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lire-casander · 2 years

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chapter #4 — first chorus

TK can feel his cheeks burning as Carlos finishes entering what he can only hope is a correct phone number, before handing TK’s phone back.

He stares at the warm brown eyes that are looking back at him, wide and questioning, and he can't help but wonder what on Earth possessed him to leave Jonah’s favorite ice cream parlor because he saw a random stranger inadvertently drop his wallet. And then follow said stranger all the way through the city.

"Now," Carlos says, his voice an octave deeper than it was a second before. "Can I—can I have yours?"

The feeling that washes over TK is exhilarating. It's been a hot minute since the last time he gave out his phone number to anyone; Paul has been managing all his communications, so the last person TK shared his number with was Alex. He feels a shiver crawling up his spine. He doesn't want to think about that cheater.

“Gladly,” TK says with a small smile. He swipes his thumb over his screen and in a matter of seconds Carlos’ phone starts vibrating in his hand. “There, you have it.”

He waits, almost impatiently, as Carlos saves his number. TK’s about to place his own phone on the table when the screen lights up. When he checks it, he sees it's Judd.

"Sorry," he huffs. "I need to take this." Carlos nods; TK’s standing up and walking away for privacy even before that. "Judd," he greets curtly.

"Where are you?" Judd cuts right to the core of the matter. "TK, you vanished.” Before he can interrupt, Judd continues forcefully, “Don’t tell me that you texted Enzo. A text saying I’m fine, not being kidnapped, sorry for ditching you isn’t an explanation. It definitely hasn’t calmed Enzo, let me tell you, and there are a lot of pictures already posted of you and some guy. Tell me where you are. I'll come take you home."

"Pictures? Already?" TK asks, dumbfounded.

"You know how fast they work, TK," Judd scoffs. "There are stills of you and some guy that could be the owner of the wallet you found on the floor at the parlor. They're everywhere. Where are you?"

The shiver that had made itself present in his spine comes back full force. He doesn't need to check the websites to know this is bad. Really bad.

Nuclear bad.

"I'm at Ms. Fa’s," he tells Judd. "We had to run from the paps. I didn't think."

"You sure as hell didn't, city boy," Judd grunts. "You're not that far away. I’ll be there in five. Be ready. There might be more paps out and I may not be able to save you from them." And, with that, the call disconnects.

TK goes back to their table. He knows there's a grim expression on his face; Carlos picks up on the mood swing quickly, standing up. "The food is on me," he offers, but TK dismisses him.

"It’s fine, don’t worry. Ms. Fa knows to add it to my tab. But I really need to go, Carlos, I’m sorry. I've really enjoyed being with you. I hope we can do it again sometime."

Carlos smiles that smile of his, the one that could light up the whole universe. "Text me? Or, I don't know, call me? Or should I call you? I don’t know if I should—"

TK mimics the smile. "I'll call you. But you can call me too. This is a two-way street, Carlos."

"Then we'll talk again, TK."

TK turns in time to see Judd entering the place and saying something to An in Chinese as well. "C'mon, pretty boy," he says without proper greeting, and not acknowledging Carlos' presence. "Let's get you out of here."

TK would love to say goodbye to Carlos, to avoid leaving him standing in the middle of a Chinese restaurant in Spring Street, but he knows he needs to follow Judd. So he doesn't say anything else, allowing himself to be guided through the space and out of the door. The car isn’t parked right outside the restaurant; instead, Judd leads him down the street a few steps before a clamoring crowd of photographers and journalists gang up on them like hawks onto their prey. Judd was right; the vultures would have spared no one had they known the exact location of Ms. Fa’s restaurant. He can just hope that they don’t get a whiff of Carlos’ whereabouts.

He wouldn’t want to scare Carlos without a chance to get to know him better.

"TK, how are you feeling about the video?"

"Who's this mysterious guy?"

"Have you been cheating on Alex too?"

TK’s used to the crazy that surrounds his public life, but he shudders when the last question makes its way into his mind. Knowing that it's what the world will think — that he's stooped down to Alex’s level, that he could even get that low as to destroy someone's trust like this — TK swallows down a whimper. The itch beneath his skin irks him, the need to scrap the sobriety he's worked so hard to keep overwhelming and deafening. He wonders where it's been these past moments; he realizes that he hasn't thought about using because he's been busy getting to know Carlos. The only thing tethering him to the ground is Judd’s hand around his waist, deftly leading him towards a black car, the way he's been doing for the past few years.

"Enough!" Judd bellows, steeping in between TK and the crowd of flashes and barks, "Get into the car. Go, go!"

The silence inside the car grows steadier but it’s not uncomfortable, TK notices after a few turns and lights. Just when they’re waiting for the third or fourth light to turn from red to green, TK grabs his phone and checks his notifications, only to see that Carlos has already texted him.

You gonna be okay?

TK huffs. I will be, he promises. Then, he types I think it’d be better, before making up his mind and deleting all the words, typing instead, I'm better now than I was before. Thanks for that.

The reply comes straight away. I'm glad I could help. Try to sleep, okay? We'll talk tomorrow.

And with that promise, TK — after sending a smiley emoji back — pockets his phone and rests his head on the headrest, waiting for the ride to be over.

When the car arrives at his building, Paul shows up out of the blue to escort him through the throng of paparazzi accosting him until he reaches the safe haven of his home. A few minutes later, Judd catches up to them when they’re waiting for the elevator. He’s panting slightly; TK suspects that, while they’re not allowed into the building, the paparazzi can be extenuating and quite insistent, following the car all the way to the entrance of the private parking in the building. Usually, they would just enter the parking lot and ride the elevator from there to the penthouse, but works in the parking space have cut off the elevator service down there. Now, TK finds himself having to fend off reporters and photographers even as he tries to enter his own building.

The television is on when he sets foot into his apartment, some advertisement running in the background; it looks like someone, most likely Enzo given the time, has turned it on and then forgot to turn it off, because there’s no one around. TK shrugs off Paul’s worries and Judd’s orders not to leave the place until the coast is clear and the paparazzi have left the area, which TK knows won’t be happening before sunrise. TK flops down onto his couch, ignoring the way Paul pointedly glares at him while Judd goes to check the door, and he leans in to grab the remote and change the channel when Jesse Corbett gets back into the frame and TK remains frozen in his spot as the showman resumes what seems to be his speech prior to the ad cut.

“Did you hear TK Strand freaked out at the concert tonight? Apparently he had a breakdown because his fiancé got a little frisky with someone else. Shame on you, Alex! But d’you know what?” He points to the audience that can’t be seen on the screen and goes on, destroying what’s left of TK’s self-esteem in the process. “Now he's been seen getting cozy with a guy nobody knew of. Can you believe that? Is there something you want to tell us, TK? Maybe about your hypocrisy?"

“Why don’t you turn it off?” comes Enzo’s voice from behind the couch, startling TK. “It’s only bound to hurt you.”

“He’s not lying, you know,” TK mumbles. Enzo flops down the couch beside him and silently offers him the ice cream container he’s been holding in his hands. “Not about—not about me cheating. I could never—I mean, about me having a breakdown when I shouldn’t have. I’m an easy target to become a punchline.”

“Only because you allow them to treat you like one, TK,” Enzo sighs. “You need to start believing in yourself more. You need to start treating yourself the way you treat everyone else.”

“Enzo—”

“With respect,” Enzo interrupts him.

“It’s just—it’s—” TK can feel the prickle of tears behind his eyelids as he closes his eyes to find his focus. He’s feeling way too much at the same time, and he doesn’t want to resort to old coping mechanisms. Enzo must be thinking the same, for he carefully puts the container onto the coffee table in front of them and wraps his arms around TK’s shoulders, as though he was once again a lost teenager. “It’s all happening so fast.”

“What do you need?” Enzo mutters.

“Just— just tell me it didn't happen.” TK sobs into Enzo’s t-shirt. “Why do I always pick the wrong guy? I let everyone down. I let Jonah down. Oh, God, Jonah, he—”

“Jonah will be fine,” Enzo promises. “Now that Alex is out of the picture — because he is out of the picture, right? Jonah’s been so scared about this whole thing and about you forgetting about him. But then you made time for him, and he even met his teacher for the year at the parlor. Just try not to leave him alone to run off after some stranger without taking him with you next time, okay?” Enzo finishes in a teasing voice, letting TK know that he isn’t actually mad at him.

"I'm sorry," TK all but moans.

"Jonah wants you to be happy. He just doesn't like to feel that you're sidelining him. You should talk to him."

TK nods against Enzo’s chest. While it’s true he doesn’t particularly want to go through this conversation with his baby brother, he’s grateful that Enzo has helped him see that, sometimes, adulting means having tough conversations with the people you love.

“But maybe not tonight,” Enzo clarifies. “And preferably not tomorrow. We had all these big plans, since I’m leaving on Monday, and it’s taken me a while to convince him I won’t be leaving him just like Gwyn did. He asked for a day full of his favorite things.”

“He’s just like mom,” TK laughs wetly. “He always gets his way.”

“You’ll have your hands full with him while I’m away,” Enzo jokes. “Just try not to give in so much, okay?”

“I can’t make any promises.”

TK’s already feeling better; Enzo’s always had this superpower that calms TK in a way his own father never could. However, he doesn’t move even though he knows he should. He feels safe in Enzo’s embrace, and he wants it to last as long as possible before real life kicks back in. Which it does, in the form of one Marjan Marwani knocking on his door. Paul interrupts his nice and safe moment with Enzo by clearing his throat.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but we need to do some damage control.”

“It’s okay, son,” Enzo says, standing up when TK removes himself from his personal space. “We’ll talk more tomorrow night, okay? Jonah will be fine, you’ll see. He’ll bounce back, as long as you bounce back too.”

“I’ll make sure he does, sir,” Paul promises, still not used to treating Enzo like part of the family, despite Enzo’s endless attempts to get him to call him by his given name. “Now, if you’ll excuse us—”

Enzo heads back to the guest room, and when they’re left alone — or as alone as a penthouse full of managers, social media gurus, and bodyguards can be — Paul leads Marjan to the couch, where she flops down unceremoniously. Judd comes around as well, talking on the phone with his wife, TK thinks. His face always turns into a mushy smile whenever he even thinks of her. However, this time his expression has morphed into one of disbelief.

“What do you mean you know—” he splutters, taking a few steps away from them. “Through T? How on Earth is that possible? Wait, what?” he continues, but as he takes steps further away from TK, the words blur into each other until TK can’t understand anything that’s being said.

Judd’s unease while speaking to his wife rubs off on TK, leaving him feeling quite nervous as well, although he can’t put a finger on the reason why.

“Well, I have good news and bad news,” Marjan announces.

“Why do I feel like I’ll need something strong to drink?” Paul tries to joke, making his way to the kitchen and coming back, less than thirty seconds later, with four bottles of water.

“Great choice,” Marjan approves, grabbing hers and unscrewing the cap to take a sip. “The good news is that there was a lot of media coverage of how Alex has been a jerk and a cheater, which is good for publicity in your case.”

TK shakes his head. He isn’t sure how having his heart broken live on stage equals good publicity. It’s publicity, in any case, but none TK would have wanted.

“And the bad news?” Paul asks, mimicking her and drinking from his bottle. TK’s remains untouched.

“The bad news is that Alex has been calling nonstop for the past hour. Which, by the way, is the time that it’s taken me to get here,” Marjan adds. “Nobody knew where you’d gone, TK,” she says accusingly. “Way to not worry us.”

If he’s being honest, TK hadn’t even realized how long they’d been gone. Time had little to no importance while he was with Carlos. When he looks up at Paul and Marjan, he sees their matching unamused glares. “I did text.”

“Oh, do you mean that text you sent to Enzo, all cryptic and shit?” Paul questions.

TK doesn’t need to answer; everyone already knows what his reply would be. “Alex, you were saying,” he questions Marjan, diverting their attention from him.

“Apparently he’s going to Hawaii, using your honeymoon flight tickets. He says he needs to get his head together.” TK can’t help the scoff that escapes his mouth. “I know, I know. He’s a prick, he’s enjoying your trip to paradise for his benefit, and he’s a jerk who cheated on you. Repeatedly. But let’s try to stay positive here, okay?"

"How can we—" TK cuts himself off before he says something he might regret, like throwing his own incompetence at being alone in his friends' faces.

