#queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts

[viikingwitch]

CONTINUED FROM HERE, WITH HAYLEY ( @adeathsentence )

               “If the muddied shoe fits – “ She shrugs, amused. “How odd. The accident, as you call it, seems to happen every time I have them out; I believe every single grimoire of mine bears your mark at this point,” she scolds but there is no true heat to her tone. No firmness. Were it anyone else, she would be peeved; but every time she finds a new spot on the ancient precious pages, she thinks of Hayley with fondness. It’s dangerous territory and Freya should be retreating to safety by now, doing the sane and responsible thing, but for once her resolve is failing her. “I’m starting to wonder if perhaps you are doing it on purpose.” It’s a challenge as much as it is a question if Hayley is leaving her something to remember her by. Werewolves are territorial beasts, after all.

               As if Freya could ever forget her. The hybrid has clawed herself a permanent place in her heart, one that seems to be growing with every passing day.

               She chuckles. “Hayley Marshall, is this simply a ploy to get me to bake you a cake? And here I thought you wanted me to do less of this.” But it does seem to fit her well, and so she nods with appreciation. “Relaxing and torture do seem inseparable when it comes to us. I shall give it a try.” She pauses, head tilting. “If I watch an episode with you now, will you let me continue my oh so important work?”

#adeathsentence #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #adeathsentence >> hayley #adeathsentence >> 001 #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts #// moving to new post cause i'm switching to the new editor //

[contentcreationstrategy]

Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar

I can’t believe I got fired from the calendar factory. All I did was take a day off!

Opening today’s post up with a bit of levity felt fitting, because calendars can cause much anxiety. They bring to mind deadlines, meticulous organization, and time crunches, which are often oppressive realities for marketers with a million things on their plates.

But the truth is that you’re likely to encounter much more dread if you don’t house your content planning within a documented and strategic editorial calendar for blogging. Building out a set schedule (with a bit of flexibility) ultimately makes your life easier because it provides a guiding light, and ensures your content strategy remains cohesive and oriented around your objectives.

In other words, editorial calendars are no joke. Here’s how you can construct one that seriously drives your company’s blog (or any other content initiative) forward. 

Fortify Your Editorial Calendar in Five Steps

Whether you’ve already got a content calendar, which you hope to refine and improve, or you’re starting from scratch, these five steps will put you on track.

Step 1: Crystallize Your Objectives

The biggest issue with many content plans is that they’re aimless and wayward. When you’re figuring things out on the fly, it can be difficult to tie everything back to the same goals and desired outcomes. So the first step is to zoom out and nail down what you’re trying to achieve with the content in question. For instance, if your blog is designed to generate leads with specific audiences, are you tethering each piece on your calendar back to this outcome in some way? 

Placing objectives front-and-center is a key benefit of documenting your content strategy, and making them the underpinning of your planning will help ensure everything you publish has a purpose. 

via GIPHY

Step 2: Chart Your Pillars and Timely Focuses

With objectives clearly defined, you can formulate content pillars that will serve as the cornerstones of your editorial calendar. Also known as topic clusters, these are the general categories that all of your content will nest under. Pillars are determined by the intersection of what you want to be known for, and where demand exists. They should be informed by SEO research around keywords and queries, hitting the sweet spot between search volume, expertise, and buying intent.

Here on the TopRank Marketing Blog, our pillars are aligned with our agency’s core services — content marketing, SEO, influencer marketing — and so pretty much everything we create for the blog approaches these topics from various angles for people who are interested in learning about them and looking for insight.

Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. Organizing your calendar around them will help ensure you stay focused, and relevant to your target audience. In addition to identifying a topical mix, you can start to define your content types — how-tos, thought leadership, influencer collaborations, conversion-driven pieces, etc. These can be aligned with various stages of the buying cycle, and mapped back to the key objectives established in Step 1.

At this point, it’s also smart to map out industry events or seasonal milestones that you’ll want to create content around. 

Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning Click To Tweet

Step 3: Coordinate with Your Broader Strategy

This is a vital consideration that is all too frequently overlooked. Whatever channel you’re scheduling content for — be it a blog, email, social, etc. — think about ways you can coordinate with other departments or disciplines in the organization. For example, does your sales team experience higher volumes of inquiries at certain times of year? Or are they attending a trade show next month that you could support with content? Maybe one of your executives will be speaking at a conference, and you want to queue up some thought leadership around the subject of their talk in the days leading up.

A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. In this sense, it can be helpful to make your calendar visible to everyone and not just the folks on your team. 

