not really a for sure romantic capital-d Date and that’s fine, but i haven’t seen this friend irl for so long and ive been missing her so much over this past little while that we’ve been internet chatting and that ive been i guess officially falling back in love with her but i also like, i dont know what her deal is romantically right now i don’t want to presume anything but i really really really am itching to see her

work is stressful. it’s only gonna get more so as weather gets warmer. but we’re getting two new managers with loads of experience and glowing reviews next week. i have hope that they’ll makes things a little lighter.

and there’s also. good things. peridot took off her visor for the first time ever in canon and i saved like 50 different gifs of it to my computer cus it rocked my world. sonic has she-ra toys for the kids meals and i managed to snag a tiny inflatable version of the sword. i’m making cosplays of the tres horny boys from the adventure zone and they’re all very exciting and making things makes me very very happy. i’m finding joy in all the fanfictions i’m writing right now and in talking about dungeons & dragons with my brothers and friends. ducknerva is a very beautiful Good Ending version of marahope which makes me happy and taako is a super effective projection outlet. i bought cupcakes today and they were delicious. and when i think about those good things, when i think about any good thing no matter how small, everything else disappears.

whatever happens happens i guess.

she who lives will see.

#talkyllama #hey if anyone needs tags on posts like these please please let me know asap #i always forget that actual people see the things i post #i dont usually trigger tag cus i dont usually think i need to but if i do i will

[blackberrywidow]

Like i have an honest question. How do you get into writing? How do you improve your grammar and storytelling?

Hey anon! I’m like strangely flattered that you asked me of all people this, so I’m going to give you the best answer I can even though it probably isn’t helpful.

I got into writing when I was really young, like maybe 10 or so. Way too young to have the ability to write anything of quality. But it was still incredibly valuable to me.

Like I said I was really young and had no idea how to tell a story and I’m sure I’d be embarrassed if I (or anyone) read it today. But it’s what started my interest in writing and it gave me much-needed practice.

I stopped writing for several years, largely because I realized how bad it was but also because I had less time. That’s a major factor for me now— I haven’t been writing because my mind has been occupied with other things and forcing a story is never good. And not to mention I’ve had a bit of a falling out with the mcu after endgame. Some people can soldier on and live in their AUs (which is wonderful!), but I’m not the kind of person who can write like that unfortunately. If I’m not interested or my heart isn’t with the story, I just can’t force myself to sit down and do it.

So one important aspect is finding your fandom and your otp or your oc and working with that.

The other thing I recommend is reading as much as you can. Fanfiction and otherwise. Over the years I’ve gotten better at finding the author’s voice and aspects of their writing that I love, and Ive found that it’s a great way to develop your own style.

Grammar is a bit more difficult. I’m naturally very good at picking up on grammar conventions and finding mistakes (hence the English degree lol), but even I find mistakes in my writing long after I post it! And English has so many rules and exceptions that it can be really difficult. Reading a lot helps with this too, because you pick up on things, but a lot of fanfiction and even published fiction is riddled with mistakes so it’s not reliable. I’ve heard Grammarly is really helpful, and having a trusted friend beta for you is also great.

But also, don’t sweat the small stuff. As long as your writing is comprehensible, most people will happily overlook misspellings or the occasional “your” vs “you’re” mishap. I’ve seen plenty in amazing fanfic and it hasn’t impacted my experience. But do try to watch for tense switches or things that make it difficult to follow the story.

Anyway, my biggest piece of advice is to write. Write whatever you want whenever you can. You don’t always have to post it, if you end up unhappy with the final result. And you don’t have to even finish it if you lose inspiration halfway through. The important thing is to write, maybe even poorly at first.

Like any other skill, it takes practice. Even with the stories I’ve posted, it’s pretty obvious which works were my first and which are newer. And I wouldn’t have even had the ability to write my bad less good stuff if I hadn’t started out by writing terrible self-insert Percy Jackson fanfic when I first started.

Give yourself time to grow as a writer, and don’t compare your writing to your favorite fic that has 1000+ notes. Not everything is a masterpiece, but it’s all important on your journey as a writer. Everything you write has value, even if you hate it once you’re done. At least you’ll have learned something 🙂

I hope this was actually helpful and not as rambling as I think it is. And please let me know how your writing goes! I’m always happy to support you ❤️

#anon #ask #not marvel #writing #writing advice #i hope this doesnt come off as preachy #because i am hardly a shining example of perfect literature #a lot of my stuff is trash #but its trash i love and had fun writing #and thats whats important! #(spoken as someone who has never had my writing get over 500 notes of course) #good luck anon! #abi talks too much

[naturalhairjunkies]

New Post has been published on http://www.naturalhairjunkies.com/embracing-my-spirituality-doesnt-mean-ive-strayed-from-god/

Embracing My Spirituality doesn't Mean I've Strayed from God

The fact that I even need to write this is astounding. I’m realizing that spirituality is soooo  taboo and people aren’t really sure what it is. But with that comes a lot of ignorance – including people alluding to devil worship. *Eye roll* But Embracing My Spirituality doesn’t Mean that I’ve strayed from God in any form or fashion. My relationship with God runs deep. I’m not even sure how the devil worship even became a thing or an assumption.

Disclaimer** If you are easily offended it may be time for you to bounce that aaaaa*** because I definitely need to set the record straight, and if you’re offended.. I won’t apologize.

Embracing My Spirituality doesn’t Mean that I’ve Strayed from God

The fact that this needs to be said, is a problem within itself. I pray, everyday and I give thanks daily. Just because i chose a different way to follow God doesn’t mean that I’ve strayed. No, I may not sit in a church every Sunday, but I am finding ways to honor God in my day to day life. I meditate, practice yoga & reiki. I mind my everyday business and I genuinely just try to be the best version of myself, everyday. And I don’t see the problem. My aim is for more peace & light within myself as I navigate through life.

What does sage& crystals have to do with it?

Sage & crystals somehow make you a devil worshipper. I’m definitely uncertain of how this analogy makes sense. Incense are burned during most church services & I don’t see anyone crying devil worship from the pews. I don’t see questions being raised about that or any questions from those in service.. Yet, the fact that I burn incense bothers you… But you don’t live in my home or partake in anything that I do for myself so why would this affect you?

The main reason I burn any of these things is to cleanse myself & my space of negative energy. I just want to be able to enter a room and sit with myself during meditation or prayer & just be. I love entering a room where the balance has been restored and it’s peaceful. Just mind your business and don’t touch my things. Your energy is gross and I really don’t need that sticking to me in any form. I’m just over here connecting to my higher self, seeking a sense of peace and happiness within myself and just bliss. I deserve bliss….

Using religion to back negativity and ignorance doesn’t help you

If you genuinely don’t understand someone’s “way of life”, there are ways to either ask or research for yourself. But linking everything that you don’t understand or you’re unaware of to evil, is beyond ignorant. Not everyone is trying to be a “witch” or practice voodoo, hoodoo or whatever else you picked up from TV. We allllll loved Coven but not everyone is out here trying to Marie Laveau, even though she was definitely a bad bihhhh… Most people, still listen to a great gospel song, meditate, align their chakras & stillllll make it to Sunday service to worship. But I guess ignorance is bliss. You want to believe so bad that the woman connecting to her roots is the devil or up to no good. You choose to believe that crystal use is of the devil and more. It’s the most backwards yet judgmental thing I’ve ever heard.

Plus, being spiritual just means that you aren’t tied to a specific religion, it doesn’t make you a Satanist or an Atheist. So relax, mind your business and make sure that YOU are living a life that God will be proud of. Ya’ll worry entirely about the wrong things. Focus on yourself, and what you’re building and teaching your children. Focus on your relationship with God and if you truly have one verses just going through the motions. Do not ask me about devil worship, because I don’t know anything about that. I don’t practice it. I’m not a meditation away from that, and It’s just not in my nature or spirit to do so.

Just Mind Your Business

Let me glow up. Everyone is attracted to the peace. the light and good vibes. And that’s cool and all, however, minding your business is in your best interest. Stop judging my life from a distance, sending me Bullsh** memes and using it as a Segway to ask if its true. Don’t worry about how I find peace or positives in crap situations. And if I’m truly going through what I am going through because my energy doesn’t show signs of struggle. It takes work, to see the positives in life and in every situation. It takes a whole lot of God and all of the light placed within the universe to function at a high frequency. God blesses me immensely and I’m beyond grateful. There is no devil here.

#allow the universe to shine light on you #being spiritual does not make me an athiest #blocking our own blessings #certified natural healer #Crowning Soul LLC #CrowningSoul #crowningsoul.com #God #God blesses me #God First #God's Love #have faith #I love go #i love god #I'm a lot closer to God than you think #just mind your business #Love #Natural Hair Junkies #naturalhairjunkies #paying attention to God speak #reiki healer #sage and crystals #the universe blesses me #the universe will universe

[optimisticvibeworld]

What's In It For You...

Excitement!

Good News is Here!

Sisterhood Ohana announces ‘Wétū’ as our Alternative Home Model

Using passion-based architecture our Spiritual Temple design uses free wooden pallets salvage material

Join our environmental advocacy project ‘One Living Green’ as we deliver zero-waste Alternative Homes.

Sisterhood Ohana is teaming up with LoveLiving Wellness to provide an online Truth Within workbook for exploring passion-based architecture to produce your dream come true… 'Design By Heart'.

Once the ‘Design By Heart’ of your Alternative Home is complete and ready for land Sisterhood Hana has announced 'Built With Confidence'.

Sisterhood Ohana is teaming up with Wisdom of Elders’ business incubator, courtesy of the Julie Ellen Robbins Foundation, to provide the empowerment to a select group of Single Mothers… ‘Built With Confidence’.

We hope you stay tuned with our online Sisterhood Ohana Community Events calendar. All events are free and open to all people.