Judd chooses that specific moment to come back, his face a little paler than it was before, one hand over the speaker of his phone. “Marjan, can I please talk to you for a moment here? It’s quite urgent.” Marjan shares a confused glance with both Paul and TK. She must see something in Paul’s glance back, because she stands up and follows him without questioning.

“That was—” TK starts. “That was weird.”

“I don’t think so,” Paul retaliates as he shrugs nonchalantly. TK knows his manager and friend better than anyone gives him credit for, and he’s sure Paul’s as worried as he is. The question is whether or not they are worried about the same thing; in TK’s case, that Judd had seemed so shaken after talking to his wife that TK fears something bad has happened to the couple’s baby. “It must be some sort of security breach in the social media or something.”

“For real, Paul? That’s your take?”

“No,” Paul explains. “But if something’s wrong, they’ll tell us. I think Judd’s received some sort of bad news from Grace, and they most probably revolve around social media. Hence the need to talk to Marjan.”

“Without us?”

“Well, I doubt they need you to make it less complicated. You’ve done enough for one night,” Paul points out. “And Marjan knows I despise social media with a passion.”

TK purses his lips at Paul’s words, but when he’s about to launch into a tirade about how they should follow Judd and Marjan and find out what they’re talking about, his bodyguard and his social media guru walk back into the living room.

Marjan is waving her phone in front of him. "I've done a bit of digging, and it turns out you've picked a decent guy this time," she announces. She sits down once again on the couch, next to Paul, and while she shows TK her screen, she leans in to mutter something into Paul’s ear. It’s so low that it escapes TK’s hearing; when Paul nods curtly after his breath catches loudly in his throat, TK has the distinct feeling that he’s being kept out of a secret.

“What is it?” he tries to ask, but Paul cuts him off.

“You say he’s a decent guy?” he asks instead, recentering the focus of the conversation on Marjan once again instead of on what TK needs to ask.

"Out of the one hundred thousand potential dumpster fires," Judd mutters under his breath, loud enough for TK to catch it. He briefly wonders when the fine line between bodyguarding and mocking him was crossed; he thinks maybe sometime in the beginning, when Judd clocked in with a large lemon curd cake made by his wife.

“How on Earth have you been able to find anything so soon?” TK questions Marjan. This time, he picks a cushion off the couch and hugs it. He’d barely gotten to know Carlos for a couple of hours — the weirdest yet most amazing couple of hours of the past months — but apparently Marjan already has a file on him.

“Well, I’ve got a bit of help from Gra—” Marjan begins, only to stop herself from talking anymore when Judd comes back into the room, fixing her a sharp glare that doesn’t go unnoticed by TK. “You were gone for so long,” Marjan begins again, talking as she would to a toddler. “The websites have gone crazy with the photos from outside the ice cream parlor that, I may add, you fled, leaving Jonah and Enzo and Judd alone. I’ve just gone with what they’ve found out and researched further. And it's been really hard," she continues, undeterred. "This guy seems to be nonexistent on social media. Like, he doesn't even have an Instagram account.”

“That’s still scary.”

“Not scarier than a creep on a website finding out the name of your boy in less than five minutes. According to those vultures, he has a daughter. They’ve been discreet enough to leave her out of it. Nobody knows her name or how old she is, but soon enough she’ll be followed around by them.”

“Her name’s Leyre,” TK mumbles almost automatically. “Not sure of the spelling.”

Marjan punches a few things on her screen and comes up with something, which she triumphantly shows them all. “Your boy may not have any social media profiles, but his daughter made quite an impression two years ago on a Mathatlon. She was everywhere. Here," she stops for a full effect that falls flat when Paul arches an eyebrow at her and says nothing.

Huffing, she punches a few spots on her screen and grabs the remote, switching the channel until they are all watching her phone screen on the television. “Almost every local newspaper wrote about the girl who single-handedly won the competition when her teammates fell sick due to a weird stomach bug.”

Marjan sounds excited as she surfs through the different tabs in the browser. “See? Even the New York Times interviewed them. Here she is with her father. In this article they even talk about them as a family.” She points at a couple of lines in the article. “TK, you picked a decent single father with no criminal record."

“How on Earth,” TK repeats, “have you found all those things?”

"Do we know anything else?" Judd asks. He sounds professional, but there’s something off in the way he seems to be keeping himself from speaking too much — or too openly. TK is aware that he's actually filing every little detail for his background check on Carlos, since Judd is much more than his bodyguard — he's also his head of security, someone TK hadn't thought he'd ever need until one day when one of Alex’s fans got crazy and tried to assault him in broad light.

But it’s weird, the way they all seem to dodge his questions about how they’ve found out everything they already know.

"He's a teacher," Marjan continues. "Have yet to figure out where he teaches. But my bet is the same school the daughter attends."

"I doubt he’s going to be a problem," Paul states. "I say we call him here, see what he wants out of this. With a bit of luck, we’ll get an NDA signed and he will never talk about meeting you, if he even thought about it in the first place."

For a moment, TK is inclined to accept this scenario that Paul has set up in front of him — play it off and then deal with the fallout of Alex’s very public cheating on his own. But his track record of dealing isn't healthy; TK doesn't want to give in to the itch that's ever present beneath his skin, the need that's been threatening to take over his whole being ever since he learned about Alex and Mitchell.

He realizes that the only moments he hasn't felt the prickle of need have been those when he was staring into Carlos' warm eyes.

"Or," he says slowly, earning himself a look from everyone in the room. "Or we do nothing. Don't look at me like that," he continues, glaring at Paul. “Listen, we need to get a head start on this. We have to change the narrative. Alex thinks he can publicly humiliate me? Jesse Corbett thinks I can become his punchline? Let's prove them wrong. Let's prove everyone who's ever thought I was a joke wrong. Let's get out there and tell the world, I’ve been beaten down, but I will never be defeated."

“What is this, TK?” Paul fires back. “A late-night date with a complete stranger who doesn’t understand the hardships of being a celebrity? Rebound sex? Very public rebound sex?”

“We didn’t even—”

"You're crazy," Marjan intervenes with a raised voice. "You can’t seriously be thinking of pulling this guy into this circus. I get it, he’s nice and he’s hot, and it would’ve been amazing, if the paps hadn’t caught you. They’re going to eat him alive. There’s no way he’s going to want any of this. He’s a teacher. A hot one,” she concedes. “But he’s anonymous. He’s a normal guy.”

"TK," Paul tries to say. "Assuming this guy doesn't have a boyfriend or a life," he glares at Marjan when she pointedly coughs, "I'm not sure that's what we will be telling the world. Is this the message you want to send? My fiancé cheated on me so I fled the venue with a complete stranger on a whim?"

"You'll become an even funnier joke, TK," Judd tries to warn him, but TK closes his eyes and focuses on the memory of those eyes as the need to use grows inside of him.

And as the warmth that the memory of Carlos' smile spreads through his soul works magically to soothe him, TK knows he's not making a mistake this time.

"Call him," he commands. "Maybe this is exactly what we all need."

* ~ * ~ *

Carlos arrives at his apartment barely forty minutes later. Fortunately, there's nobody waiting for him outside with a camera and a microphone. He thanks the Lord above before scrambling his way up to his building's door. He knows Leyre won't be upstairs — Nancy has already confirmed that she's back at Tommy’s with the twins, as had been the plan before the night had derailed into something Carlos can't control anymore.

He leans against his front door once he closes it and has stepped inside his apartment.

He still isn't sure how he's made it out of Ms. Fa’s in one piece. He barely remembers the details after TK’s bodyguard all but sequestered the singer and took him away from Carlos. What he does remember, though, is standing in the middle of the restaurant, longing for more time to get to know the person behind the facade. And then turning to his phone and texting TK like the gentleman he is, making sure he’s going to be fine. At some point, with the paparazzi almost forcing their way into the restaurant to get a good glimpse at him and An keeping them outside and threatening to call the police, Carlos had found himself being guided through the restaurant to a backdoor by Ms. Fa, who also gave him a cap and a pat on the back before telling him in her broken English that he should come back soon.

He made his way back to his house on autopilot, trying to find the least busy streets and avoiding the main avenues until he reached his building. He wonders how the journalists might have found where they were so fast, but it's a thought that dies quickly as another one pops in his mind immediately, overtaking his whole body.

Leyre might have seen the pictures, if the vultures had already posted them. And, given the nature of the people featured in them, Carlos is pretty sure there's not a single soul in the States that hasn't heard of TK Strand’s late night date with a complete stranger on the same day he had his heart broken.

"What were you thinking, Reyes?" he chides himself. "You and your damned savior complex."

As if on cue, his phone starts blaring. He glares at it; he forgot to put it on silent before and now it's going to wake up the whole neighborhood. He glares even harder when he sees Nancy’s name on the screen.

He picks it up anyway.

"Do you know what time it is, Nance?"

"Apparently not late enough for you, you little Don Juan," she greets him cheerfully. "How was your night?"

"I hate you," he mumbles. "How much do you know?"

"Oh, you mean to ask if I already know about your little stint saving TK Strand of all people from being harassed by journalists outside the ice cream parlor we were all in? Because if it's that, then yeah, I already know. I called for the juicy bits!"

Carlos would laugh at her eagerness if the night hadn't been tainted by the events that led to TK being saved by someone else.

"There are no juicy bits, Nancy," he sighs into the phone. "Can we just leave this for tomorrow? We're meeting up for lunch anyway."

"Too bad I'm just outside your door," she sing-songs into his ear, at the same time as a tell-tale knock can be heard on his front door.

"You’re joking, right?"

"Open the door, Reyes," she says, loud enough that he hears it both through the speaker and from outside the door.

"You're going to wake Ms. Gints up," he complains and opens the door almost instantly. “You’re annoying, Nancy.”

“You should’ve thought it through better before renting an apartment in my same building,” she says as she steps into his apartment. “Now, I take it you haven’t seen the pictures yet, right?” When he shakes his head, Nancy walks over to the living room and searches for the remote. "It's all over the internet, dude."

"What's all over the internet?" Carlos asks dumbly. "It's three in the morning, who the hell is up at this ungodly hour doing whatever on the internet?”

“Paparazzi, that’s who,” Nancy warns him as she plugs the television in and uses his Chromecast to broadcast whatever she’s been watching on her phone. All of a sudden, there’s a ruckus of voices and shouts filling the space. Carlos flinches. “See? I never thought you’d have it in you to just elope with a celebrity.”

“We didn’t elope,” Carlos mumbles, snatching the remote out of Nancy’s hands and turning his television off. The silence falls upon them creepily after all the noise and the voices screaming TK, how are you feeling about the video? and Who's this mysterious guy? and Have you been cheating on Alex too?

“Well, you certainly didn’t think what that would look like when you escaped with TK Strand of all people in front of a crowd of photographers.” Nancy bows her head to the side to look at him. “How are we feeling about TK, by the way?”

“You know,” Carlos begins, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. “You already consider him a ten. He is a ten. And I kinda can’t get him out of my head.”

Nancy squeals. “I’m so happy for you! Why don’t you ask him on a date? I mean, another date. I mean, I can’t believe I’m saying this about TK Strand. Have you even exchanged numbers?”

“Yes, we have, and I might ask him out?” Carlos shrugs. He doesn’t know where his boldness is coming from. “He’s sweet. But enough about this,” he says. “We need to sleep. We’re going to be late for our lunch date tomorrow.”

“But I want all the details!” Nancy pouts, but Carlos stands his ground. “Just a few?”

They end up being late for their lunch date with Tommy, Grace, and the girls.

They sleep through the alarm Carlos had set for showering and getting dressed, and since he has to wait for Nancy to grab a change of clothes from her apartment, they find themselves running through the streets of New York City on a Saturday morning, until they reach the open space where a few food trucks have been set up. Carlos runs a hand through his wild curls, trying to tame them before they set foot in the picket-fenced space. He can hear Leyre and the twins from a mile away, their loud voices filling his ears with laughter and warmth.

"Girls, you're going to wake Charlie up!" Grace's voice manages to be heard over theirs. "Tune it down a bit, please?"

"Look who's finally here," Tommy greets them with a smile. "We've ordered for you. You've taken your sweet time."

Carlos makes the rounds, dropping a kiss on Grace’s cheek and caressing Charlie's head.

"There was a lot to talk about," Nancy announces with a huff as she flops down beside Tommy on the bench. "I'm sure you'll want the details as well."

"Papi," Leyre calls him, standing up and hugging him. Carlos hugs her back after a few seconds' delay, surprised that she's displaying affection in public. "Is it true that you went on a date with TK Strand? Will you introduce me to him?"

"I see what this is about," he jokes. "The thing is, honey—"

"Remember what we talked about last night?" Tommy interrupts. "TK Strand is a person that deserves privacy as much as everyone else does. So does your father. I'm positive Carlos will share whatever it is to share in due time. Not a single second earlier, and definitely not because of any kind of pressure on our part."

He mouths, "I owe you," to his friend as her words sink into the girls' brains and their chatter resumes about something else entirely. Soon enough, they're distracted by whatever topic crosses their conversation, and the adults can attack their food freely.

After a few moments of just munching, Grace leaves her burrito on the tray and looks up at Tommy.

"You're right, T," she says. "When you said that bit about privacy. Everyone deserves that. And TK hasn't had privacy in way too long."

At first it doesn’t click in Carlos' mind, but as the words register he notices that the way Grace pronounces TK’s name is different from anyone else's. It's as though she's saying it with a warmth reserved for your loved ones.

"There's something I need to tell you," she continues. "It wasn't mine to tell, and it still isn't, but Judd’s told me it's okay, now. After, you know, you went out with TK."

“Why does it sound like you’ve got some juicy goss for us?” Nancy sits up, elbows on the table as she leans over the surface, clearly interested.

“That’s because I do,” Grace sighs. Charlie gurgles in her arms, and she takes a moment to rock her baby. “Remember when I told you Judd’s job for the past decade has been being a bodyguard?” Everyone nods; Carlos has the sinking feeling his world is about to be rocked in a less gentle way than Grace is rocking Charlie. Grace lowers her voice. “His client is TK Strand. Although, ‘client’ might be a bit too formal. He’s like the younger brother Judd never had.”

It’s a testament to how astonished the news leaves them that Nancy simply stares at Grace, mouth open, unable to say a thing. In true Tommy Vega’s fashion, she ushers the girls towards the counter to go get ice cream as dessert just to keep them from listening in. Carlos coughs into his hand as the words sink in his soul.

“You never thought of telling us you knew TK Strand?” Nancy finally screeches. “Help us get tickets to his shows? Introduce him to us?”

“It wasn’t her place to tell,” Tommy tries to explain to an outraged Nancy. “It wasn’t mine, either.”

“So you knew, too,” Nancy says dejectedly. “I suppose Evie and Izzie knew too, right?”

Carlos watches as Tommy sighs and shakes her head. “They’re only twelve,” she begins. “I’ve tried to keep them from magazines and stuff like that for as long as I could. But eventually I had to tell them, because her Uncle Judd kept being photographed with their favorite singer.”

“I’m still amazed at how well they’ve kept the secret,” Grace admits. “It seems they haven’t even told Leyre.”

“When were you going to tell us?” Nancy demands. “When were you planning to free your daughters from such a secret? Never?”

“I get it, Grace,” Carlos says in that particular moment. He doesn’t want Nancy to pick on Grace and Tommy for preserving the privacy of another human being; he kind of gets it, now. “And I thank you for telling us now. I guess it’s because of all the pictures floating around. I, uh, I’m not dating TK, and I know you know we didn’t know each other before last night, so it’s impossible for him to have been cheating on his ex-boyfriend with me.”

“I know all of that,” Grace smiles at him. “I know both of you. I’m just telling you now because things are going to get weirder the more you get to know TK, and I know you will. Get to know TK, that is. I’d be very surprised if you two haven't already been texting.”

“Yeah, multiple times,” Nancy snitches, apparently a little bit calmer now that Carlos has spoken. She still looks somewhat taken aback by the knowledge she’s just learned, but Carlos hopes it won’t taint their friendship with Grace — and with Tommy, who’s done nothing but protect her family through all this.

Just when Carlos is about to deny every charge, his phone chimes with a new text, earning him the amused looks of his three friends. He fishes it out of his pocket and checks the screen.

Wanna come to my place tomorrow? 9 am?

TK’s signed his text with a smiley and an address that sounds like it’s located on the other side of Central Park — the wealthier part.

“See what I mean?”

“He’s asking me to his place, tomorrow morning,” Carlos muses. “Before your minds go to the gutter, I doubt this is a booty call at nine in the morning.”

“He’s given you his address?” Grace leans in when Carlos shows off his screen. “Wow, that’s—that’s forward, even for TK. He must really like you.”

“Uh,” Carlos replies eloquently.

“I’ll go with you,” Nancy offers.

“I’ll tell the girls they can spend the whole weekend together at mine,” Tommy continues. “Give Leyre enough time to go back home and grab a change of clothes. They’ll be thrilled.”

“Will you tell Leyre that you knew TK all this time?” Carlos asks.

“Is that something you want me to do?” When Carlos shakes his head no, Tommy smiles. “Plus, I don’t know TK. We’ve only seen each other once or twice, and my daughters have yet to meet him. We wanted to wait until their celebrity crush dwindled down.”

“If they grow up to be anything like their Auntie Nancy,” Carlos points out with a chuckle, “that’s never going to happen.”

“Thanks for the trust,” Nancy huffs out. “I can be perfectly coherent while meeting my celebrity crush. I’ll prove it to you.”

“God help us,” Carlos mutters under his breath, earning himself a swat from Nancy.

“I’ll talk to Judd about this, make sure the gang doesn’t give you a hard time,” Grace finishes.

“So I’m doing this, huh?” Carlos asks rhetorically.

Nancy laughs at him, but before snatching a burrito right from under his nose, she lets her hand drop on his arm and her fingers squeeze tight, as if saying, I’ve got you.

Carlos has never been more grateful for his friends.

On Sunday morning, Carlos knocks on the door of the penthouse, Nancy by his side, and shuffles nervously from one foot to the other. He thought he’d be ready for this, but now that he’s actually waiting to be let into TK’s home, Carlos can’t help the anxiety building.

“It’ll be alright,” Nancy tells him. She squeezes his arm. “Just be yourself. It pretty much was enough last time you saw him.”

“Last time I saw him, I was saving him from the paparazzi,” Carlos mumbles. “It was—it felt different, that’s all.”

Before Nancy can say anything — undoubtedly some witty remark — the door flies open and the big guy who saved TK from the chaos at Ms. Fa’s restaurant stands in front of them. “Carlos Reyes,” he says, with a broad smile on his face. “And I guess you must be Nancy Gillian.”

“That we are,” Nancy says brightly. “You’re Judd, right? Grace’s husband?”

“That would be me.” Judd opens the door further and steps aside to let them in. “I couldn’t believe it when Gracie told me she knew you guys. The world’s a small place.”

“Small, indeed,” Carlos mutters as he enters. He can’t see TK anywhere, but there’s a sturdy man talking on a Bluetooth earpiece and pacing around what looks like the living room, and a woman in a hijab gesturing wildly while talking on her own earpiece. “So, uh—”

“Why don’t you just wait here?” Judd offers, signaling the couch in between the man and the woman talking on their phones. “Paul and Marjan will be with you in a moment. I’m going to fetch TK.”

“I’m going to fetch TK,” Nancy mouths at Carlos as Judd disappears through a corridor. He can tell she’s excited; she’s never met a celebrity before. Not that Carlos had before Friday night, but he’s way more invested in whatever this is because he’s already met TK and he knows he’s a normal guy despite all the hype around his image.

“Listen, Josie, I need to go now—we’ll see about that. Wait for my call. Bye.” The man seems to hang up his call and turns in time to see them both standing awkwardly in the middle of the living room. “Oh, you’re already here!” he exclaims. “Please, take a seat. TK will be out any second. I’m Paul, Paul Strickland, TK’s manager. Can I offer you anything to drink? I think we have water, orange juice, apple juice.”

“Stop harassing our guests,” the woman interjects. She barks something into her earpiece before lifting one finger and applying a slight pressure on it. “Marjan Marwani. Don’t let Paul intimidate you.”

“He isn’t the one intimidating,” Nancy mutters, mostly to Carlos, who huffs out a laugh.

“Nice to meet you,” Carlos says, refraining from elbowing Nancy. “Carlos Reyes, but I bet you already knew that. This is Nancy Gillian.” He places a protective hand on the small of Nancy’s back, fully knowing that she doesn’t need any protection.

“Oh.” Paul frowns at them at the gesture. “I hadn’t realized you thought you’d need to bring your—friend? Girlfriend?”

“Ew, gross. No!” Nancy splutters. “We’re friends. I’m definitely not his type.”

“I had to ask,” Paul explains. “I didn’t want to assume anything, you know.”

“It’s okay,” Nancy assures him. “I’m the guidance counselor at the same school Carlos teaches at.”

“Good to know,” Marjan says. “Now, while we wait for Pretty Boy to show up, we would like to talk to you about going forward, Carlos.”

Carlos arches an eyebrow at her. He knew, coming here, that he would have to talk to TK’s team as well, but he thought he’d do it with TK, not without him. “I don’t think I understand. I came here—”

“—to talk to TK,” Paul finished for him. “But you also have to talk to us as well, and I’d rather tell you some things while TK’s getting ready. If that’s okay with you two.”

“That’s—that’s okay,” Carlos stutters.

“Two nights ago, we thought we were selling the world an amazing fairy tale,” Paul begins. “But that turned sour in no time. It felt like crashing an out-of-control car into a huge pile-up on the busiest road imaginable.”

“And you know what they say to do when your car's skidding out of control?” Marjan continues. Carlos thinks they’ve rehearsed this speech beforehand, they’re so in sync. “Close your eyes and pray? Nah. I say, hit the gas and turn into it.” When it’s evident that neither Carlos nor Nancy are following her train of thought, Marjan sighs exasperatedly and explains, “We're not selling the world a fairy tale. We're taking the fairy tale off the table. That's what you did when you saved TK from the paparazzi.”

“Look, uh, Marjan,” Carlos tells her. “I was just trying to help someone who seemed like they were in the middle of a nervous breakdown. We were being ambushed. I did what I thought was best at that moment. I wasn’t thinking about fairy tales or car pileups. It even took me a moment to recognize him, I’ve never been a fan!”

“TK Strand is a legend,” Marjan exclaims. Besides him, Nancy hums her approval. “At least for his fans, and for us. We’re his family, we’ve seen how far he’s come. He’s self-made. He rose from his own ashes and has been working nonstop to be the best at what he does. And he’s the best at what he does, but he’s too raw. Too sensitive. People love their artists to bare their souls, then vilify them if they go too far.”

“We’ve been working for the longest time to prevent the public, the press, from turning TK into a puppet they can mock,” Paul continues. “There are a lot of things you’ll need to know and understand, both from this kind of public life and from TK’s private life as well. But we’re willing to work with you. We’re asking you, Carlos Reyes, to help us.”

Carlos stares, agape, at both Paul and Marjan. When he’d received the text from TK telling him to come to this address at nine sharp on a Sunday morning, he hadn’t expected a full ambush to rope him into becoming part of the circus he suspects TK’s very public life to be. He had expected to talk to TK, see how the images of them both running away and fleeing the press in the middle of the street affected them, their families and their friends. Carlos isn’t sure he wants to sign up for whatever picture Paul and Marjan are painting right now.

As if sensing his discomfort, Marjan sighs and mutters, “I knew this wasn’t a good idea. Listen, Carlos,” she says out loud. “We just need three months of your life, okay? Just keep seeing TK for three months, let the paps take pictures of you together, while we mend TK’s image after what Alex did to him.”

“You need to mend TK’s image for something his shitty ex-boyfriend did,” Carlos repeats slowly. “What does TK think of this all?”

“He, uh—”

“What if we offered you money?” Marjan cuts Paul off. “What?” she snaps at Paul when he glares at her and Nancy huffs out a laugh. Carlos can only stare back at her in disbelief.

“That’s definitely the wrong approach with him,” Nancy says. “He won’t take money.”

“As if you would,” Carlos shoots back. “Is TK aware that you’re offering me money to be seen with him?” He’s feeling sick just from thinking about this. “I don’t know what I expected when I was told to come here today, but it definitely wasn’t this. I don’t know the kind of people who’ve usually approached him in the past, but I can tell you that offering money in exchange for a pretense of dating has a name. And I’m not up for that. TK, and anyone else for that matter, deserves to be respected, and accepting money for—offering money for—” he can’t even say the words, “—that’s disrespectful to both myself and TK.”

“Told you,” comes a voice behind him. “He was never going to fall for your trap, Paul.”

Carlos turns around to face TK, who’s leaning against a wall. His gray t-shirt is riding up his waist slightly, showing off a patch of skin. Carlos gulps. “What?”