Currently, we are distributing Sisterhood Ohana brochures as invitations to Alternative Housing Community Conversation at Ka’apau Library on possibly Aloha Friday 11 May. Nice and close to Mother’s Day, so all you Single Mothers come on out for a Friday evening and learn what our voice together sounds like. Sign up for our Newsletter and stay tuned for our upcoming Press Release.

Following our event and announcements we are off to build our first project, ‘Wétū’ the Optimistic Vibe Basecamp. Currently under discussion, we are looking at possibly start building ‘Wétū’ the Optimistic Vibe Basecamp at 'Lorna's Garden' in Lapahoehoe.

Next step is to announce to HGTV our proposal presentation for Sisterhood Ohana’s weekly television show ‘Alternative Homes Hawai’i’. To show HGTV our stuff we are hosting a free workshop to the public at Lorna’s Garden to participate in a live demonstration of dismantling wooden pallets without tolls and free how-to construct lessons in building a scaled model of ‘Wétū’ the Optimistic Vibe Basecamp on a trailer pulled by our adorable VW Camper, HOKU.

Other workshops we are including in our series range from hearing from local Alternative Home professional, alternative living enthusiasts, and following each week the building of our Farm To Table Organic Garden and Farm To Table Café design videos and blogs.

Sisterhood Ohana will quickly become the Alternative Home lifestyle experts on HGTV! Stay tuned as we produce our first episode of ‘Alternative Homes Hawai’i’.

Become a Member and enjoy the behind the scene features and benefits of Education For The People. Should you love wellness as much as we do you will really enjoy Meditation For The People. Should music be your thing, toss off your slippahs and join us down the beach for Music For The People.

Business Incubator is purpose behind Julie Ellen Robbins Foundation

Takes some organizing, we are an amazing team of passion hard at work pulling together the tasks, budgets, and schedule to lift ‘Wisdom of Elders’ off the ground. Thanks to the efforts of Jeanne Rasmussen and Dr. Cliff Robbins, President & Chair of the Julie Ellen Robbins Foundation.

As many of you might know, Jeanne Rasmussen is the first member of Sisterhood Ohana to experience the joy of ‘Design By Heart’ passion-based architecture. By exploring her Truth Within with the aid of LoveLiving Wellness online workbook, Jeanne discovered what she needed for her spiritual temple to include to bring her passion to life.

Should you desire to learn more about ‘Wétū’ and the ‘Design By Heart, Built With Confidence’ offered by Sisterhood Ohana please sign up here.

With an introduction by the University of Hawai’i Small Business Development Center in Hilo, we have partnered with Carbonario CPA as our financial management team. And for the very important people we serve, for our employees we have selected ProService Hawai’i as the best in the state to bring full employee benefits to life for us.

Sisterhood Ohana is proud to offer Alternative Homes Hawai’i’ On The Job training. As part of the business incubator that Julie Ellen Robbins Foundation serves, Single Mothers will be provided a Certificate Program as a benefit of their employment from the business incubator.

The Certificate Program is more than just a job, it’s a One Hand Up experience. We are currently interviewing human resource enthusiasts to hire the help we need with our online One Hand Up workbook. The candidate chosen will create brochure for 'Awakening Your Truth Within', define and offfer LoveLiving Awakening Certification Training Program, and publish LoveLiving Truth Within workbook for Employees.

The first Certificate Program project will be to build a scaled model of Jeanne's ‘Wétū’ on Hoku’s trailer. With action from employees building Jeanne’s scaled model we can create ‘Wisdom of Elders' ‘Wétū’ on Land Trust options for ‘Garden In Paradise’.

We are super excited for the land trust ‘ Garden In Paradise’ will be providing Sisterhood Ohana a location to prove the business incubator concept. Then it’s off to the politicians, Tim Richards, Cindy Evans, Russell Rudermen, and the amazing Jen Ruggles, as we discuss 20 acres of state-owned land for Sisterhood Ohana to expand the function of Dr. Cliff Robbins business incubator.

 Help Wanted, $15/hour plus Full Employee Benefits

Help us lift Julie Ellen Robbins Foundation by announcing via a presentation to HGTV that Garden In Paradise is a business incubator proving the concept of Self-Reliance. Invite each of the 1,700+ OV Facebook friends, 1,500+ LinkedIn friends, plus existing social marketing friends (Instagram, Google+, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, etc). From this that become our Friend we send them a video inviting them to join us in spreading the word… Each Task/Blog described above will be uploaded as daily social media to Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr, and re-directed to Post on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+.

Crowdfund

Marketing/Sales Manager prepare individual press releases for Alternative Homes Hawai’i, and ‘Hoku’ VW Camper.

a.       ALL social marketing goes through Patreon for crowdfunding purposes.

b.       To reach our overall Crowdfunding goal each Employee invited to participate in our weekly Newsletter will issue a variety of blog/social marketing campaigns.

c.        Deliver weekly blogs on the following Crowdfunding campaigns:

1.       Kickstarter

2.       We Fund

3.       Seed Invest

4.       Crowd Funder

5.       Microventures

6.       IndieGoGo

7.       Sellaband

8.       EmployeeShare

9.       Go Fund Me

 Social Marketing

The Sales/Marketing Lead will collect each Friday blogs from each Team Member describing an inspiring and uplifting part of their project. Social Marketer will create Newsletter and distribute to each Newsletter member, and each Like/Comment friend:

a)    Newsletter

i)      Issue a weekly Newsletter utilizing a collection of social media from the week’s Postings of Daily Vibe Updates.

b)    Host Weekly Contest

i)      ‘Did Ya Know?’ is a playful engagement whereby we issue an inspiring suggestion each day via Twitter, such as:

ii)     ‘Did Ya Know?’: Adventurously explore a new Gift, follow a hidden passion, allow creativity to lead you, just get started, no expectations

iii)   ‘Did Ya Know?’: Giving is the greatest reward we will ever receive. Give a surprise compliment, watch what comes back, you will receive.

iv)   Issue daily Twitter connecting each of the following platforms to ‘Did Ya Know’;  Alternative Homes Hawai’i, Seven Teachings, LoveLiving, Wisdom of Elders, Ted Talks

v)    Make a contest of the daily engagement by awarding a ‘Did Ya Know?’ T-shirt on each Aloha Friday to the member of our audience that replied to our Twitter with the most inspiring comment of the past week.

c)    Build a Ground Swell

i)      Strength in numbers, show a large and diverse following by giving away ‘Did Ya Know?’ T-shirts (?) to each person we interview for film documentary footage. The questions asked during the interview are strategically arranged so the answer is suitable for social marketing of our message.

d)    Inspire Audience

i)      Inspire those of our Audience coming to Hawai’i for HOKU to joins us before they leave the Mainland by social marketing our video tour guide.

ii)     Inspire those of our Audience not coming to Hawai’i (yet) to follow us like a television show by regularly scheduling the release of our HOKU tour guides as part of a series they can follow our adventures in Hawai’i with stunning photos, exciting stories, and interesting people.

e)    Load up Volunteers with HOKU daily online events with 'View from HOKU':

(1)  People feel happiness from sharing wonderful montages of our social architecture vision because it makes people feel nurtured

(2)  Wisdom of Elders is among many other things, the way we talk and write about Seven Teachings as our voice to be heard

(3)  Honor Ancient Elders by the example 'View From HOKU' sets, very kind, beautiful, and different in a very great way because we touch people’s heart and soul

(4)  Free-spirited HOKU beach lifestyle suits the personality of our audience

(5)  HOKU beach adventures, him wearing cowboy hat, her wearing sarong

(6)  Be all that Optimistic Vibe stands for by posting daily passion-based 'Awakening Your Truth Within' Teachings from 'View from HOKU'

(7)  Be fearless, passion-based (makes it exciting to look forward to a new lifestyle), self-actualization (unlike anything our audience has come across), generous giving lightning rod, positive force, publish videos of pro-environment position

(8)  Publish Music For The People as ‘Awakening’, music and lyrics, and photo's with the colorful guitar and ukulele case, music with songs of very personal lyrics

(9)  Publish passion-based metaphors that are refreshingly unique and different

(10)                 Share an optimistic vision and creativity that is inspiring with wisdom, words, and ideas that are comforting, especially a fabulous day in paradise with HOKU

(11)                 HOKU travels island, action, not words, our optimism and spirit, a breath of fresh air

(12)                 Plein Aire, Meditation & Music, island art, and writing, very prolific, colorful music, text, and movement to highlight our Awakening message from the many wonderful sources of inspiration in your life, churn out quite a bit of different works, we color outside the lines, a lot

(13)                 Inspire audience to love the way we think, as wisdom, power, strength, makes people want to Awaken

(14)                 Tour Guides show the cool passion-based people in Hawai’i that people are glad to meet, people feel happiness

(15)                 HOKU delivers the gorgeous day the island brings to your Awakening

(16)                 HOKU makes it so people can see why OV Team is drawn to Hawai'i

(17)                 People feel they are Awakening to have cool people in Hawai'i in their Ohana that people are glad to meet, people feel happiness

(18)                 HOKU is a spiritual being, HOKU's spirituality is loved by our audience, it represents trust in fate, karma, and synchronicity in our Awakening, seen as the amazing gift we are, truly an angel of Awakening to others

(19)                 It is nice what RJC writes in his journal about Awakening with ‘Just Be Happy’ through RJC’s connection to David

(20)                 People see HOKU with others as excellent team work

(21)                 HOKU delivers the gorgeous day the island brings to our audience's Awakening

(22)                 HOKU makes it so people can see why OV Team is drawn to LoveLiving

(23)                 People feel happiness from HOKU sharing messages, it makes people feel they are Awakening

(24)                 HOKU inspires passion-based alternative lifestyle based on Awakening Your Truth Within with Garden In Paradise’s co-living international approach

(25)                 People are drawn to OV Team's kindness and energy

 Public Relations

Marketing/Sales Manager manages media and press responsibilities:

What makes us newsworthy?

Contact Editors for lead business story

Press Release for HGTV appearance

Develop series of Press Releases

Schedule weekly Press Release

What are other large volume media opportunities are available for us to reach via Internet?

List of Newspaper Contacts

What are other large volume media opportunities are available for us to reach via Radio?

What are other large volume media opportunities are available for us to reach via Magazines?

List of Local Access Television Contacts

What are other large volume media opportunities are available for us to reach via Honolulu TV?

Contact Honolulu television

Press Release

Marketing/Sales Manager works with creative agency producing HGTV presentation and develop a series of press releases on the entire product line and service.

Prepare press releases for each new service introduction and participation in an event, and music performance.

[mybookplacenet]

Featured Author Interview: Jordan Church

Tell us about yourself and your books.: I write erotica. Sharing the inner thoughts and emotions of characters is the ultimate voyeurism. I am a big believer in plot and character development. I want the characters to be as real as possible. Character motivations drive the events and sexual activities. Sex scenes are detailed and graphic. I want to always give a perfect picture of exactly what is happening and why and how and how the characters feel physically and emotionally. While I believe there is way too much shaming out there in the world when it comes to sex and things sexual I also think dirty acts and a sense of wicked naughtiness are wonderful in erotica. I have two degrees and am dedicated to providing the highest quality erotica. Do you have any unusual writing habits? I'm sure my massive intakes of caffeine are quite normal for an author.... Considering the genre I write in it may be considered unusual I often write (type) with people near me in various settings who have no clue what I'm up to on my laptop. When I edit a book I do three complete edits where I read every word. The unusual part is that I also do each one a little differently. In order to better spot errors, even small ones like an extra space between words, I change the font, font size, and type color with each edit. Edit 1 : Times New Roman, 12 point, black Edit 2: Bookman Old Style, 14 point, green Edit 3: Random grab bag font, 16 point, purple Even with that I still miss some errors! What authors have influenced you? The living legend JJ Argus and the other living legend, silkstockingslover. Her works, mostly short stories, can be found on literotica.com. And Stephen King! Do you have any advice for new authors? I'm pretty new myself so advice from me is presumptive at best. However, I can pass on advice I received (okay, some from me as well). That is to be patient. When you write and publish something no one knows unless they are psychic. No matter how good it is it may not get sales. For instance, "Moby Dick", the great classic, after the initial poor first year of sales, went on to sell an average of 27 books a year for 34 years. Once the author Herman Melville died it later became popular and "discovered". And Melville was a successful author BEFORE he published that book! Once someone finds one of your books you, as an author, need to make sure it make them, the reader, happy. The book is for the reader, not the author. That is the mission. Take the time to edit thoroughly, have someone else read it to make sure each little part makes sense to others. Make sure it is realistic even within the realm of the fantastic. Realism is more interesting than having readers say again and again, "That would NEVER happen." If your story loses credibility than you, the author, automatically do as well. Cream rises to the top but can also float up a bit faster if you communicate in all ways -- email responses, blog, web site, and, yes, promotion. What is the best advice you have ever heard? Patience. That so many authors write a book and expect the world to stop on a dime for it. Time and continued effort. Drive quantity while never giving up quality and, if you have to choose, take quality over quantity. What are you reading now? Two Stephen King books (Gunslinger IV and "Doctor Sleep", a Michael Connelly "Harry Bosch" novel, a couple fantasy novels (I recommend Marc Turner BTW), a few history books. I read five to ten books at the same time (same day not the exact same moment) and jump between them as the urge moves me. What's your biggest weakness? Candy. No, wait. caffeine! No, wait, it must be porn! Despite my genre (?) I am, like most people, a total sap for animals (Human Society volunteer) and children. What is your favorite book of all time? There are so many it is really hard to choose. That said, coming most quickly to mind: Mainstream: "The Stand" by Stephen King. Modern classic! Read the book, no movie can do it justice. Surprise maybe: "Japanese Destroyer Captain" by Tameichi Hara. It is just amazing what that man accomplished and lived through and the ending is like a Hollywood movie ending. Just amazing. What has inspired you and your writing style? As they always say, write about what you enjoy. It does make writing even more enjoyable! It is somewhat reverse inspiration because, really, I've read a lot of poor erotica. And erotica that sounds one way in the blurb and then goes in some other direction. And erotica with one good scene possibly but then the rest is mechanical or repetitive and goes no where. And a whole lot of characters that are just names and maybe titles or roles and nothing else -- no personality, no voice, sometimes not even a description! Obviously there are some excellent writers out there and I mentioned a couple already but, overall, there is a lot more bad than good. That inspired me to try to do it. You know, invent a better mouse trap and all that. I'd say my writing style is detailed with a balance of the external (events, action, dialogue) and the internal (emotions, sensations, motives). I think plot is important and conflict drives plot. The conflict in my books is typically a seducer wanting someone(s) who do not want to be seduced and there is the struggle for them to accomplish this, the seductee's struggle to resist, and the seductee's struggle to understand how this is happening to them, why it makes them feel this way, and the new reality it will bring about if they "lose". What are you working on now? Editing "Lesbian Stalker Stalks Again" which is Part IV of the "Lesbian Stalker's Pets" series and writing, nearly done, with "Lesbian Stalker On The Prowl" which is Part V. Also working on "Mother-In-Law's Gift Cards For Lesbian Seduction" which is a free ongoing book (actually it will be 3 or 4 books ultimately) on my web site (https://lesbianseductionfiction.com/) and a couple other projects as well. What is your method for promoting your work? In a sense, making sure the finished product is the best possible. If you stumble across one of my books and find the description intriguing and the genre acceptable then I make sure you will like the content, get exactly what you expect (or more!), and then want to get the other books available as well. I just published my 20th book. If you like one of them you will like (or more than like!) all the rest. What's next for you as a writer? Write write write. How well do you work under pressure? Fine because all the pressure on me is self-imposed and I have no time to argue with myself. I say do it and I hop to it. How do you decide what tone to use with a particular piece of writing? This is an interesting question. I'm not sure that I truly "decide". Each character has motives and intents. They have a plan for their lives or a plan regarding another character. Each character has a voice from age, background, lifestyle, origins, education, intelligence level, and so on. I get a clear picture or feeling for each character, what is driving them, their motives, and then they interact in my mind. Almost like an artificial world set up and left running to see the end results. The inhabitants of this world have no idea they are figments of imagination. They think all these crazy things are really happening and they have strong feelings about it! In addition to the plot and sex almost always at some point I involve humor and maybe an insight or two on society or human nature. This is just the characters being themselves. But I don't try to erase it or edit it out. It can be there and readers can either enjoy it or ignore it as they wish. The insights are brief and don't get in the way. The humor is short when it happens and if it leads to a laugh from a reader from time to time, it is all good. That said (that these are short) there is, admittedly, about a page of dialogue in "Lesbian Stalker Stalks Again", before the sex scenes and events get extremely outrageous and hot, that I find hilarious and hope readers will as well. Author Websites and Profiles Jordan Church Website Jordan Church Amazon Profile Jordan Church's Social Media Links Twitter Account Instagram Account Read the full article

[imagines-dreams]

Alpha and Omega - Barry Allen Imagine

Rating: PG

Warnings: implications of “horrible alphas” idk guys, oh and being lonely

Summary: Omegas were meant to be alone. You didn’t care. That’s just how it was, but it only takes a moment to change everything.

Word Count: 1399

You were an omega, which wasn’t really a good thing or a bad thing in your eyes. Sure, you had no pack, but no pack meant no alpha to follow. You had your share of horrible alphas, and you weren’t going to add another one to the list. All the food you collected went to you. You didn’t have to use your time assisting freeloaders. You didn’t have to worry about the other pack’s territory or your standing in your own pack. You didn’t have to worry about mates either.

Well, technically you did, but finding a mate when you were an omega was unlikely. Omegas were omegas for a reason. They were alone, free to wander anywhere and everywhere. Few found their soulmate.

You shook your head. There was no reason for you to be thinking such things. You had to concentrate and find prey before dawn. You only had an hour left or less. The forest you had wandered into was devoid of life. You didn’t even mind that you were stepping on dead stems and broken branches. No sensible pack would settle in those wood anyway.

You weren’t even sure how you wandered into that place. You just had a hunch that there would be something there for you.

You stopped for a second to gather your thoughts. However, when your footsteps stopped, leaves continued to crackle.

You turned around and growled. “Who’s there?”

“I believe I should be asking you that.” A brown wolf emerged from the trees. From his stance and coat, you knew he was an alpha. A powerful at that. You’d never seen one with that much confidence. Yet, there was something about that alpha. He rubbed you the wrong way.

When he saw you, his eyes widened.

Your heart dropped in your stomach. Did he recognize you? That had happened before. An alpha heard about you and tried taking you in. You growled and stayed close to the ground. “What’s it to you, alpha?” you sneered.

“You’re her.” Suddenly, the wolf began to glow.

You stepped back. “What are you doing?” Why was his shifting in front of you? Was it some sort of scare tactic? Werewolves only shifted in front of their pack, not in front of random omegas! You backed away.

“Please, wait!”

Suddenly, he was in front of you. You whipped your head around. How did he get in front of you that fast? Were alphas really that fast? If he was that fast… No, you had to get away from him. You turned around and bounded through the woods. Every time that man appeared in front of you, you dodged him and changed direction. With all your running, you couldn’t see him properly or hear him properly.

The sun’s light peaked through the trunks of trees, and it startled you too much. You dashed away from the sun’s light. You couldn’t let the rays touch you. You needed to escape that alpha first. In the blur of escaping, you recognized that the man was no longer near you. You gulped and turned around. No, he was still there. With the sun turning him into a shadow of his human self, he watched you with sad eyes.