“I said,” TK repeats as he walks further into the living room, “that I knew you weren’t going to fall for that.”

“Was all this a ruse?” Nancy manages to say. Carlos can tell, from the way her voice wavers by the end of the question, that she’s jittery just from having TK Strand in front of her.

“Let’s say it was a test,” Marjan tells them with a wink. “It’s not the first time a fan has approached TK and it ended up badly, and after the other night we just needed to be sure.”

“You just needed to be sure,” Carlos repeats slowly. He doesn’t think his mind is registering what’s happening.

“They needed to make sure you weren’t going to sell me to the press,” TK explains. “It was kind of very coincidental that I found your wallet and then you saved me from the paps, only for them to show up later on at Ms. Fa’s.”

Carlos shakes himself off his stupor at TK’s last words. He can’t even begin to imagine what kind of life TK has led — what kind of acquaintances he’s made over the years, before and after becoming famous — that he feels the need to ensure that anyone new coming into his life is worthy of his trust. He thinks it’s sad that TK’s grown so wary of people; a surge of protectiveness shoots up from his gut to his heart, making him wonder how he can help TK to feel better about his relationships.

“What kind of boyfriends have you had?” Nancy voices what Carlos himself has been thinking. “I know about the cheating kind, but there’s also a shitty kind of boyfriend who’s sold you to the paps?”

TK recoils at her words, but it’s Paul who answers. “We stopped it in time,” he simply says, offering no other explanation.

“Look,” Carlos starts, clearing his throat. “I’m not trying to be your boyfriend, or even your friend if you’re not into it. We just met. I thought it was a meet cute. I’d love to keep knowing you. But I have a daughter. I don't want to drag her into the middle of a circus.” He can tell the moment his words register in TK’s mind from the way his shoulders slump forward. “It’s not my intention to sell you out to the press, either. Can we just find some common ground? Away from the media frenzy?”

It feels weird enough to be discussing this in front of strangers — not that Carlos ever thought he’d be talking about how paparazzi could affect his dating life with someone he isn’t even dating to begin with — but it also feels kind of fitting when TK’s face lights up. “I think we can manage that,” he offers. “We’ve been doing that with Jo—with my brother, so he can keep his privacy. I think we could manage that with you as well.”

“Not after the stunt you pulled two nights ago, we can’t,” Marjan points out. “Everyone knows who you are.”

“I’d love to know how they’ve found out,” Carlos muses. “I’m not a big social media person. I feel it’s a distorted reality. I see it all the time in my students.”

“And yet you let your daughter be interviewed by the New York Times,” TK teases him. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. Apparently it was a big story! Marjan can find anyone online, and it helped that you’d shared your daughter’s name with me.”

“Meanwhile, I have yet to find out your brother’s name,” Carlos teases right back. “Although, seeing how I don’t even know what TK stands for, it doesn’t surprise me.”

“Oh, nobody knows,” Judd says, coming to the living room all of a sudden. “It’s kind of a big secret. TK, I’m sorry to interrupt, but your father’s on the line. There’s only so many updates on Charlie that I can share with him before he remembers he called to talk to you.”

Judd’s words seem to unchain a ripple effect, and Paul’s phone begins chiming at the same time as Marjan’s blows off. Nancy chuckles at the chain reaction while Carlos shakes his head. TK takes the few steps keeping him from Carlos and squeezes his shoulder almost shyly. "This is a crazy life I'm roping you into," he whispers. "I'm sorry."

"I'm a middle school teacher," Carlos winks at him. "I'm used to crazy."

TK winks at him before turning around and bolting out of the living room. Carlos turns to Nancy, who’s looking at him with a weird glint in her eyes, and says, “I’d kill for that orange juice.”

She bursts into laughter.

#the fic #lire's 911lsbb #forever in a second too short (home is a heartbeat)#chapter 4 #911lsbb

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citrus-cactus · 2 years

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Introduction/pinned post

Hi there, and welcome to my little corner of the Internet! This is a multi-fandom blog, mostly consisting of reblogs and the occasional original thought (and honestly, most of my life on this website does revolve around Digimon, especially Adventure/02, Frontier, and Appmon).

My icon is by the amazing and talented Vidramon! Check out her awesome art at vidramon.tumblr.com

If you like what you see or want to know what else I’m up to, you might enjoy my other blogs:

@lemon-pear is where most of my art lives, though everything I put there I consider a “sketch” (i.e. a relatively quick doodle or half-formed idea). Occasionally I’ll cross-post these doodles here, but mostly they just live in a world of their own!

@citruscactus-art is more of a portfolio, where I put art that is more polished and the work I’m particularly proud of! I’m more likely to cross-post these things to my main blog.

@harushinkai-daily does what it suggests, and delivers a picture of everyone’s favorite Appmon protagonist once per day (and it has its own sister blog now: @knightunryuuji-daily)!

Recently, I’ve also moderated/co-moderated a couple of events for the Digimon fandom here on Tumblr: @golden-digimental-up and @digimonfrontierfest2022.

I recommend checking out some of these tags/posts: the cactus speaks, the cactus yells about appmon, my art, and the TK Hat Masterpost.

Thanks for reading!

~Citrus

#pinned post #the cactus speaks #about me #ASK ME ABOUT APPMON

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verriand · 5 months

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I've been thinking of being more out there while the world around me grows contempt for my existence, but I'm also scared of being a target somehow, some way, ya know?

Should I just 100% unhinge and post me? I dunno. It used to be fun to talk a little about myself and the things I do on Livejournal or even something like Vampirefreaks back in the 00' days. I used to have light novels worth of writing on those places together with just pics of me and friends. I had HetNet websites that are just 100% gone forever, a fistful of .TK sites with random flash animations I tried to make, not on Archive.org I've checked over and over, so much of the old web is just gone or broken links. But now people are looking to archive as much as they can, for better or worse. Now the lunatics that were contained in their CoD lobbies and imageboards are everywhere to violently let people know their Opinions(tm) together with companies selling my data for advertisers, platforms die off to conglomerate and put everyone together to have ads reach everyone. Everyone. I dunno how much I wanna say or show myself anymore sometimes. Maybe I just want to post little snaps of places I see during work without people putting the geo coordinates in the comments. Put cute pics online of my favorite skirt and not get called a slur. Here's to hoping this post is drowned away quick by whatever I'm posting/queuing next!

#personal #me #i'm a fucking idiot

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tk-duveraun · 2 years

Text

Someone I like very much asked

how do people design ocs how do people worldbuild lakdkksl urghhhh

And there are a lot of guides on how to do this well. Lots of “How to design a good character” “How to have a good, deep world.”

But outside of the 90324854 writing novels I read when I was younger, there’s not a lot of “How to do it at all I am literally at step zero.”

So Welcome to

TK’s How to Do It At All Guide to Character Creation

Intro: This is by NO MEANS the only way or the “correct” way to create a character. This is explicitly for people who have never made an OC or people who have never made an OC they care about.

I’ll be making 2 OCs during this process as examples. 👍 I am going to try to do each step differently for each OC to give you more ideas.

1. Pick something you like. A color, an animal, an emotion, an adjective, anything.

Ex 1: A white cat

Ex 2: The color magenta

2. Image Search for that thing and pick an image that inspires you/that you like. (For this and all other pictures in this guide, I am gonna be using pexels.com It’s a website that hosts images for use by creatives without copyright issues so I won’t be stealing peoples pics for my guide)

Ex1: Look at this kitten. Adorbs. I love them.

Ex 2:

3. Consider why you want a character. Is this an OC for a fanfic? A D&D PC? A D&D NPC? An rpg character? A novel character?

Ex 1: I’m making a D&D character

Ex 2: I want to write a novel!

4. Pick something either from your found image or something you just came up with to be a base element of your character. If you see “something you just came up with” as a copout and bad guide point. That’s okay. People familiar with this area of creativity will know what I mean and go “Yes, that, exactly, I get you” but if you don’t get it, ignore it! :D

Ex 1: Should I make the character a khajeet? Is khajeet a D&D thing? Do they call cat people something else? This is a lot of things I don’t want to look up, so I will make a human character who has a Cat Aesthetique.

Ex 2: I want my main character to wear fancy outfits with Magenta-Black-Silver as their color scheme.

5. Consider the ‘plot’ your character is a part of. If it’s for a game, the game’s plot, a fanfic - the OG’s plot (or the AU premise). If its original and you don’t have any plot in mind, consider the vibes forcing you to create. How do you want the character to fit into this?

Ex 1: The D&D Campaign is set in post Dwarf-apocalypse (there wasn’t an apocalypse of dwarves, they were the primary/only race pre-apocalypse). My OC is like, an ambassador for cats. Cats didn’t like dwarf-houses, so only with the rise of humans did they domesticate themselves and my OC tries to sell having a tiny tiger in your house to other people.

Ex 2: Coffee-Shop meet-cute romance. Okay, maybe it’s a short story, stop judging me. Also, there’s disaster lesbians. As fly as my character is, surely they are one of the primary pairing. Let’s have her be the barista. Let the fancywear be a surprise.

6. Push your brain for information. Once you have a lot of practice, this will happen naturally. If you struggle at first and feel “uncreative” don’t worry - that’s natural. If you don’t have practice, start asking questions about your character... to yourself.

Let yourself not be judged - asking the questions aloud is more effective, especially if you’re struggling. Go on a walk, lock yourself in the shower, do what you gotta do if people would look at you weird for talking to yourself, but do it.

Example questions:

a. Favorite color? b. Sexuality? c. Gender? d. Rich or poor? e. Introvert or Extrovert? f. favorite flower?

This is the point at which you can search for “OC questionnaire” or “OC traits” and use those questions to fill out the details. Once you fill out the “obvious” answers, others should come to you, but if they don’t -- don’t worry! You don’t have to know everything about your character before you get started! That’s what editing (original work) or progression (everything else) is for!

Ex 1: So given the whole cat thing, the character is probably a druid with animal speak. Their aesthetic is CatTM, but their favorite color is yellow. They’re demisexual, probably(TM) male, on the poor side - their family couldn’t really support them, and their older siblings (oh they have older siblings now) are taking over the family business, so character left on druid-cat-enlightenment adventures. They play a ukulele (DM will figure it out) and people are lukewarm to the playing, it’s like elevator music, but cats LOVE IT. They are the cat whisperer.

Ex 2: She’s rich as hell to afford the fancy clothes. So why working as a barista? Uh, her parents are nuveau-riche and want her to work retail so she treats people as humans. She’s closest bi or lesbian (she doesn’t know!!) and thinks homosexuality is just something for Other PeopleTM because she’s totally normal, right? Just a little rich? And while her family is politically “you do you” she’s never really interacted with anyone queer. It doesn’t super seem real?

7. Search doll-makers/picrews/visual character creators to mock up an appearance you like! (Psst. Heroforge is great for it, too. You don’t have to buy a figure)

(no examples because this would take me literally hours because I am LIKE THAT, but feel free to make them of the above characters if you want)

8. Pick a place-holder name. Tell yourself it’s a placeholder name. On your notes page, write “Place-holder name”. Baby Names sites, [genre] Name generator sites, behindthename, behindthesurname, these are your friends! A Chinese author I really enjoy no joke just opens a dictionary and picks at random sometimes!

Ex 1: Eadwulf (wolf, get it, hahahahahhahahahaha)

Ex 2: Zinaida (Russian names sound wealthy to me, sue me)

9. Realize it’s too late and you’re invested (Taako, “Taco”) or Change to real name eventually! (I did the latter when I realized the MC and the LI had the same name except for 3 letters 😬😬)

10. Create!!! (Or play!!) Don’t be afraid, nay, INTEND to run with any new idea that pops into your head. Nothing is too wild (everything else) or unable to be edited later (original).

If you reblog with characters made with this guide, I’ll love you forever?

#original #writing #advice #character creation

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halalhyungwon · 6 years

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tagged by @haobf :-)

RULES: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 92 86 truths about you; at the end choose people to tag

LAST....

1. drink? water 2. phone call? my brother’s girlfriend 3. text message? “forever and always a mood”, i was talking about wanting to poke kyungsoo’s cheeks loll 4. song you listened to? i’m listening to thinking about you on repeat rn lmao 5. time you cried? last night when i read that post abt how far seventeen have come ;c

EVER....

6. dated someone twice? nope 7. kissed someone and regretted it? no 8. been cheated on? no 9. lost someone special? yes 10. been depressed? yes 11. gotten drunk and thrown up? nope

FAVORITE COLORS

12. yellow 13. purple 14. pink and black

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU...