You tilted your head. This alpha was a bad strategist.

You were home free. You were starving, but you were safe from that alpha.

The next morning was confusion. You had no food from the night before, and, because of you extensive search, you had little sleep. You headed to the local coffee shop for some caffeine. You were still sluggish, but you needed to get to work soon.

You rubbed your temples. You had too many things to worry about. Your work. Your budget. That alpha. That damn alpha. Why did he look at you like that? Like he knew you? Did you know him? You revisited the memories of your past pack, but no. There was no one with that brilliant brown coat. Why did he let you go? Was it pity?

“Hi.”

You blinked and looked up. A young man with soft brown eyes and sweater stood in front of you. He gulped and motioned to the seat in front of you. “May I?”

You cleared your throat. “Of course.”  

The man set down his cup of coffee. The clink between the ceramic mug and tile sound like a screech to you. You growled and rubbed your temples again. This guy was going to get on your nerves, you knew it. Just like that alpha from the night before. It was going to be a long morning.

“Are you ok?” he asked you.

You shook your head. “I’m sorry, but do I know you? I’m rude, I know, but it’s just I’m really stressed right now.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.”

“Yeah, no, of course.” He gulped and held out his hand. “I’m Barry Allen. You?”

You eyed his outstretched hand. Cautiously, you took it. “(Y/n).” You did not want to give your last name.

Barry beamed like he won the lottery. You laughed a little. “What’s so great about my name, huh, Barry?”

He sat up straight. “Nothing! Just, um, not that I was trying to… Sorry. I just...” He tapped the table repeatedly. “I think your name is very pretty.” He hung his head. “I sound creepy, don’t I? I am so sorry. I should just, uh, go, huh?” Barry turned his chair, ready to leave.

“No.” You grabbed his hand. “You can stay.”

Barry stared at your hands.

Realizing what you just did, you retracted your hand and stuttered, “i-I mean, you know, if you want to, Barry.” You cleared your throat, and heat rushed to your cheeks. That was odd. You couldn’t help the nervousness that bubbled in your stomach. You looked at the floor as you tried to calm your racing heart. What was happening? Sure, you had been infatuated before, but never like that. It was as if lightning struck you before you could even comprehend it.

“It really is you,” Barry breathed.

“Me?”

He gulped. “I am the, uh, man you met yesterday.” He pursed his lips and fidgeted with the hem of his sweater.”You know, in the woods?”

The man you met in the woods? The only person you encountered in the woods was the alpha. You blinked a few times. No, it couldn’t be. You held your hand up to your head. That was why! The reason he shifted in front of you. The reason he looked at you with sad eyes when you ran. The reason he let you go.

You laughed a little. “No way.”

He shrugged. “Um, you might wanna try to believe it.” Barry reached out for your hand again. “May I?”

You inhaled deeply before letting him take your hand.

Like lightning, fire crawled up your arm and to your cheeks. You giggled. All that time you thought you’d be alone, there was someone waiting like you were. You could help but think how lucky you were. An omega with a mate? So rare, and yet there you were with a pounding heart and trembling hands.

You gazed up at Barry Allen. “I never thought I’d find a mate.”

“Neither did I.” He took a step closer.

You nodded.

Your mate let his forehead rest on yours, and both of you sighed at the wonderful feeling. “You’re beautiful, (Y/n),” murmured Barry. He kissed your forehead, letting his lips linger on your skin. “Wow. I don’t know what else to say,” he chuckled.

You bit your lip and kissed his cheek. “My last name’s (y/l/n), by the way. I didn’t want to tell you earlier.”

Barry laughed. He stroked your cheek and kissed your forehead again. “Thank you.” He breathed deeply. “You wanna go on a date or something. I really want to get to know you.”

“You sure you want to do that, Barry? My past isn’t really,” you gulped, “pretty.”

Barry’s eyes softened. “If you don’t want to tell me, it’s ok. But, I do want to know you. I want to experience everything with you. Ups and downs and everything in between!” He laughed. “I’ve waited this long. I’ll wait for forever if you need it.”

You sighed. His eyes showed no signs of lying. Just pure and genuine… love. You beamed. “Thank you, Barry Allen, thank you.”

AHHH!!! I FINISHED GUYS!!! I FINISHED AN IMAGINE!! Finally, so sorry. Grandparents are in the house and ive gots to take care of them. then, im finishing my rough draft and really want to send it publishers by the end of the year, so working on that as well... yay? ahhh so much, but I will try my best to get more imagines out guys.

Bless your hearts for still following me, guys! have a wonderful day!

#the flash #the flash imagine #the flash oneshot #the flash x reader #barry allen #barry allen imagine #barry allen oneshot #barry allen x reader

[juushika]

This is my list of the best media that I consumed for the first time (but was probably not published) in 2016.

Books

I read 128 books in 2016 and, unusually for me, almost all of them were new. It was also, independently, a great reading year. As such, this list is particularly long.

Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie. This was as good as the hype, but not always for the reasons I was lead to expect; the genre and setting is far-future space opera, but plot and investment are character-driven, and it was the ancillary experience and Lieutenant Tisarwat's violet eyes that really kept me engaged. This series is satisfying on the levels I value most.

Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein. This isn't the first fantasy-which-is-actually-sci-fi genre crossover I've encountered, but it's by far the best. The genre-bending is fundamental to the narrative, but also to the protagonist’s PoV, as she uses and creates the scientific method, applying it to a reality which exceeds her comprehension--and which bleeds over into plot twists which exceed the reader’s expectations. I haven’t been this impressed by a book series in a long time.

Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre. Something like a sibling to the Steerswoman books, with a similar worldbuilding premise but a smaller focus--it's less about redefining knowledge of the world, and more about fostering knowledge in order to improve life on the local, private scale. It’s soothing and valuable.

Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski. In particular, Blood of Elves--but this series entire lives on this list because of Ciri. The Witcher franchise is problematic, from its sexism-as-worldbuilding to its flawed balance of politics to plot. But while I rarely become attached to book characters, I am inordinately attached to Ciri, and to her family and those motivated by her. She's central. The books forget, sometimes, that that’s all I care about (and the games sometimes forget it entirely), but when the pieces align to star her I am in love.

The complete works of Octavia Butler. This isn’t the year that I began reading Butler, but is the year that I read most of and finished her work. I rarely find myself in such active conversation with an author, and as much as I’ve critiqued her for her style and occasional limitations, I’m blown away by what she achieved, and by the fact that her work is so compelling and complicated, so ambitious and successful in precisely the ways that matter.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette). This is the most feel-good that a novel has been while still leaving an impression on me--because it’s not frivolous or simplistic, but rather is about the stubborn effort to do good creating real good in the world: a particularly cathartic, empowering variety of wish-fulfillment

Hild by Nicola Griffith. This is half a story, and a laboriously intimate one at that--a gradual coming of age, dealing with issues of gender and faith and identity, the private and political; it took me a little to warm into it, but having done so I loved it--Hild’s PoV is incredibly immersive.

The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson. What an experience! This is yet another SF/F mashup (it was a good year for those), but this is a particularly tropey one brought alive by the vivid and powerful use of dialect. This is a novella that feels bigger than that, that feels more distinct and dynamic than its page count.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. I don't think the plot in this was entirely successful--but I love the premise so unreservedly as to recommend it on that basis alone. This is portal fantasy meta, looking at the afters and in-betweens of those who visit other worlds (and paralleling the reader experience of existing within/without fantasy), conjuring a bittersweet longing unlike anything I've experienced. I've always loved this genre, but didn't have a framework for my feelings about it until reading this book and:

Fairyland series by Catherynne M. Valente. I am of mixed opinions of this work, too. I love the first book beyond reason, but I don't know what the series as a whole lives up to it--the travelogue aspects grow stylistically repetitive, and on a technical level these come to feel rushed. But all the books have something charming to offer, and there's something sincerely valuable about the relationship between September, Halloween, Maud, Mallow, and the Marquess. Their dynamic is subtextual and complicated, and in ongoing conversation about portal fantasy, identity, and self-determination.

Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente. My favorite of Valente's novella so far. I'm surprised by how well her mythological and fairy tale imagery builds upon an AI premise, and by how concrete the AI is. There's a lot of depth in this little space, and it's particularly evocative, even for Valente.

Honorable mentions in books

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip. This isn't the best or most important McKillip, but I love its tropes to pieces (especially the way that the interpersonal dramas resolve) and it’s probably my favorite of the McKillip novels I've read so far.

The Pattern Scars by Caitlin Sweet. I was sincerely impressed by this book, by its intimately-integrated magic system and the unforgiving, unsettling complexity of the interpersonal dynamics.

Multiple novels by CJ Cherryh. I'm continuing to read a lot of Cherryh, and I've yet to be disappointed by any of her work; her combination of deceptively terse writing style, intimate relationship dynamics, and worldbuilding concepts consistently hits on tropes that I adore.

Black Iris by Leah Raeder (Elliot Wake). New Adult isn't a genre I thought I would ever care about, but I care a lot about Wake's contributions to it, and Black Iris is the novel which has spoken to me strongest so far because its angry, intimate depiction of mental illness is cathartic and sincere while meshing well with the heightened passions which are a marker of the genre.

Video Games

Neko Atsume. I came late to this bandwagon, but it was worth the wait; what a charming, pure experience, and somehow even cuter than I expected. There's not really a lot to say about Neko Atsume, but I love it.

Deemo. Far and above the best rhythm game I've ever played, in song quality, aesthetic, narrative, and gameplay--the latter in particular is so natural, genuinely like playing a piano. I love this game to pieces and listen to the soundtrack all the time, yet I've never heard anyone talk about it. Please give it a try.

Overwatch. Is this art, no; but I have been playing 90min/day since launch, so that's something. I appreciate the changes Overwatch has brought to the genre and the active role Blizzard has taken in expanding and balancing it. It wouldn't be my pick for game of the year, but it’s important enough to earn that.

Pokémon Moon. This, frankly, would be my pick for game of the year. It benefits from the engine development of Gen VI, while continuing the narrative trends from Gen V--it looks fantastic, the UI and battle mechanics are great, but most importantly I cried three (three!) times while playing SuMo. The narrative has leveled up, the character development is phenomenal, and I treasure it.

Stardew Valley. This is a love letter to the farming and life simulator games that it draws from, and it almost exceeds them--I admire the depth and refinement of this game, and it's such a satisfying, soothing experience, exactly as it's meant to be.

Dark Souls III. The micro-level of this release, the cinder construct, isn't my series favorite, although I love the characters in this game; but on the macro-level, drawing the cycles of each installment together and to a close, Dark Souls III is incredibly fulfilling. I also appreciate the reintroduction of more varied enemy types and refinements to the combat system.

Honorable mentions in video games

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. This is as beautiful as I wanted it to be, but not quite as weird as it needed to be--I miss the push-pull of the body horror in Human Revolution. But what a fantastic graphic engine, and the characters and plotting live up to series standard.

Visual Media

Critical Role. This monster of a show has without exaggeration been a life-changer. It's a huge investment of time and such an unassuming medium, but the payoff is intense. The live creative process has an innate energy, and the cast's obvious investment in character and narrative is contagious. It ate me alive this year, and I regret nothing.

Stranger Things. I wanted Stranger Things to be a smidge less neat (plotwise, especially the ending), but in all other ways adore it, from the conversation between genres to the unexpected but indulgent aesthetic to the character acting. I've rarely been so utterly consumed by a show, to the point where coming up for air between episodes made the real world feel surreal.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I expected to like this, but was surprised by how sincerely I enjoyed it; the character archetypes combining to develop complexity and depth translates well to a miniseries, and despite TV-quality effects this is an aesthetic and speculative delight.

Black Mirror "San Junipero". I can give or take Black Mirror on the whole, but I treasure this particular episode, both because I think it's one of the better realized of the series in terms of plot delivery and because victorious WLW was balm to my soul, especially in the face of so many dead queer women in television.

Penny Dreadful. The series takes a definite downturn by the third season, but the overall experience was worth it, in part of the surprisingly robust gothic retelling, delightful aesthetic, and found family tropes, but mostly because of Vanessa Ives and Eva Green, without which this would be half a show. The intimate depiction of her vulnerability, intelligence, competency, and honesty was particularly valuable to me; this is one of the few supernatural metaphors for mental illness which I've found successful.

Star Trek: The Original Series, and movies 1-5. I grew up with every Star Trek except this one, and had a cultural impression that TOS was corny and misogynistic--and it is, a little, but it holds up much better than I was expecting and has fundamental charm and value, both as franchise starter and in its own right.

Red vs Blue. I never believed I could be so consumed by a machinima comedy series, but the humor works and the eventual scale of Red vs Blue--its convoluted plot, surprisingly well-developed characters, strong pacing, and fantastic animation--is incredible.

Honorable mentions in visual media

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. I had never watched the original Cosmos; this remake has some redundancy/direction issues in the middle but is on the whole all I wanted, vast and terrifying and beautiful, but also accessible, even personable.

Ravenous. The gayest narrative about cannibals that isn't Hannibal-related, and so delightful--and it only improves on repeat viewing, where the tonal shifts can be anticipated. Great imagery, fun acting, and such explicit cannibalism-as-metaphor violence-as-romance; it's become one of my favorite films.

The Falling. I love quiet little movies about gender, female experience, coming of age, and illness; this was my favorite of those that I watched this year (but see also: The Silenced), perhaps because it's the most convincing: an intimate, vaguely idealized, unsettling portrait of British girls's schools and  female adolescence.

#Juu reads #Juu plays #Juu watches #reference #too many to tag #brief mentions of: sexism tw // homophobia tw // character death tw // mental illness tw // #long post // like such a long but I can't really apologize for too many good media to recommend; 2016 was shit but I had a lot of escapism

[thetowerupright]

trigger warning/vent

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * i’m done. i’m fucking done. i dont fucking know what to do anymore and dont fucking know where to go from here. in the last week and a half i lost my source of income sharing my art, got locked out of my bank account with all my saved money because i cut my fatphobic disgusting abusing boot licker father out of my life, finally heard back from all publishers and editors i contacted to publish my own book with my writings and poetry from the last 8 years that i have worked SO FUCKING HARD ON and was so beautiful but unfortunately “we just don’t think anyone would really read this,” i had a really bad self harm and purge relapse due to the conversation that made me decide it’s time to cut my dad out of my life, i got told and got confirmation that i am indeed having very severe tics but why are they happening nobody fucking knows, i had a 4 hour long tic attack in the middle of the night so bad that my tics were making me hit myself so now i have bruises on my chest, OH and the tic attack was my own fault because my mother has temporary meds for the tics and she has told me and MADE IT HER OWN FUCKING RESPONSIBILITY to give me my meds but since i didnt remind her OF THE OWN FUCKING RESPONSIBILITY SHE GAVE HERSELF it’s all my fucking fault, my best friends birthdays just passed but theyre fucking dead and ive had this empty fucking hole in my chest the last year since they passed and i just wish i could fucking talk to them because i feel so god damn alone but theyre fucking gone, this month is 9 years since my parents divorced and i got ripped out of my home state my only fucking safe place and moved to the south and am haunted by my serial rapist every day that im fucking here because i’ve been here NINE YEARS and have lived in the same fucking complex and as of this year he knows i still FUCKING LIVE HERE and i just CAN’T FUCKING ESCAPE THIS PLACE, started seeing a friend of mine back in may who ive known for 8 years and everything was really great but we hooked up once and i got pregnant but didnt know and i had a fucking miscarriage last week because i guess i really fucking cant carry children because i’m a fucking failure so that all triggered the miscarriage i had when i was raped the first time and when i told them what happened THEY told ME to KILL MYSELF because in their own FUCKING words “how can you be so useless that you can’t even carry a fetus,” and lastly this month is 4 years since a suicide attempt i had 2 weeks into college where i nearly died and FUCKING HONESTLY i wish i had fucking died that day so i dont have to be feeling all this FUCKING PAIN because I AM DONE. i have tried i have FUCKING tried with EVERYTHING and i obviously cant do anything right i will never be successful i will never be loved i will never be good enough because i am USELESS, WORTHLESS, UNLOVABLE, STUPID, AND FUCKING ALONE. 

[albinohare]

Donald Crowhurst: The fake round-the-world sailing story behind The Mercy

The mysterious and tragic disappearance of the single-handed sailor Donald Crowhurst more than 50 years ago continues to fascinate. Nic Compton explains why…

Hailed as a round the world single-handed hero, Donald Crowhurst in fact never left the Atlantic during his 243 days at sea. Photo: Alamy

It was while I was researching my book about madness at sea in 2015 that I first heard a movie about Donald Crowhurst was in the works. Several websites published reports of a high-profile British feature starring Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz, and a few surreptitious photos of the cast filming off Teignmouth had been posted online. It seemed a lucky coincidence, given that my book would inevitably feature the Crowhurst story, but I assumed the movie would come out long before my book was ready.

Over the next couple of years, however, the release date for the film was repeatedly postponed – so much so that it became a running topic among Hollywood gossipmongers, who speculated that Crowhurst’s widow Clare had delayed progress, or that it was being held back to tie with the 50th anniversary of the events, or indeed that it might never be released in cinemas and go straight to DVD instead.

Meanwhile, I carried on writing my book, Off the Deep End, which was published in 2017, and the movie, The Mercy, was released in February 2018. There was never any doubt the tragic story of Donald Crowhurst would have to be included in any book about madness at sea.

Colin Firth stars as Donald Crowhurst in the 2018 film The Mercy. Photo: Studio Canal

Of all the stories I researched, it’s the one that has caught the public imagination most. Long before the latest Hollywood offering it inspired movies, books, plays, art installations, an epic poem and even an opera. Whereas many stories of adventures at sea seem to leave the general public cold, the Crowhurst tale continues to fascinate more than 50 years after Teignmouth’s most famous sailor vanished without trace. And yet, despite the thousands of words written about him, we really know very little more about him than we did 50 years ago.

It all started when Francis Chichester made his historic single-handed circumnavigation in 1966-67 – not the first to do so, by any means, but certainly the fastest up to that point, completing the loop in 226 days with just one stop, in Sydney, to repair his self-steering. Even before he’d docked at Plymouth there was a general realisation, which spread like osmosis throughout the sailing world, that the next step would be to sail around solo without stopping.

The challenge was turned into a contest by the Sunday Times which, in March 1968, announced two prizes: a Golden Globe trophy for the first person to sail round the world via the Three Capes single-handed and non-stop, and a £5,000 cash prize for the person to do it in the fastest time. The only stipulation was that competitors had to leave from a British port between 1 June and 31 October 1968, and had to return to the same place.

Article continues below…

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How extreme barnacle growth hobbled the 2018-19 Golden Globe Race fleet

Eighty-knot gales, 10m-high waves, pitchpoling, loneliness and ever-depleting food reserves… of all the challenges facing a single-handed non-stop circumnavigator you…

Nine skippers eventually signed up for the race: the famous transatlantic rowing duo Chay Blyth and John Ridgway, who had by then fallen out but were sailing near-identical 30ft glassfibre production boats; Bernard Moitessier, already something of a legend in France for breaking the long-distance sailing record on his steel ketch Joshua; Moitessier’s friend Loïc Fougeron; Robin Knox-Johnston, an unknown British merchant navy officer sailing a heavy wooden boat called Suhaili; two former British naval officers, Bill King and Nigel Tetley; the experienced Italian single-handed sailor Alex Carozzo; and Donald Crowhurst.