15. made new friends? yes! :-)

16. fallen out of love? maybe??

17. laughed until you cried? yes lmao

18. found out someone was talking about you? yeah but it wasnt anything bad :o

19. met someone who changed you? yeah

20. found out who your friends are? sure?

21. kissed someone on your facebook friends list? yeah

GENERAL

22. how many of your facebook friends do you know irl? all of them, except maybe like 3 or 4

23. do you have any pets? no :(

24. do you want to change your name? not at all

25. what did you do for your last birthday? on the day of I went out to lunch and got ice cream with a friend. then abt a week later my friends and family threw me a surprise party ;c <3

26. what time did you wake up today? I had an alarm go off at 8:30 but didn’t really wake up till 9.

27. what were you doing at midnight last night idk crying over seventeen probably

28. what is something you cant wait for? the day i get to see exo and seventeen live :///

30. what are you listening to right now? thinking about you x seventeen

31. have you ever talked to a person named tom? probably

32. something that’s getting on your nerves? my roommates boyfriend is over so now i actually have to wear pants. in my own apartment?

33. most visited website? tumbr

34. hair color? dark brown

35. long or short hair? short

36. do you have a crush on someone? potentiallyyyy

37. what do you like about yourself? my eyebrows

38. want any piercings? yesss i want another nostril piercing and for a solid while i really considered eyebrow piercings

39. blood type? idk

40. nicknames? tk, tt, tawaka,,,, idk maybe others

41. relationship status? single

42. zodiac? scorpio

43. pronouns? she/her

44. fave tv shows? psych, living single

45. tattoos? None

46. right or left handed? right handed

47. ever had surgery? nope

48. piercings? my earlobes, nostril and septum

49. sports? i don’t play or watch any regularly

50. vacation? what about vacations?? i haven’t traveled anywhere recently but i might travel this summer :-)

51. trainers? as in the shoes? they’re comfy

MORE GENERAL

52. eating? nothing rn

53. drinking? nothing rn

54. i’m about to watch? the ‘thanks’ stage and behind the scenes stuff

55. waiting for? VAV to release the ‘gorgeous’ music video ://

56. want? to figure things out

57. get married? eventually, i’d like to

58. career? i’m looking into things pertaining to computational linguistics...

59. hugs or kisses? both but i’ll say hugs

60. lips or eyes? eyes

61. shorter or taller? uhh i like my height? if we’re talking about preferences...i don’t think i really care that much? ((taller))

62. older or younger? older?

63. nice arms or stomach? arms oof

64. hookup or relationship? relationship por favor

65. troublemaker or hesitant? so hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER...

66. kissed a stranger? nooo

67. drank hard liquor? nope

68. lost glasses? no

69. turned someone down? ????

70. sex on first date? no

71. broken someone’s heart? I don’t think so?? if i have it wasnt on purpose and i’m sorry :c

72. had your heart broken? i guess

73. been arrested? no

74. cried when someone died? yeah

75. fallen for a friend? kinda

DO YOU BELIEVE IN...

76. yourself? occasionally

77. miracles? yeh

78. love at first sight? hmm idk

79. santa claus? no

80. kiss on a first date? i mean sure, go ahead, if you want

81. angels? yeh

82. best friend’s name? sharon and zakiyah

83. eye color? brown

84. fave movie? howl’s moving castle

85. fave actor do kyungsoo

RANDOM

86. i love ice cream

#tagged #i think i answered everything??

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jjks · 6 years

Note

Your otp is taekook right?? What was your favorite moment of them in 2018?? Mine would be the burgers and k-drama tweet that came out of nowhere haha!

yes!! i’m guessing you mean 2017??? but aaahhhh i’m still laughing about the ketchup tweet from that since it’s the most rted tweet of their acc HAHA but i can’t pick just /one/ moment... tk shippers were well fed this year.... but i think bon voyage s2′s “you’re mine” lap sitting moment is one of my favs :’))))

damn how much did you drop at the line store???

uhhhh $250+ LOL

i miss youuu

aaah i miss being on too ;;;

ugh im so mad about not being able to get muster tickets... interpark fucked me up

ME!!! :-( the interpark system for the global website sucks...

is it possible to post your gifs onto twitter? with credit of course!

nope because no one ever credits anything on twitter

the amount of fanart for bestival ahhhhh

I KNOW IM GOIN G BROKE

#sososos sorry for the late replies ;;;;#anon #replies

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instantdeerlover · 4 years

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A Master List of BIPOC Wedding Professionals to Support Now and Forever added to Google Docs

A Master List of BIPOC Wedding Professionals to Support Now and Forever

We have listened. We have learned. And now it’s time to show up and do better. Plain and simple. If you have been following along on our Instagram for the past week, we’ve been sharing our 6 promises to encourage a true change in our community. As a leader in this industry, it’s our job to do our part in standing up to the injustice our brothers and sisters in the Black community have been facing for far, far too long.

Here at SMP, we believe the wedding industry is deeply flawed. It is so obviously not representative of the colors that so beautifully construct our world. Without a shadow of a doubt, we’re doing a disservice to our readers by under-representing the Black community on our site. So, now and forever, we’re making it our priority, our mission in fact , to showcase the extraordinary talent of Black and POC wedding professionals from across the globe. Starting today.

A few days ago, we asked YOU to send us your favorite Black vendors that you’d like us to highlight on SMP, so we can give them the love they truly deserve. Thanks to you, we received so many mentions that we can’t wait to share! Below you’ll find a list of Black-owned businesses in the wedding industry that we will be continually updating as more come in. Please, give them a follow, support their work with likes and comments, or by any means you can, and head on over to their website’s to learn more about them! Trust us, the sheer talent in this list is truly mind-blowing.

NKT Events

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Real Wedding Feature | Still swooning from this burgundy and blue wedding tablescape ⁣ ⁣ @christinabernales⁣⁣⁣⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ As seen on @martha_weddings:⁣ ⁣⁣⁣Design & Planning: @nktevents⁣ ⁣⁣⁣Venue: @chateaudevarennes⁣ ⁣⁣⁣Florist: @fleursdefee⁣ ⁣⁣⁣Cake: @cakesinthecty⁣ ⁣⁣⁣DJ: @prestigeanimation⁣⁣⁣⁣ Catering: @privatechef_nathanmuir⁣ ⁣⁣⁣Rentals: @jolibazaar⁣⁣⁣⁣ Linens: @mademoiselle_coton⁣⁣⁣⁣ Bridal Hair: @ciaracoiffure⁣⁣⁣⁣ Bridal Makeup: Annette Thornton⁣⁣⁣⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ #marthaweddings ⁣⁣#marthastewartweddings ⁣⁣#nktevents ⁣#destinationweddingplanner⁣⁣#destinationwedding #chateauwedding⁣⁣⁣ #nktweddings #weddingday⁣ #weddinginspiration #weddingideas ⁣⁣⁣#frenchweddingplanner⁣⁣ #weddingplannerfrance⁣⁣ #weddingplannerparis #southoffrancewedding⁣⁣ #frenchrivierawedding #realwedding⁣⁣ #weddingday #instawed ⁣⁣⁣⁣#instawedding #weddingstyle⁣⁣ #weddinginspiration #weddinginspo⁣ #tablescape #receptiontable #weddingtabletop #weddingcenterpieces

A post shared by Celebrity Wedding Planner (@nktevents) on Mar 5, 2019 at 9:59am PST

Nyachia is a luxury event designer working her magic in the beautiful French Riviera and Italy. She known for her love of 'all things fabulous' and a bit a cosmopolitan flair.

CHIC BY NICOLE

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When your model slays! Jardin Romanticism | Featured on @wedluxe @wedluxetoronto | link in bio Planner/Stylist: Chic by Nicole @chicbynicole Photographer: L’Orangerie Photo @lorangeriephoto Florals: Aura Designs @aura_design MUA: Janet Persaud @makeupwithjanet Hairtyslist: Rita Kevrikian @ritakevrikian @haus_of_rtists Rentals: Joe’s Prop House @joesprophouse Wedding Gown/ Hair accessories: White, Montreal @whitemontreal Dress Designer: Pure by Inbal Dror @inbaldrorofficial Earrings: Olive + Piper @oliveandpiper Venue: Auberge Saint-Gabriel @aubergesaintgab

A post shared by CHIC BY NICOLE (@chicbynicole) on Apr 24, 2020 at 4:49pm PDT

Nicole designs, plans, and executes ultra-chic weddings and events in beautiful Canada. Chic by Nicole has been named "Top 30 Wedding Planners" in Laval, QC.

Samantha Clarke Photography

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Laughter is the best medicine Photographer @samanthaclarke Planning and design @petalsandpearls Flowers @fusciadesigns Makeup & Hair @tropbelle_makeup @hairbyestylez Venue @theguildinnestate #bridesmaids #torontoweddings #bridetribe #bridesmaiddresses

A post shared by Samantha Clarke Photography (@samanthaclarke) on Jul 24, 2019 at 1:41pm PDT

Samantha is a wedding photographer based in both Atlanta and Toronto (but wanders, camera in hand, everywhere in between!). She is a former lawyer, coffee enthusiast, and hopelessly passionate about capturing the real moments between two people in love.

This Love Weddings

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The joy that comes from bringing my sister + new brother’s vision to life! Can’t wait to share more from this beautifully intimate day that family + friends experienced this past weekend. #BplusT2018 photo: @whimsandjoy planning + design: @thisloveweds venue: @mysticalrosegardens floral design: @nunudecor gown: @matthewbridal // @poshbridalwayzata hair: @beautybymelissat makeup: @beauty_by_bami groom styling: @elsworthmenswear rentals : @nunudecor // @osgvintagerentals // @apreseventandtent

A post shared by This Love Weddings (@thisloveweds) on Aug 15, 2018 at 5:30pm PDT

Hailing from the Midwest, Faith designs and plans beautiful weddings, events, and celebrations of all kinds. The Love Weds has a heart for all people in love, especially multicultural affairs!

Sok Vision

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Ericka and TK. My twin sis and handsome brother in law. • Aren’t they a crazy gorgeous couple??! Featured in @martha_weddings • Wedding Architect: Argot LLC Videographer: @sokvision Floral Design: @hollychapple Photographer: @lizfogarty Month of Planner: @favoredbyyodit Caterer:@talkofditown Bartender: @876cocktails MUA: @ciaratalleybeauty Hair: @dsignsunlimitedstudio Wedding Dress: @kleinfeldbridal @daniellecaprese Alterations: @nazemibridal Cape: @champagneandgrit Brides Shoes: @aminahjillil Brides Earrings: @lele_sadoughi Second Look: @anthropologie Flower Girl Dress: @pantoramini Bridesmaid Dresses: @desircouture Groom + Groomsmen Tux: @theblacktux DJ: @djpremonition Band: #phaseIIband Photo booth: @chrisstylesevents Bar Rental:@bellavillashop Seating Chart & Guestbook Signage:@theconfettihome Rentals: @selecteventgroup @alliedpartyrentals Venue: @great.marsh MOB Dress: @leftysbridal FOB Tux: @woodywilsonbespoke MOG Dress: @davidsbridal Bar Backdrop: Argot LLC

A post shared by Sok Vision (@sok.vision) on Oct 25, 2019 at 9:26am PDT

Sok Vision takes wedding cinematography to the next level. This husband and wife team films incredibly touching memories for luxury wedding events all over the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area.

Elizabeth Austin Photography

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Happy Valentine’s Day!! Tap for vendors

A post shared by Atlanta Wedding Photography (@elizabethaustinphoto) on Feb 14, 2020 at 12:05pm PST

Elizabeth Austin is an exceptional wedding photographer, specializing in medium format film. She's been named one of Rangefinder's 30 Rising Stars and Honeybook's 20 on the Rise.

Will Gill

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Having someone to warm up a room is great for 3 reasons: Restores any energy that gets lost during the transition from cocktail to reception. Allows the DJ (and bartender) to get a feel for the room and see where people are “at”. Breaks the ice for the entertainment, allowing people to tear down any preconceived notion or barrier they may have for this stranger ‍ Team: @djwillgill | @calamigosranch | @infocusevents | @michaelanthonyphotography | @MyWeddingBlooms |

A post shared by Will Gill (@djwillgill) on Oct 22, 2019 at 2:46pm PDT

DJ Will Gill has an impressive background as the facilitator of good times with 7 seasons as a DJ with The Voice and 2 seasons with the Kelly Clarkson Show! He creates the ULTIMATE wedding party atmosphere for LA weddings and beyond.