Out of the group, Crowhurst was by far the least experienced, the odd one out. Born in India in 1932, he went to Loughborough College after the war, until family nances and the death of his father forced him to cut his education short. He joined the RAF in 1948 but was chucked out after six years because of some high jinks with a vehicle; the same thing happened when he joined the army and he was forced to resign after he was caught trying to hotwire a car during a drunken escapade.

Persuasive character

Crowhurst with his wife Clare and their children Rachel, Simon, Roger and James, circa October 1968. Photo: Getty Images

Next he got as job as a travelling salesman for an electrics company, but was again dismissed after crashing the company car.

Ever-persuasive, he talked himself into a job as chief design engineer for an electronics company in Somerset, and in 1962 set up his own company, Electron Utilisation, to manufacture electronic devices for yachts.

The company got off to a good start, selling a simple but well-designed radio direction finder which Crowhurst dubbed the Navicator. Pye Radio invested £8,500 in the project, before getting cold feet and pulling out.

It quickly became clear that while Crowhurst was a charismatic personality and brilliant innovator he didn’t have the business acumen to run a successful company, and Electron Utilisation was soon in financial trouble.

Crowhurst managed to persuade local businessman Stanley Best to invest £1,000 to carry the company over what he assured him was a temporary lean period.

It must have been obvious to Crowhurst that he was heading for another failure. By now 35 years old, he could see the same pattern repeating itself, of high ambition thwarted by petty practicalities. Only, by now married to Clare with four children and living in a comfortable house outside Bridgwater in Somerset, the stakes were higher than ever.

His response to failure was to reinvent himself yet again. This time he would become a record-breaking sailor, a seafaring hero in the vein of Chichester: he would sail around the world single-handed – even though he had until then only dabbled in sailing, mainly on board a 20ft sloop called Pot of Gold. First, however, he needed a boat.

After failing to persuade the Cutty Sark Committee to lend him Gipsy Moth IV for the voyage, he decided a trimaran would be the ideal craft – despite having never sailed on one. To get the funding to build his dream boat he achieved perhaps the greatest coup of his life.

With Electron Utilisation going down the pan, his backer Stanley Best wanted his loan repaid, but Crowhurst managed to persuade him the best way to get his money back would be to fund the construction of the new boat.

A replica of the 41ft Teignmouth Electron used in the filming of The Mercy. Photo: WENN Ltd/Alamy

The crux of his argument was that he would use the trimaran as a test bed for his new inventions, and the publicity gained from entering the race would catapult the company to success. The sting in the tail was that the loan was guaranteed by Electron Utilisation, which meant that, if the venture failed, the company would go bankrupt.

To understand how he managed this turnaround you have to go back in time. Photos of Crowhurst make him look geekish and uncool to the modern eye. With his sticky-out ears, high forehead, curly hair, tie and V-neck jumper, he appears the epitome of the eccentric inventor.

But all the contemporary accounts describe him as a charismatic, vibrant personality, the sort of person who lights up a room when they walk in – as well as being extremely clever. In fact, his cleverness was his problem. He had the gift of the gab and, once persuaded of something, could talk anyone into believing him.

“This is important,” said his wife Clare. “Donald had this definite talent. He would say the most amazing things, but then no matter how crazy they seemed, he’d be clever and ingenious enough to make them come true. Always. This is a most important point about his character.”

Crowhurst’s widow, Clare, holds the last photograph taken of Donald with his family. Photo: Guy Newman / Alamy

Slow off the mark

So Crowhurst got the money for Teignmouth Electron, which was built by Cox Marine in Essex and fitted out by JL Eastwood in Norfolk. It’s a measure of how far behind he was that by the time the Cox yard started building the hulls towards the end of June, Ridgway, Blyth and Knox-Johnston had already set off on their round-the-world attempts. In the event, complications meant the launch date was delayed and even when Crowhurst finally set off on 31 October – just a few hours before the Sunday Times deadline expired – his boat was barely complete.

None of the clever inventions he had devised for the boat were connected, including the all-important buoyancy bag at the top of the mast, which was supposed to inflate if the trimaran capsized. His revolutionary ‘computer’, which was supposed to monitor the performance of the boat and set off various safety devices, was no more than a bunch of unconnected wires.

Worse still, he had had to borrow yet more money from Best to finish the boat, and had mortgaged his home to guarantee the loan. Crowhurst made a desultory figure scrambling about the deck of his trimaran as he set off on his great adventure – only to turn around within a few minutes to untangle his jib and staysail halyards, which were snagged at the top of the mast.

It was just the start of his troubles. After two days at sea, while still within sight of Cornwall, the screws started falling off his self-steering and, not having any spares on board, he had to cannibalise other parts of the machine to replace them.

A leaky boat

A few days later, halfway across the Bay of Biscay, he discovered the forward compartment of one of the hulls had filled up with water from a leaking hatch.

Soon, other compartments began to leak and, as he’d been unable to get the correct piping for the bilge pumps, his only option was to bail them out with a bucket. Then, two weeks after leaving Teignmouth, his generator broke down after being soaked with water from another leaking hatch.

“This bloody boat is just falling to pieces due to lack of attention to engineering detail!!!” he wrote in his log. A few days later he made a long list of jobs that needed doing and concluded his chances of survival if he carried on were at best 50/50. He began to think about abandoning the race.

But Crowhurst was in a triple bind. If he dropped out at this stage, not only would his reputation be destroyed but his business would go bankrupt and, perhaps worse of all, he and his family would lose their home. For all these reasons, giving up was not an option.

It soon became clear his estimates for the boat’s speed had been wildly optimistic: he had estimated an average of 220 miles per day, whereas the reality was about half that, on a good day. There was no way he was going to catch up with the other competitors or win either of the prizes, unless something extraordinary happened.

And so, just five weeks after setting off from Teignmouth, Crowhurst started one of the most audacious frauds in sailing history: he began falsifying his position. From 5 December, he created a fake log book, with accurately plotted sun sights, working back from imaginary positions.

To make it look convincing, he listened to forecasts for the relevant areas and wrote a fictional commentary as if he was experiencing those conditions. It was quite a feat of seamanship, and only someone of Crowhurst’s brilliance could have carried it off convincingly.

The great deception

After a few days’ practice he felt sufficiently confident to send his first ‘fake’ press release, claiming he’d sailed 243 miles in 24 hours, a new world record for a single-handed sailor. In fact, he’d actually sailed 160 miles, a personal best perhaps, but certainly no world record.

And so the great deception began. As Crowhurst slowly worked his way down the Atlantic, his imaginary avatar was already rounding the Cape of Good Hope and heading into the Indian Ocean. Gradually, partly through misunderstandings and partly due to the spin added by his agent back in the UK, Crowhurst’s positions became ever more exaggerated, until it looked like he might win the race after all.

Meanwhile, the real Crowhurst was pottering around the Atlantic – ‘hiding’ in exactly the same area he had, only a few weeks earlier, jokingly suggested a sailor might hide to falsify a round-the-world voyage. To make sure his radio signals weren’t picked up by the wrong land stations, he maintained radio silence for nearly three months, from the middle of January until the beginning of April, which he blamed on his generator breaking down again.

Teignmouth Electron was found drifting in mid-Atlantic, 700 miles west of the Azores, on 10 July 1969

Unbelievably, he even put ashore in a remote bay near Buenos Aires in Argentina to buy materials to repair one of the hulls, which had started to fall apart. Despite being greeted and logged by local officials, this rule-breaking stop remained undetected.

On 29 March he reached his most southerly point, hovering a few miles off the Falklands, 8,000 miles from home, before starting his ascent up the Atlantic.

Finally, on 9 April, he broke radio silence and exploded back into the race with a telegram containing the infamous line: “HEADING DIGGER RAMREZ” – suggesting he was approaching Diego Ramirez, a small island southwest of Cape Horn (in reality, he was just off Buenos Aires).

By this time Moitessier had had his ‘moment of madness’ and had dropped out of the race and was sailing to Tahiti ‘to save his soul’. The only other competitors left were Knox-Johnston, who was plodding slowly up the Atlantic and on track to be the first one home, and Tetley, racing in his wake to pick up the prize for the fastest voyage.

Rachel Weisz plays Clare Crowhurst in The Mercy

It seems likely that Crowhurst was planning to finish a close second to Tetley, which would save him from financial ruin without drawing too much attention to his fraudulent log books.

But his reappearance in the race had a dramatic effect on the course of events. Already nursing a broken boat up the homeward leg of the Atlantic, Tetley worried he might lose the speed record to the resurgent Crowhurst, and started pushing his trimaran faster towards the finish line. Some 1,100 miles from home, the inevitable happened: Tetley’s boat broke up and sank, and he had to be rescued by a passing ship.

Suddenly, the spotlight shifted to Crowhurst, the unlikely amateur who’d apparently come out of nowhere to beat the professionals. The BBC had a crew on standby to record his homecoming and hundreds of thousands of people were expected to throng the seafront at Teignmouth to welcome him home.

It was everything Crowhurst dreaded. As one of the winners, his books would come under much closer scrutiny – and indeed there were already some, including race chairman Francis Chichester, who suspected something wasn’t quite right.

In the middle of June, Crowhurst reached the Sargasso Sea and, as the tradewinds died and his boat slowed down, he descended into a mental quagmire of his own. It was as if all his previous failures had caught up with him in this one grand, final failure.

Teignmouth Electron on Cayman Brac in 1991. The wreck has deteriorated considerably since. Photo: Geophotos / Alamy

And this time there was no way out, no way of reinventing himself. Instead, he gave up ‘sailorising’ and resorted to philosophising instead. Over the course of a week, he wrote a 25,000-word manifesto that described how mankind had achieved such an advanced evolutionary state that it could now merge with the cosmos. All that was needed was ‘an effort of free will’.

He ended his journal on 1 July with this desperate appeal: ‘I will only resign this game / if you agree that / the next occasion that this / game is played / it will be played / according to the / rules that are devised by / my great god who has / revealed at last to his son / not only the exact nature / of the reason for games but / has also revealed the truth of / the way of the ending of the / next game that / It is finished / It is finished / IT IS THE MERCY’

There then followed a countdown, ending at 11:20:40 precisely. It’s not known what happened next, but it’s generally assumed Crowhurst jumped over the side of the boat to his death. His empty yacht was found by a passing ship on 10 July with two sets of log books on board: the real and the fake.

It was left to Sunday Times journalists Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall to piece together what had happened and to reveal to the world Crowhurst’s elaborate hoax. With Crowhurst and Tetley both out of the race, Knox-Johnston, on his slow wooden tortoise of a boat, was the only person to finish the race and was duly award both prizes – though he subsequently donated the £5,000 cash prize to Crowhurst’s widow.

Huge public interest

The Golden Globe race generated enormous public interest at the time, and the discovery of Crowhurst’s boat was front page news. It’s a fascination that has continued almost unabated to this day. The French film Les Quarantièmes Rugissants, based on the Crowhurst story, was released in 1982, while at least five plays have picked up the theme, as well as the 1998 opera Ravenshead.

There have been several books published about Crowhurst and the race more generally, although none of them add anything substantial to the story told by Tomalin and Hall in their 1970 book The Strange Story of Donald Crowhurst.

In 2006, the acclaimed documentary Deep Water incorporated contemporary footage of the race, including some shot by Crowhurst during his voyage, and in 2017 director Simon Rumley released his own stylised take on the story, called simply Crowhurst.

The Mercy, then, is only the latest take on the Crowhurst saga – although with Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz on board, it is the most high-profile. So how does it compare to previous efforts?

As you’d expect of such a mainstream movie, the focus is firmly on the psychological drama rather than on the sailing – which is probably just as well considering how often films get the details of sailing wrong. There are some minor errors – Chichester wasn’t the first person to sail around the world single-handed, and the prize for the first competitor to finish the race was a trophy, not £5,000 – but the sailing scenes are generally quite convincing.

More importantly though, The Mercy is a captivating psychological drama, which shows how, through a series of small steps, a person can box themselves into a corner from which there is no escape. It’s this humbling of a deluded but essentially well-meaning man that gives the story such resonance and has inspired artists and writers for more than five decades. For, as anyone who has sailed out of sight of land knows, the sea has a knack of bringing out our inner demons. There is a Crowhurst in us all.

First published in the March 2018 edition of Yachting World.

The post Donald Crowhurst: The fake round-the-world sailing story behind The Mercy appeared first on Yachting World.

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Ask the authors: The originalist republic – Justice Gorsuch’s “A Republic, If You Can Keep It”

The following is a series of questions posed by Ronald Collins to Jane Nitze and David Feder in connection with Justice Neil Gorsuch’s  “A Republic, If You Can Keep It,” co-authored by Nitze and Feder.

Jane Nitze served as a law clerk to Justice Gorsuch on both the Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit and to Justice Sonia Sotomayor. David Feder served as a law clerk to Justice Gorsuch on both the Supreme Court and the 10th Circuit.

Welcome Jane and David, and thank you for taking the time to participate in this question-and-answer for our readers. And congratulations to you and the justice on the publication of this thoughtful book.

* * *

Question: Of all the books written by Supreme Court justices published while they were on the bench – some 350-plus such works – this may be the first one credited to others “with” a sitting justice. Typically, such collaborations are tucked away on the acknowledgements page, so it must have been a great honor when the justice extended this rare courtesy.

How did this title-page credit and working relationship come about?

Nitze & Feder: It was a great honor, and an unexpected one at that. We did not ask the justice to put our names on the cover — he offered of his own accord. That speaks to the type of person he is. He embodies the values that he preaches in the book: kindness, generosity, friendship and more. All his clerks have felt the power of his mentorship; he lifts up the people around him.

The working relationship came about at the conclusion of each of our respective clerkships with the justice. We each deeply respect his philosophy and jurisprudence and were grateful for the opportunity to continue to work with him in assembling the book.

Question: As noted in the book, the title comes from a 1787 quote from Benjamin Franklin. Of course, Chief Justice Earl Warren also selected it as the title of a work published 47 years ago. In some important respects, Warren’s was a very different kind of book with a different take on the role of a justice and how to interpret law.

Did you ever consult or discuss the chief justice’s book while working on this project?

Nitze & Feder: We never discussed the chief justice’s book, but we think the title is apt for a judicial book because it focuses the attention where it should be in our democracy: with the people, not with the judges.

Question: In reading this book one cannot help but notice a genuine sense of the need for civic virtue. That concern is couched in terms such as “civic responsibility,” “humility,” “integrity,” “patience,” “impartiality,” “kindness” and the value of reasoned judgments, not merely in the governmental realm but, more importantly, in society as well. Do you think we will hear more from the justice on this matter, not only in his judicial opinions but perhaps also in his extrajudicial statements?

Nitze & Feder: Yes, undoubtedly. The justice has made civics and civility the focus of many of his extrajudicial speeches, both before and during his time on the Supreme Court. He believes in the great American experiment of self-governance, and often speaks of the sorts of values that unite us as Americans and that are essential to ensuring our republic survives for generations to come. So, for example, he’s teamed up with Justice Sonia Sotomayor to promote iCivics, a civics education program, and we expect such efforts to continue.

Question: Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc., a statutory-interpretation case concerning the meaning of “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, was Gorsuch’s first Supreme Court opinion – one that his former boss, Justice Anthony Kennedy, happily signed on to by way of a hand-penned “join memo.” Not surprisingly, this unanimous opinion is included in your book.

What do you see as the main strengths of this textualist opinion?

Nitze & Feder: To begin, Henson illustrates the exemplary writing that has earned the justice praise from people of all stripes, and shows his ability to turn a fairly complex statutory interpretation case into one that even a nonlawyer could understand. The justice believes it’s important that the public as well as the litigants who come to court — not just the lawyers — be able to understand why the court reaches its decision.

The opinion, moreover, does an excellent job explaining why textualism matters. What happens when you try and further a statute’s perceived purpose over its text? Well, first and foremost, as the opinion explains, you face problems of democratic legitimacy. Often enough, a compromise embodied in the text was the price of getting enough votes to secure a statute’s passage. Besides, when it comes to the sorts of hard questions that the Supreme Court gets, can’t both sides usually make a pretty good argument about what best furthers the statute’s purpose? Faced with exactly that scenario, Henson explains that following the statute’s text itself, rather than trying to divine its unexpressed purpose, was the only legitimate (as well as the most prudent) course.

Question: There are competing notions of originalism. For example, there is Justice Hugo Black’s generous application of originalism in his dissent in Adamson v. California and Justice Clarence Thomas’ more cabined understanding in his concurrence in American Legion v. American Humanist Association. And then there is Professor Raoul Burger’s version in his book, “Government by Judiciary: The Transformation of the Fourteenth Amendment,” in which Burger argued that Brown v. Board of Education was wrongly decided as a matter of original meaning. There have been divergent applications of the theory in the same case, as exemplified by Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion and Justice John Paul Stevens’ dissent in District of Columbia v. Heller.

How is a jurist’s discretion limited in any meaningful way if the same theory can produce radically divergent results? How do you suppose Gorsuch would determine which precise methodology of originalism is the preferred one?

Nitze & Feder: We don’t think we can do better than Justice Gorsuch’s reply to this frequent question, from his speech “Originalism and the Constitution”:

“[L]iving constitutionalists often pursue their indeterminacy argument this way. They point to cases where originalist justices on the Supreme Court have disagreed about the Constitution’s original meaning. They say, ‘Aha! See, the promise of being able to figure out the original meaning of the Constitution is such a sham even they can’t agree.’ But what does the occasional dis­agreement between originalists really prove? We all know that the cases that land in the Supreme Court are the hardest ones in our legal system. So why should it surprise anyone that faithful originalists on the Court sometimes disagree on the original meaning of some of its provisions? And why should that be an indictment against the meth­odology?

After all, if there’s one piece of terrain that living constitutional­ists do not want to pitch their battle upon, it’s determinacy. Original­ism makes many of the living constitutionalists’ hard cases quite easy. Is the death penalty constitutional? Yes, the Constitution expressly mentions it multiple times. Does the Sixth Amendment require con­frontation or are there a bunch of balancing tests and unenumerated exceptions we must devise? We know the answer because the text tells us. And while originalists may sometimes disagree on outcomes, they are at least constrained by the same value-neutral methodology and the same closed record of historical evidence. Come to us with argu­ments from text, structure, and history and we are bound to listen with care and do our best to reason through them. Allow me to reign over the country as a living constitutionalist and you have no idea how I will exercise that fickle power.”

Question: This question is directed to both of you as practicing lawyers who either litigate cases or offer advice to clients or policymakers. Do theories of judicial review and constitutional and statutory interpretation, such as originalism and textualism, actually determine how you defend or counsel a client? For example, what if a nontextualist or nonoriginalist argument, consistent with settled law, favored your client whereas a textualist or originalist argument did not?

In that context, can we speak of lawyers as “textualist” or “originalist” lawyers? Or are such methods of interpretation more (if not entirely) a concern for appellate judges rather than for practicing lawyers?

Nitze & Feder: Surely one can be a practicing lawyer, rather than a judge, and yet firmly believe that originalism and textualism are the only legitimate methods of interpretation under our Constitution and its separation of powers. What types of arguments one chooses to press depends, in our view, on the circumstances, such as whether a lawyer is pressing his or her own view in a debate or those of a client’s before a court.