Lily V Events

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We have received an immense amount of requests to post the #sweethearttable from our last event but our cellphone pics didn’t do this table enough justice. Soooooo @stanlophotography came through thanks Stan! *S T A M P E D B Y L I L Y V* #thelilyveffect #foreveruandi . . Bride @babelbeauty Groom @irek_k1 . Vendor list Photographer @stanlophotography Song performance @stelladamasus Floral, decor and rentals @lilyvevents Dress @bertabridal Brides dress from @lfaybridal Brides Hair @modimel_salon Bridal head piece @su.reina.bridal Brides Makeup @mariposamakeup Bridesmaids makeup @beautybyblesss Bridesmaids hair @tyrashairexperience Venue @thegrovenj Planner @elleaudreynewyork Cinematography @andreysolofilms MC of the day @henry_asuzu Floor wrap @gotoshout Floor graphic @emilykathrynpaper Menus cards @paperedwonders DJ @pulsesounds . . #stampedbylilyv #EditorsCircle #goplatinumlist #graceormonde #insideweddings #blackbride1998 #atlantaweddings #weddingdetails #bridalinspiration #goldwedding #floraldesign #atlantaweddings #theknot #mdweddings #dmvweddings #luxuryeventplanner #njweddings #newyorkweddings #luxuryweddings #luxuryeventdesign #phillyweddings #newjerseyweddings #baltimoreweddings #weddingdetails #njwedding #internationalweddings #thegrovenj

A post shared by (@lilyvevents) on Apr 10, 2019 at 12:17pm PDT

Lily V Events, creator of luxury weddings in PA and beyond, has been seen in publications like People, Inside Weddings, and the Grammys... just to name a few!

Terry Baskin Photography

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This was a celebration to remember and I am honored to have been included! Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Raphael! #jandptoinfinity - Photo: @terribaskin Planning / Design: @eventdesigngroup Venue: @mellonauditorium_eventemissary Videographer: @GrandChiefAttractions Florist: @EdgeFloralEventDesigners Decor: @Syzygyevents Rentals: @FabEventsDC & @CapitalPartyRentals DJ: @Fonzarelly Lighting: @SummitEventLighting Sound: Creative Video Stationery: @SimplySleekDesign & @Minted Caterer: @MainEventCaterers Makeup: @lolasbeautymark Hair: @styledbyreece Dress: @sarehnouri | @weddingatelier Tux: @glewistailors Headpiece: @whatkatydidnxt Tailoring: @loftonsalondc Groom Accessories: @magnepels Groom Shoes: @mezlanshoes Jewelry: @shahandshahjewelers #terribaskinphotography #colemanlove #deltasigmatheta #omegapsiphi #andrewmellonauditorium #andrewmellonwedding #blackbride #naturalhairstyles #naturalhairbride

A post shared by Terri Baskin | DC Photographer (@terribaskin) on Sep 25, 2018 at 7:41pm PDT

Terri is a wedding photographer, based in Virginia but traveling worldwide, with a passion for classic wedding memories that will stand the test of time.

Talk Of Di Town

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Let us wow your guests with a signature cocktail...or “mocktail”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Contact us for your event—>⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 202.681.2874⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ [email protected]⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Videographer: @sok.vision ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Floral Design: @hollychapple ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Photographer: @lizfogarty ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Month of Planner: @favoredbyyodit ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Caterer:@talkofditown ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Venue: @great.marsh ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Bartender: @876cocktails ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #TalkOfDiTown #PrivateChef #DMVCatering #SmallBusiness #Catering #MDCatering #WineFestivals #Mdweddings #weddingcaterer #Corporatecatering #Dmvweddings #ChristmasParty #Chef #Foodie #SoulFood #ExecutiveChef #Cheflife #marylandweddings #Dcweddings

A post shared by Talk of di Town 2 Catering (@talkofditown) on Feb 5, 2020 at 4:36am PST

Head Chef Justin Bush masterfully creates the most delicious culinary creations for weddings and celebrations in the DC area (and beyond). His specialties are in American, Southern, and Carribean cuisines ... and now we're hungry!

Couture Cakes by Sabrina

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When life throws you lemons, just add them to a cake. Happy Monday!!!

A post shared by Sabrina Sugar Artist (@couturecakesbysabrina) on May 11, 2020 at 8:04am PDT

Sabrina, self proclaimed 'sugar artist' (omg we love that...) dreams up the most stunning wedding cakes for celebrity couples anywhere the sugar takes her! Her cakes are as artistically impressive as they are delicious.

Favored by Yodit Events & Design

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Easy like Sunday Morning....Ericka & TK’s Wedding en Blanc got us dreaming of all the Treś Chic vibes! #repost @lizfogarty One of my fave wedding trends: asking your guests to wear all white So freaking good! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ flowers @hollychapple • planning @favoredbyyodit • video @sok.vision • venue @great.marsh • invitations @cocobaileydc • dress @kleinfeldbridal @daniellecaprese • cape @champagneandgrit • makeup @ciaratalleybeauty • hair @dvglam •cake @couturecakesbysabrina • rentals @bellavillashop @selecteventgroup • as seen on @martha_weddings _ #whitewedding #weddingenblanc #greatmarshestate #munaluchibride #marthastewartwedding #allwhiteparty #allwhitewedding #ceremony #outdoorceremony #virginiawedding #virginiaweddingplanner #luxwedding #leesburgwedding #favoredbyyodit

A post shared by Yodit Gebreyes Endale (@favoredbyyodit) on Feb 9, 2020 at 8:39am PST

Favored by Yodit is a wedding designer, planner, and 'Creator of Magical Moments'. Hailing from the DC area, Yodit and her team create the loveliest celebrations!

designs by JASMINE ELLESSE

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// this little light of mine — this week has been nothing short of magical. using every bit of energy and strength to power through. i feel nothing but pride and full of love. — sometimes, times are hard. and i have the tendency to curl up in a ball and give up – and i did, for an entire month. i am slowly but surely coming out of my shell and beginning to feel alive again. — to this moment and so many others this week, i am grateful and reminded of His grace. — model | @catherineamiller photographer | @tamera.darden makeup | @ellealiseartistry location | @fostrcollaborative dress | @southrncharm dress | @bellabridesmaids — photo capture | iPhone8 . . . . . #styledshoot #florist #blackgirlmagic #feminine #iphonephotography #flowercrown #fostrcollab #bridesmaid #natural #happygirl #happily #gold #stars #naturalhair #lemonleaf #roses #babysbreath #eucalyptus #godsgrace #bellavridesmaids #washingtondc #dmv #happily #jasminellesse #cocobaileydc

A post shared by designs by JASMINE ELLESSE (@cocobaileydc) on Oct 19, 2018 at 9:00am PDT

Jasmine is a petite boutique florist who arranges the sweetest combinations of whimsy and romance in every bouquet. She is based in the DC area and also works as a graphic designer.

The Bridal Room

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No bride is complete without her 'I Do' Crew and her @nicolespose gown! Bring your crew and come find the perfect dress for your big day! Call or visit online to book your appointment! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ . ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #bridesmaids #realbride #realwedding #thebridalroomva #thebridalroom #gown #wed #bride #bridal #vaweddingvendor #vabride #vawedding #lace #love #dcbride #dcweddingvendor #dcwedding #style #mdwedding #mdbride #classic #elegant

A post shared by The Bridal Room (@thebridalroomva) on Dec 8, 2019 at 6:42am PST

If you're in the market for a wedding gown, The Bridal Room is NOT to be missed! Based in Virginia, this dress boutique offers an impressive array of gowns and accessories for any bride.

Fabulously Created Events

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We loved working at the new @theterrace_atcedarhill. This venue is such a clean and open canvas to create a beautiful event. : @katiespataphotography

A post shared by Fabulously Created Events (@fabcreatedevents) on Jul 11, 2018 at 8:56am PDT

Crystal, founder of Fab Created Events an upscale wedding planning and design company, not only creates the loveliest weddings, but also has a wedding planner mentorship program that we're all about!

Ellamah Floral

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Overwhelmed is an understatement. I went back and forth as what to write that hasn't already been said by far more eloquent folks. All I have to share is me and some of my feelings behind one of my decisions as a Black woman-owned business. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I have always been apprehensive about sharing a picture of myself in this space. Granted, if you have visited my website or corresponded with me, what I look like is not news to you. However, whereas your website is like your home, social media is like going out in the marketplace and for me sometimes the latter has been uncomfortable because of implicit bias. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Unfortunately, I’ve been othered, I’ve been told I should be grateful, I’m often the only one in the room. Some of these experiences have had pretty clear intentions behind their action while others may not have meant to come off that way. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Although Black florists are everywhere, I know that I am not what people expect in this social media-driven field where a certain look or type may be more common than others. It’s why I tend to close myself off and instead hide behind my flowers. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ When I first rediscovered flowers, it was because of the beauty of their diversity. When I ventured into floral design what pulled me in was how to work their differences in a harmonious way. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Our industry mentions being mindful, thoughtful, and intentional with their creative endeavors. Imagine those same words applied to everything that we do. Be active, learn, process, be mindful of your actions and your words, be open. Don't just say you will do something, do it. | Image by @anyakernes ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ _ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #blacklivesmatter #blacklivesmatter #blackowned #blackflorist #ellamahfloral #laflorist #laweddingflorist #fineartflorist #floristsofinstagram

A post shared by Jessica | Ellamah Floral (@ellamah) on Jun 1, 2020 at 3:59pm PDT

Jessica is a wedding floral designer based in LA and is known for her exceptionally romantic, timeless, and refined aesthetic.

Joy Proctor Design

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Having a blast in Italy and feeling so lucky to be able to work in such an inspiring country! In Puglia now reminiscing on this Amalfi Coast wedding I had the honor to plan and design. Photo: @vasiaphotography l Planning & Design: @joyproctor l Floral: @myrtleetolive l Paper: @writtenwordcalligraphy l Linens: @latavolalinen l Venue: @villacimbrone #joyproctordesign #weddingdesigner

A post shared by Joy Proctor Design (@joyproctor) on Oct 24, 2019 at 9:22am PDT

Joy Proctor is one of the world's most highly sought after wedding and event designers. Her work has been featured in countless publications, she's designed several celebrity weddings, and has been named one of Harpers Bazaar's Top Wedding Designers in the world.

Harold James

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So good to share this live with you and my love @tinakunakey The product list in my story ! Merci à tous pour ce super live passé avec @tinakunakey Nos produits préférés sont dans ma story ! Photo by @byvictorsantiago Hair & makeup by me using @marcjacobsbeauty

A post shared by Harold James (@harold_james) on Apr 29, 2020 at 8:33am PDT

Harold James is one of the industry's leading Hair and Makeup Artists, based in Paris. His previous client work includes the likes of Liya Kebede, Kendall Jenner, and Karlie Kloss to name a few - incredibly beautiful work, focusing on the natural beauty of each and every client of his!

Alea Lovely Photography

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Brooklyn brides . . . . . . #wedding #weddingphotographer #bw #brooklynweddingphotographer #film #nycweddingphotographer #pariswedding #editorial #newyorkcityphotographer #portraitphotographer #paris #portrait #nycelopement #boudoir #engagement #nyc #nycwedding #vogue #destinationwedding #newyork #bwphotographer #newyorkphotographer #engaged #brooklynweddingplanner #elopement #nycphotographer #manhattan #brooklyn #fashionphotographer

A post shared by Alea LovelyPhotographer (@alealovely) on Feb 6, 2019 at 8:39am PST

Alea is a wedding and portraiture photographer based in New York City. She is completely self taught and believes you can capture one's true essence and soul in a photograph - so romantic.

Heart’s Content Events

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Everybody’s workin for the weekend... • Well, maybe not everyone...but we are! Weddings don’t just plan themselves, am I right? Give us a if your on the grind like we are and tell us what exciting things you’re working on! We can’t wait to cheer you on!! // : @andrewandtianna : @heartscontentevents

A post shared by Virginia Wedding Planner (@heartscontentevents) on Apr 27, 2019 at 8:53am PDT

Adrienne and Hearts Content Events is based in the lovely state of Virginia, creating and designing equisite weddings for all people in love. Not only does Virginia plan weddings, but she is a floral designer as well!

Renee Hollingshead Photography

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Can't wait to be back to photographing beautiful couples in loveeeee like Beya + Terrance!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Hair @gobygeohaghanMakeup⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ @sarahcartermakeup⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Dress @asos⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Tux @jmtailored⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Stylist @elevatedbymichele⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Film Lab @thefindlab ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #reneehollingshead

A post shared by Renee Hollingshead (@reneehphoto) on Apr 15, 2020 at 5:30pm PDT

Renee has been photographing luxury weddings for the last 10 years - her aesthetic is sun-drenched, dreamy, and tells the sweetest story. She is based in Florida but travels worldwide!

Continue reading on Style Me Pretty

via Style Me Pretty https://www.stylemepretty.com/2020/06/12/a-master-list-of-bipoc-wedding-professionals-to-support-now-and-forever/ Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://trello.com/userhuongsen

Created June 12, 2020 at 08:49PM /huong sen View Google Doc Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xa6sRugRZk4MDSyctcqusGYBv1lXYkrF

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alwayssummerblog · 6 years

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FGL’s Brian Kelley Creates Stylish New Denim Line With His Wife

If you weren't aware, Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley sports some pretty fashionable attire and created a clothing line, Tribe Kelley, that showcases all his trendy designs. As the line continues to take off, Kelley with his equally stylish wife, Brittany Marie Kelley, wanted to create a new brand of denim that highlighted American manufacturing.

The two carefully constructed and designed their denim inspired line to include pants, jackets and vests. Brittney specifically wanted to give customers a quality product that also helped support American industry and promoted the importance of manufacturing products within the country.

🇺🇸 🍭 All American made denim is so important to me for many reasons. I started @tribekelley keeping my morals in mind & knowing we would have to spend a larger amount of money than most clothing companies to create an ethical and quality brand. I chose to support our country, our citizens and healthy environments for our sewers and employees. I will never send our garments to a manufacturer that doesn’t require safety and health standards just so I am able to produce cheaply made and lower priced goods. Fast, cheap fashion 9 out of 10 times comes from unsafe, underpaid conditions — something I will not & cannot support. So when some of you ask why our prices are high - you should be asking , where do my cheap jeans/clothes come from? Start asking, WHO MADE MY CLOTHES? It starts with OUR generation to bring back the dying art of sewing and denim production to OUR country. Start asking your favorite brands, “Where are my clothes made?” Most wont show you photos of the inside of their facilities. WE WILL show you and we will tell you because we we transparent. We could make these clothes for only ourselves personally, but we want to start a revolution and bring manufacturing and production back to our country and give jobs back to our citizens. I am guilty of buying unethical goods, but we can start by buying less of those brands. I would rather have 1 amazing pair of ethical jeans that last a lifetime rather than 4 cheap unethical pairs that fall a part in a year. 🙌🏽🤠🇺🇸

A post shared by Brittney-Marie Cole Kelley (@bcole429) on May 2, 2018 at 10:08am PDT

“All American made denim is so important to me for many reasons. I started @tribekelley keeping my morals in mind & knowing we would have to spend a larger amount of money than most clothing companies to create an ethical and quality brand. I chose to support our country, our citizens and healthy environments for our sewers and employees. I will never send our garments to a manufacturer that doesn’t require safety and health standards just so I am able to produce cheaply made and lower priced goods,” Brittney wrote on her Instagram page.

She continued, “Fast, cheap fashion 9 out of 10 times comes from unsafe, underpaid conditions — something I will not & cannot support. So when some of you ask why our prices are high – you should be asking , where do my cheap jeans/clothes come from? Start asking, WHO MADE MY CLOTHES? It starts with OUR generation to bring back the dying art of sewing and denim production to OUR country.”

Little Big Town 's Phillip Sweet, Shay Mooney from Dan + Shay and A Thousand Horses are just some of the few who have turned out to support the Kelleys’ as they launched their new line of denim.

Big @tribekelley denim party vibez yesterday 🎉🎉🌊🌊🔥🔥🚀🚀🤩🤩🙏🏼🙏🏼thanks to everyone who showed up! Lots of pics still coming in! Love y’all! #tk #nashville #fashion #denim #usamade

A post shared by Brian Kelley (@briankelley) on May 3, 2018 at 5:05am PDT

You can find the Kelleys’ new denim line and more from the Tribe Kelley brand at their Hillsboro Village location in Nashville or through the Tribe Kelley website.

#country #MegaCountry #brian kelley #florida georgia Line

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bealaig · 7 years

Text

92 Statements

RULES: answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people!

Thanks so much for tagging me Ophelia @lesbianstudyblr 😊😊 LAST: 1. Drink: water 2. Phone call: my dad 3. Text message: my sister 4. Song you listened to: Cherry by Lana Del Rey 5. Time you cried: about a month ago.

HAVE YOU: 6. Dated someone twice: nope. 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: definitely. 8. Been cheated on: I have not. 9. Lost someone special: yes. 10. Been depressed: not, I think, clinically, but I’ve had bad days and bad days that stretched into weeks. Like everyone. 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: I haven’t thrown up, I’m a pretty good drunk honestly. LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12-14: white, that lovely glassy green the sea is sometimes, golden brown. IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 15. Made new friends: yes 💕 16. Fallen out of love: no. 17. Laughed until you cried: yes 18. Found out someone was talking about you: yes.  19. Met someone who changed you: no. 20. Found out who your friends are: yes. 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: yes 😖😖 and regretted it. GENERAL: 22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Oh, all of them.  23. Do you have any pets: I have brothers.  24. Do you want to change your name: no. 25. What did you do for your last birthday?: Flew home and had a perfect weekend with family. One of my favourite birthdays  26. What time did you wake up: 8:35 a.m 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: Catching up on Game of Thrones. 28. Name something you can’t wait for: Is it sad if I say I can’t wait to start my new Post-colonialism module in September?  29. When was the last time you saw your mom: last Wednesday, she’s on holidays abroad 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: I wish I wasn’t so shy. 31. What are you listening to right now: My sister playing piano downstairs 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: I know two Toms and both of them are slightly creepy. No offense to Toms in general.  33. Something that is getting on your nerves: it was my job, but my contract just ended so I’ve loads of free time now 😊😊 34. Most visited websites: goodreads and facebook 35. Mole/s: three on my stomach 36. Mark/s: I have stretch marks on my thighs & also a small scar from a surgery I had as a baby on my abdomen. 37. Childhood dream: Hogwarts letter. I seriously believed it was coming.  38. Hair color: brown. 39. Long or short hair: short! It was bobbed for 2 and a bit years, but then I went back to a pixie. I can’t stand long hair; it’s cute on other people but I love my hair short. 40. Do you have a crush on someone: Does Rihanna count? 41. What do you like about yourself: I’m independent. I don’t need other people’s approval and I never have. I’m honest, and I’m logical, and I’m loyal to people I care about. Also whatever my body type is, I don’t gain too much weight despite eating like a pig and hardly ever exercising so I’d like to thank my mom for those genes. 42. Piercings: just the earlobes. 43. Blood type: O negative. 44. Nickname: Izzy 45. Relationship status: single 46. Zodiac: Pisces 47. Pronouns: she/her 48. Favorite TV Show: game of thrones, house of cards, the good wife 49. Tattoos: not one. 50. Right or left hand: right 51. Surgery: when I was a baby and none since. 52. Hair dyed in different color: I want too, but the thought of bleaching my hair bothers me too much. 53. Sport: tag rugby, but I haven’t played since I left school :( 55. Vacation: am sunning myself by the sea right here at home 56. Pair of trainers: replay runners I got in TK Max that are lovely but frankly too stylish for me. I still love them though.

MORE GENERAL: 57. Eating: Is my favourite thing. Cornucopia in Dublin has the best, best food in the world, essentially everything on the menu there, I love. 58. Drinking: water, orange juice, hot chocolate. 59. I’m about to: get on a train 61. Waiting for: the summer to end, my parents to get home from holidays, to move in to the new house I’m renting with my friends 62. Want: a new phone, to magically become a more organized human, also to lose a little weight before uni starts up again  63. Get married: definitely someday. 64. Career: editor.

WHICH IS BETTER 65. Hugs or kisses: hugs 66. Lips or eyes: eyes 67. Shorter or taller: taller 68. Older or younger: older 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: arms  71. Sensitive or loud: sensitive 72. Hook up or relationship: relationship 73. Troublemaker or hesitant: troublemaker

HAVE YOU EVER: 74. Kissed a Stranger: yes 75. Drank hard liquor: yes 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: yeah 77. Turned someone down: yes 78. Sex on the first date: Never 79. Broken someone’s heart: I hope not. I really doubt it. 80. Had your heart broken: yes? but not in a typical romantic situation. 81. Been arrested: no  82. Cried when someone died: yes 83. Fallen for a friend: no

DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 84. Yourself: I used to. 85. Miracles: yes, I do. 86. Love at first sight: no 87. Santa Claus: no 88. Kiss on the first date: I think…a lot of the time it’s a bad idea.

OTHER: 90. Current best friend name: Bex - not currently, always. 91. Eye color: hazel 92. Favorite movie: At the moment, The Duchess.

Idk who to tag really. I suppose, if anyone following me wants to do the challenge, please do! I’d love to get to know you! (but at the same time, no pressure) 😊

#92 statements tag #thank you ophelia xx

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richardrobertsimsuccessblog · 7 years

Text

How to Write Faster: 10 Crafty Ways to Hit 1,000 Words Per Hour

Yesssss!

The schedule gods have given you a break, and you have a rare hour to actually sit down and write. You could produce an entire blog post! An article! Maybe even a short book chapter! Your research is all done, so all you need to do now is write.

You apply ass to seat, fire up your laptop, start typing …

… and it’s like watching a video in slo-mo.

Once the hour is up, you do a word count — and let’s just say the final tally is less than impressive.

It’s time to pull you out of that rut. Here are ten ways to produce great writing in volume. Using these tactics, I can write a full 1,000-word article in under an hour; I bet they’ll speed up your output as well.

#1. Write Under Pressure (from Your Bladder)

When I’m on fire (or on a deadline) and don’t want to stop writing, I skip bathroom breaks until I’m done. Nothing speeds up your writing like knowing you’re on the verge of having a potty accident.

Being a 48-year-old woman, I have to pee every 30 minutes, so you can bet I’m writing scorchingly fast to make it to the next bathroom break; but if this isn’t the case for you, try quaffing a couple glasses of water before sitting down at your laptop.

Caveat: I am not a doctor and this probably isn’t the healthiest thing to do. In fact, I’ve heard of bladder infections being called “secretary’s disease” because they used to happen frequently to secretaries who held it in while they finished “just one more task.” Use this tactic at your own risk!

#2. Outwit Writer’s Block with This Old Journalist’s Trick

Instead of insisting that your facts and examples be all lined up before you put pen to paper, which leads to over-researching, try writing from your head. Get down what you know, and what you remember from your interviews — and drop in the term “TK” wherever you get stuck and need more information.

TK is journo-speak for “to come,” and it’s used as a placeholder for copy you’ll add later. The beauty of TK is that this combo of letters very rarely occurs in the English language — so once you’re done with your draft, you can do a search on the term in your word processing program and fill in the holes.

You’ll be surprised at how much you already had in your head, and at how much faster you can produce a piece of writing this way!

#3. Use Automation to Skip Two Million Keystrokes

Rewriting the same copy over and over, or playing the cut-and-paste game several times an hour, is a massive time suck. In the two minutes it takes you to type in your bio at the end of a guest post, you could have written the lede paragraph of a new post.

I use an app called TextExpander — which expands custom keyboard shortcuts into frequently used text — for common copy like my email sign-off, bio, mailing address, book titles, HTML codes, and words and phrases I use often in my writing. You can even use TextExpander abbreviations to insert images, the current date, and more. (Similar apps include TypeIt4Me for Mac and Breevy for Windows.)

As an example, when I type in “rren,” this pops up: The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success. That’s four keystrokes instead of 80!

TextExpander’s stats say I’ve saved myself from typing over two million characters, and have saved over 142 hours. Yes, that’s six solid days I’ve rescued from the abyss of needless typing.

One trick I learned years ago is to be sure the abbreviations you choose are letter combinations you won’t be using for anything else. For example, if you choose the word “address” to expand out into your street address, that will also happen when you write, “This blog post will address common time-wasters.”

Try repeating a letter at the front of the word instead. I use the combo “bbio” for my bio and “uurl” for my website URL.

Imagine how much speedier your writing will be if you can simply type fewer words!