Question: In a portion of a tribute (reproduced in the book) to Justice Byron White, for whom he once clerked, Gorsuch wrote: “Justice White was famous for dissenting from denials of certiorari – he authored more than two hundred of them.”

Do you think Gorsuch is of a similar mindset when it comes to issuing dissents to denials of cert?

Nitze & Feder: Like Justice White, Justice Gorsuch cares deeply about every case that comes before him. So in that respect, it’s not surprising that he takes the time to write dissents from denials of certiorari when he thinks a case is worthy of the court’s attention. It’s very much in line with how he views his role as a judge: a judge should do his job and nothing more or less than that. And that includes hearing the cases worthy of being heard, such as those in which there is a circuit split, even if it’s not a particularly “important” case in the eyes of some.

We think this also goes to one of the reasons he declined to join the cert pool. As he recently told the Wall Street Journal: “There are 8,000 people a year who want this court to hear a case. We only hear about 70. I don’t think it’s asking too much of me to spend a little bit of time looking at those and doing it in-house, in our chambers, the old-fashioned way.”

Question: In a speech he gave at Florida State University College of Law (reproduced in the book), Gorsuch stated: “Taking a risk may mean anxiety along the way, but it will make you wildly happy if it succeeds and wiser if it fails.”

Is Gorsuch a risk taker? If so, how?

Nitze & Feder: In some ways, definitely. We suppose he’s unlikely to go paragliding anytime soon, but he’s certainly taken risks in his own life and career. Many of these he talks about in speeches to young lawyers collected in the book. For example, he took time to go to England for a fellowship, rather than walk the more narrow path straight to a law firm. Then in his choice of law firm he veered to the smaller, less established shop that was started a couple years before by a few friends. It could have collapsed but he took the risk, and as he tells it, it paid off: He was thrown in the deep end and gained great experience quickly. And then once he was an established partner, he departed to go into public service — yet another risk, but one that turned out to bring great professional joy.

Question: In the chapter entitled “The Art of Judging,” Gorsuch takes issue with portrayals of jurists who rule one way or another in a particular case or class of cases. He also takes exception to portrayals of justices as “‘liking’ or ‘disliking’ this or that group of persons.” That said, there are certain controversial areas of law in which the “conservative-liberal” divide is virtually certain to manifest itself time and again, regardless of the interpretive method employed.

In such instances, aren’t such labels warranted? If not, why not?

Nitze & Feder: We don’t think so. If a judge has this or that reading of (say) the Fourth Amendment, it’s not surprising he or she would rule the same way time and again on the issue. That’s a sign of consistency to be applauded, not denigrated. But it also doesn’t mean that the judge “likes” or “dislikes” a particular individual or group of individuals that happen to be favored or not by those opinions.

Besides, these areas are actually pretty rare and aren’t the norm. As Justice Gorsuch explained in a speech, “Law’s Irony,” while he was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit: “As you know but the legal cynic overlooks, the vast majority of disputes coming to our courts are ones in which all judges do agree on the outcome. The intense focus on the few cases where we disagree suffers from a serious selection effect problem. More than 90 percent of the decisions issued by my court are unanimous; that’s pretty typical of the federal appellate courts. Forty percent of the Supreme Court’s cases are unanimous, too, even though that court faces the toughest assignments and nine, not just three, judges have to vote in every dispute. In fact, the Supreme Court’s rate of dissent has been largely stable for the last seventy years — this despite the fact that back in 1945, eight of nine justices had been appointed by a single president and today’s sitting justices were appointed by five different presidents.”

Question: One motif in the book is Gorsuch’s concern about structural matters and how they relate to separation-of-powers issues. He voiced one such concern in the book and also in his dissent in Oil States Energy Services v. Greene’s Energy Group, in which he emphasized the need to police “the boundaries between executive and judicial functions and between the executive and legislative roles.”

What kind of structural/separation-of-powers issues most concern Gorsuch?

Nitze & Feder: We think the introduction to the book says it best:

“[A]ny reflection on our Constitution has to begin with an appreciation of its design. Of course, the Bill of Rights is vital: It promises the right to free speech, free exercise of religion, and so many other essential liberties. The Reconstruction Amendments and their promises of equal protection of the laws and due process are foundational too. But without limits on the powers of government, the promises of individual rights contained in these provisions are just that: promises. Our founders knew that the surest protections of human freedom and the rule of law come not from written assurances of liberty but from sound structures. As James Madison put it, men are not angels and the value of their promises depends on structures to enforce them.”

One of the things the justice talks about in the book is that the legal profession has focused heavily in the past few decades on the divide between the legislative and judicial branches. A renewed dedication to originalism and textualism is one of the upshots of that time and effort. But along the way we seem to have neglected devoting equal time and effort to the other two sides of what he calls the separation-of-powers triangle: the divide between the executive and judicial functions and between the executive and legislative ones. So he included a speech in the book, “‘Power Without Law’?,” that focuses on those two divides. After all, the rule of law depends on keeping all three governmental powers in their proper spheres.

Question: There is much in “A Republic, If You Can Keep It” that calls for major changes in existing law. Beyond those areas already mentioned, for example, Gorsuch warns of the “proliferation of federal criminal laws,” both statutory and regulatory. He is also concerned about excessive discovery in the civil-law context, particularly in “an age when every bit and byte of information is stored seemingly forever and is always retrievable.”

In light of all of this, would it be fair to call Gorsuch a reformer? If not, how would you characterize his calls for significant changes in our law?

Nitze & Feder: We wouldn’t apply any particular label to the justice; after all, “reformer” can mean many things to many different people. But does he think that our judicial system has its flaws, even while being the best the world has ever seen? Yes. We must have candid conversations about some of the ways in which we still fall short of our aspirations. Over-criminalization — the tendency, as he puts it in “Law’s Irony” (quoting Senator Joe Biden), to “federalize everything that walks, talks, and moves” — is something he has spoken about often. As are the areas where the system still struggles to offer affordable legal services. As he put it in the chapter “Toward Justice for All,” “I couldn’t afford my own services when I was in private practice; today’s law school graduates can’t either.”

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New Post has been published on http://www.naturalhairjunkies.com/embracing-my-spirituality-doesnt-mean-ive-strayed-from-god/

Embracing My Spirituality doesn't Mean I've Strayed from God

The fact that I even need to write this is astounding. I’m realizing that spirituality is soooo  taboo and people aren’t really sure what it is. But with that comes a lot of ignorance – including people alluding to devil worship. *Eye roll* But Embracing My Spirituality doesn’t Mean that I’ve strayed from God in any form or fashion. My relationship with God runs deep. I’m not even sure how the devil worship even became a thing or an assumption.

Disclaimer** If you are easily offended it may be time for you to bounce that aaaaa*** because I definitely need to set the record straight, and if you’re offended.. I won’t apologize.

Embracing My Spirituality doesn’t Mean that I’ve Strayed from God

The fact that this needs to be said, is a problem within itself. I pray, everyday and I give thanks daily. Just because i chose a different way to follow God doesn’t mean that I’ve strayed. No, I may not sit in a church every Sunday, but I am finding ways to honor God in my day to day life. I meditate, practice yoga & reiki. I mind my everyday business and I genuinely just try to be the best version of myself, everyday. And I don’t see the problem. My aim is for more peace & light within myself as I navigate through life.

What does sage& crystals have to do with it?

Sage & crystals somehow make you a devil worshipper. I’m definitely uncertain of how this analogy makes sense. Incense are burned during most church services & I don’t see anyone crying devil worship from the pews. I don’t see questions being raised about that or any questions from those in service.. Yet, the fact that I burn incense bothers you… But you don’t live in my home or partake in anything that I do for myself so why would this affect you?

The main reason I burn any of these things is to cleanse myself & my space of negative energy. I just want to be able to enter a room and sit with myself during meditation or prayer & just be. I love entering a room where the balance has been restored and it’s peaceful. Just mind your business and don’t touch my things. Your energy is gross and I really don’t need that sticking to me in any form. I’m just over here connecting to my higher self, seeking a sense of peace and happiness within myself and just bliss. I deserve bliss….

Using religion to back negativity and ignorance doesn’t help you

If you genuinely don’t understand someone’s “way of life”, there are ways to either ask or research for yourself. But linking everything that you don’t understand or you’re unaware of to evil, is beyond ignorant. Not everyone is trying to be a “witch” or practice voodoo, hoodoo or whatever else you picked up from TV. We allllll loved Coven but not everyone is out here trying to Marie Laveau, even though she was definitely a bad bihhhh… Most people, still listen to a great gospel song, meditate, align their chakras & stillllll make it to Sunday service to worship. But I guess ignorance is bliss. You want to believe so bad that the woman connecting to her roots is the devil or up to no good. You choose to believe that crystal use is of the devil and more. It’s the most backwards yet judgmental thing I’ve ever heard.

Plus, being spiritual just means that you aren’t tied to a specific religion, it doesn’t make you a Satanist or an Atheist. So relax, mind your business and make sure that YOU are living a life that God will be proud of. Ya’ll worry entirely about the wrong things. Focus on yourself, and what you’re building and teaching your children. Focus on your relationship with God and if you truly have one verses just going through the motions. Do not ask me about devil worship, because I don’t know anything about that. I don’t practice it. I’m not a meditation away from that, and It’s just not in my nature or spirit to do so.

Just Mind Your Business

Let me glow up. Everyone is attracted to the peace. the light and good vibes. And that’s cool and all, however, minding your business is in your best interest. Stop judging my life from a distance, sending me Bullsh** memes and using it as a Segway to ask if its true. Don’t worry about how I find peace or positives in crap situations. And if I’m truly going through what I am going through because my energy doesn’t show signs of struggle. It takes work, to see the positives in life and in every situation. It takes a whole lot of God and all of the light placed within the universe to function at a high frequency. God blesses me immensely and I’m beyond grateful. There is no devil here.

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