#4. Turn Off the Squiggly Red Lines

You’re all in the zone, writing like your life depends on it — or like you have to pee really bad; see tip #1 — and suddenly you’re stopped in your tracks by a squiggly red line under a word. You pause to check it, and realize the program doesn’t recognize the name of that city in Germany you’re writing about.

So you right-click on “Nuremberg,” select “Add to Dictionary,” and …

… where were you again?

Your word processing program’s spelling and grammar checkers are just okay at checking spelling and grammar, but they are phenomenal at yanking you right out of your flow. I actually don’t mind the spell checker, but when I have the grammar checker on I find myself stopping every few minutes to yell, “Shut up, I meant to write it that way!”

Guess what? You have the power to switch off the checkers so you’re able to write without distraction. You can always run them after you’ve finished your writing if you need to.

#5. Invest in a Faster Pen

Like to write first drafts or take notes by hand? The Hack My Study site did a comparison on which pens are the fastest to write with.

Here’s a spoiler: Fountain pens are best for pure speed, but they’re also pricey and difficult to master. The next best option is a rollerball pen. These are less expensive, but they’re still fast because they create little friction on the writing surface.

The third best for speed is the gel pen, which is less expensive than the rollerball, and coming in dead last is the standard ballpoint pen — you know, the kind you pick up for free at your local bank or dentist’s office.

I can attest to the speed of the rollerball; a few years ago I decided to toss out every junky pen in the house and replace them with a few dozen of my favorite brand, the Pilot Precise V7 Rolling Ball Fine — blue for me, black for my husband, and red just because. That way, whenever I’m in the mood to write a draft or take notes by hand, I can reach into a kitchen drawer or my purse and be assured of pulling out a fast, smooth-writing pen every time.

Stocking up on quality pens is an investment (it costs around $20 for a 12-pack of the Pilot pen I use), but it’s worth it if it helps you write faster. Not to mention you’ll never again waste precious writing seconds furiously scribbling on a sheet of scrap paper to get the ink flowing in your cheap ballpoint.

#6. Do B-Minus Work

One of the chief habits that keeps you stuck in slow motion is editing yourself while writing. There’s nothing like agonizing over the perfect word in the middle of writing a blog post or article to keep you in perpetual “not quite finished” mode. (That habit, of course, is a consequence of perfectionism, another common bugaboo for writers.)

Value done over perfect and let the words fly. Give yourself permission to do B-minus work just to get the ideas down on paper, then go back and edit when you’re done. Chances are, you’ll discover your writing was pretty good to begin with!

The more you resist editing yourself as you write, the easier writing will become. The easier writing becomes, the more confident you’ll be. And the more confident you are in your writing, the quicker the process gets.

#7. Get Zen Before You Pick Up Your Pen

If your writing slows to a virtual crawl because you feel the need to check Facebook or answer an email after every sentence, you’ll love OmmWriter, a program that blocks out the files and applications behind the writing page to minimize distractions.

OmmWriter also offers a selection of calming background colors and music to keep you in Zen mode as you write, plus soothing sounds with each keystroke. I especially love the horizontal cursor (instead of the usual vertical blinking one) that seems to say “Write on” instead of “Stop writing!”

Ommwriter was free when I downloaded it several years ago, but is now a pay-what-you-want app; the average offering is $7.33.

#8. Stop Letting the Schedule Push You Around

Sometimes a little space is all you need to get perspective on a piece of writing that’s giving you fits, so you can get the words out faster.

An example: Last week I had scheduled myself to write an article for my website called “How Writers Waste Time by Saving Time,” about the dangers of cutting corners in your research and interviews. I eked out about 500 (crappy) words at a glacially slow pace before giving up; the article sounded more like a rant than a solid service piece, and I just couldn’t figure out how to fix it.

Then I looked over my ideas for future articles, and one called “Let Future You Handle Your Writing Problems” jumped out at me. I was inspired! I opened a new Word file, and that article — all 900 words — poured out of me in less than 60 minutes.

This week, I revisited the article I had been stuck on, and immediately saw exactly what the problem was and how to resolve it. An hour later, that article was done too.

If you have control over what you write and when you write it, this tip is for you: Stop being a slave to your editorial calendar. When you’re wrestling with a scheduled article or post, let it go. Scan over your editorial calendar and see if there are any post ideas that get you all fired up, and make the switch. You’ll find that the writing flows much faster that way.

#9. Play Games to Boost Your Words Per Minute

A big problem for many writers is that we think faster than we type. If your brain is churning out amazing ideas and perfect turns of phrase at a blazing pace, but you type slower than my husband trying to help me come up with a funny metaphor for something slow — you’ll finish out your allotted writing time with a only fraction of your page filled with, you know, writing.

Learning to type is a lot more fun than it used to be, with many sites offering free games, lessons, and tests to help you up your keyboarding speed. FreeTypingGame.Net has, among other goodies, a game called The Frogs Are Off Their Diet. A similar site, WordGames.com, offers hilariously titled typing challenges like Zombie Typocalypse and Type Type Revolution.

If you often find yourself writing on the go, seek out free apps that will help you learn to type faster on your smartphone or tablet. TapTyping is one example for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, and Typing Master is an app that works on Android devices.

#10. Gamble with Your Reputation

Feeling competitive? Challenge yourself to write your blog post, article, or book chapter in a (much) shorter amount of time than you normally would.

I did this once while working with a friend at a café and her jaw dropped open as she watched me complete an 800-word article in 30 minutes. (And yes, it was good!)

Even better, bet a friend something juicy that you can do it, or throw down the gauntlet on social media. The more people who see it and the harsher the consequences should you lose, the more likely you are to get those words down on the double.

On the low-pressure end, I also like to do mini challenges: I’ll see how much I can write in the five minutes while my tea steeps … in the two minutes before the microwave dings and my lunch is ready … while I’m on hold with AT&T before someone picks up. It’s incredible how quickly you can write when you have mere minutes to get it done.

Be More Prolific than You Ever Thought Possible

Fab news! It took me years to develop and learn these effective tactics for writing like a bat out of hell, but you can try them all on right now.

Feel free to combine tactics: Turn off the grammar checker, down a couple glasses of water, fire up Ommwriter, and use a text expander app to produce B-minus work.

Chances are you’ll boost your speed many times over, so you can do even more of what you love (hint: writing) every day.

Ready for the writing to simply pour from you? Set your timer and get started!

About the Author: Linda Formichelli has been a full-time freelance writer since 1997. If you’re marketing your butt off and getting nowhere, Linda’s theory is that it’s because you’re doing all the right things—and getting overwhelmed by it all. Instead, check out her upcoming Volume Marketing Challenge for Freelance Writers. During this fun, intense challenge, each week you’ll do the heck out of one type of marketing to reveal the one that will get you the most freelance writing assignments. Registration opens March 3!

How to Write Faster: 10 Crafty Ways to Hit 1,000 Words Per Hour

#Richard Roberts IM Success Mix #How to Write Faster: 10 Crafty Ways to Hit 1 #000 Words Per Hour

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annegalliher · 7 years

Text

How to Write Faster: 10 Crafty Ways to Hit 1,000 Words Per Hour

Yesssss!

You apply ass to seat, fire up your laptop, start typing …

… and it’s like watching a video in slo-mo.

Once the hour is up, you do a word count — and let’s just say the final tally is less than impressive.

#1. Write Under Pressure (from Your Bladder)

#2. Outwit Writer’s Block with This Old Journalist’s Trick

You’ll be surprised at how much you already had in your head, and at how much faster you can produce a piece of writing this way!

#3. Use Automation to Skip Two Million Keystrokes

As an example, when I type in “rren,” this pops up: The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success. That’s four keystrokes instead of 80!

TextExpander’s stats say I’ve saved myself from typing over two million characters, and have saved over 142 hours. Yes, that’s six solid days I’ve rescued from the abyss of needless typing.

Try repeating a letter at the front of the word instead. I use the combo “bbio” for my bio and “uurl” for my website URL.

Imagine how much speedier your writing will be if you can simply type fewer words!

#4. Turn Off the Squiggly Red Lines

So you right-click on “Nuremberg,” select “Add to Dictionary,” and …

… where were you again?

Guess what? You have the power to switch off the checkers so you’re able to write without distraction. You can always run them after you’ve finished your writing if you need to.

#5. Invest in a Faster Pen

Like to write first drafts or take notes by hand? The Hack My Study site did a comparison on which pens are the fastest to write with.

#6. Do B-Minus Work

#7. Get Zen Before You Pick Up Your Pen

Ommwriter was free when I downloaded it several years ago, but is now a pay-what-you-want app; the average offering is $7.33.

#8. Stop Letting the Schedule Push You Around

Sometimes a little space is all you need to get perspective on a piece of writing that’s giving you fits, so you can get the words out faster.

This week, I revisited the article I had been stuck on, and immediately saw exactly what the problem was and how to resolve it. An hour later, that article was done too.

#9. Play Games to Boost Your Words Per Minute

#10. Gamble with Your Reputation

Feeling competitive? Challenge yourself to write your blog post, article, or book chapter in a (much) shorter amount of time than you normally would.

I did this once while working with a friend at a café and her jaw dropped open as she watched me complete an 800-word article in 30 minutes. (And yes, it was good!)

Be More Prolific than You Ever Thought Possible

Fab news! It took me years to develop and learn these effective tactics for writing like a bat out of hell, but you can try them all on right now.

Feel free to combine tactics: Turn off the grammar checker, down a couple glasses of water, fire up Ommwriter, and use a text expander app to produce B-minus work.

Chances are you’ll boost your speed many times over, so you can do even more of what you love (hint: writing) every day.

Ready for the writing to simply pour from you? Set your timer and get started!

0 notes

alanajacksontx · 7 years

Text

How to Write Faster: 10 Crafty Ways to Hit 1,000 Words Per Hour

Yesssss!

You apply ass to seat, fire up your laptop, start typing …

… and it’s like watching a video in slo-mo.

Once the hour is up, you do a word count — and let’s just say the final tally is less than impressive.

#1. Write Under Pressure (from Your Bladder)

#2. Outwit Writer’s Block with This Old Journalist’s Trick

You’ll be surprised at how much you already had in your head, and at how much faster you can produce a piece of writing this way!

#3. Use Automation to Skip Two Million Keystrokes

As an example, when I type in “rren,” this pops up: The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success. That’s four keystrokes instead of 80!

TextExpander’s stats say I’ve saved myself from typing over two million characters, and have saved over 142 hours. Yes, that’s six solid days I’ve rescued from the abyss of needless typing.

Try repeating a letter at the front of the word instead. I use the combo “bbio” for my bio and “uurl” for my website URL.

Imagine how much speedier your writing will be if you can simply type fewer words!

#4. Turn Off the Squiggly Red Lines

So you right-click on “Nuremberg,” select “Add to Dictionary,” and …

… where were you again?

Guess what? You have the power to switch off the checkers so you’re able to write without distraction. You can always run them after you’ve finished your writing if you need to.

#5. Invest in a Faster Pen

Like to write first drafts or take notes by hand? The Hack My Study site did a comparison on which pens are the fastest to write with.

#6. Do B-Minus Work

#7. Get Zen Before You Pick Up Your Pen

Ommwriter was free when I downloaded it several years ago, but is now a pay-what-you-want app; the average offering is $7.33.

#8. Stop Letting the Schedule Push You Around

Sometimes a little space is all you need to get perspective on a piece of writing that’s giving you fits, so you can get the words out faster.

This week, I revisited the article I had been stuck on, and immediately saw exactly what the problem was and how to resolve it. An hour later, that article was done too.

#9. Play Games to Boost Your Words Per Minute

#10. Gamble with Your Reputation

Feeling competitive? Challenge yourself to write your blog post, article, or book chapter in a (much) shorter amount of time than you normally would.

I did this once while working with a friend at a café and her jaw dropped open as she watched me complete an 800-word article in 30 minutes. (And yes, it was good!)

Be More Prolific than You Ever Thought Possible

Fab news! It took me years to develop and learn these effective tactics for writing like a bat out of hell, but you can try them all on right now.

Feel free to combine tactics: Turn off the grammar checker, down a couple glasses of water, fire up Ommwriter, and use a text expander app to produce B-minus work.

Chances are you’ll boost your speed many times over, so you can do even more of what you love (hint: writing) every day.

Ready for the writing to simply pour from you? Set your timer and get started!

from Internet Marketing Tips https://smartblogger.com/how-to-write-faster/

0 notes