A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning Click To Tweet

Step 4: Plot Your Cadence and Schedule Out Your Content

How often will you create content? And why? We all know it’s valuable to publish regularly, because this is how you build an invested and trusting audience, but “regularly” can mean different things under different circumstances. Is it daily? Three times a week? Multiple times per day? This decision shouldn’t driven by guesswork, but by data. 

Although it’s a little older now, HubSpot has a helpful post on determining how often companies should blog based on variables like company size and B2B vs. B2C. But you’ll also want to dig into your own visitor behavior analytics and draw conclusions on what your audience wants. Test different cadences and compare the impacts. As a general rule, more publishing equals more traffic, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be worth your while to create new content each day. 

As Alfred Lua of Buffer writes: “I would recommend experimenting and finding a suitable editorial cadence based on your content goals and the amount of time you have. There is no one right editorial cadence. HubSpot publishes several articles a day while Backlinko publishes less than once a month.” (As a side note, we highlighted Backlinko’s quality-over-quantity approach here earlier this year.)

Having made this decision, you can start filling out the calendar appropriately, using your content pillars and organizational directives as guides. Plan as far out as you’re comfortable (at least one month, but forecasting three or more months is even better). Make sure you’re building in enough topical variety to keep things fresh and diverse. Once you get your schedule documented, it becomes easy to spot gaps or overloads. 

Step 5: Leave Room for Change

Note that you don’t want to completely fill out your editorial calendar. As we mentioned earlier, it’s important to leave some flexibility so you can nimbly address timely matters as they arise and account for the (expected) unexpected. Contently editor-in-chief Jordan Teicher proposes a 75/25 rule, wherein one out of every four slots in your calendar is left blank. 

“In my years managing the site, I’m certain of one thing: s*** happens,” Teicher writes. “People miss deadlines. Sources don’t respond in time. The design team can’t find the right image. My day gets stuffed with meetings, which prevents me from editing a draft. A flexible content calendar is about more than just coming up with ideas for the current news cycle. It’s also about realistic expectations.”

Smart Practices for Getting the Most Out of Your Editorial Calendar

The five steps above will help you solidify your calendar. Here are a few additional tips to help make the process smoother and more effective.

Hold group brainstorming sessions. Usually, the toughest thing about building out a content calendar is coming up with enough concepts to fill it in. I recommend setting up a time where a bunch of your creatives come together to load up the pipeline with ideas (run these ideas past your content pillars and SEO research to assess strategic viability). Make sure to incorporate voices from various departments. 

Slice up and repurpose. It’s always valuable to get the most mileage possible out of your content. If you’ve got a big, meaty blog post planned on a certain subject, why not divvy it up into three parts and run it as a series? If you’re looking for a reliable performer next month, why not take your most successful piece from last month and flip it into an infographic, or conceive a follow-up post that expands on it? Repurposing is a great way to get the most out of your content leftovers.

Lean on the right tools. For some content teams, a spreadsheet or even a Word doc can be sufficient for organizing your editorial calendar. In other cases, this initiative can be run through your project management software. But for high-volume teams with many elements to track and account for, it might be helpful to go with a dedicated content-centric solution. There are plenty of them out there, including Contently, DivvyHQ, Kapost, CoSchedule, and more.

Create comprehensive coverage. What this looks like can vary in different scenarios. It might mean approaching your topical pillars with best-answer content that addresses every subtopic your customers are interested in learning about (especially those queries carrying any level of purchase intent). If you’re in a crowded niche, it might mean gobbling up every bit of white space your competitors are missing. If your content is oriented toward B2B buyers, it might mean creating content for every role on distributed buying committees, and speaking to each stage of a lengthy purchase cycle. 

Right on Schedule

If you feel apprehensive about building an editorial calendar from scratch, you’re not alone. It can feel intimidating to schedule out so far in advance, and to consistently manage and maintain this resource. But I assure you, once you get into the groove, your life will be much easier and your results will improve. 

Following the steps and recommendations above will help you stay on target and derive maximum value from your efforts.

Want to add further efficiency and foresight to your strategy? Learn more about getting ahead with your content planning. 

The post Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar appeared first on Blog Launch.

from Blog Launch https://ift.tt/2Zlm1gl

#Blog Launch

[samuelpboswell]

Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar

I can’t believe I got fired from the calendar factory. All I did was take a day off! Opening today’s post up with a bit of levity felt fitting, because calendars can cause much anxiety. They bring to mind deadlines, meticulous organization, and time crunches, which are often oppressive realities for marketers with a million things on their plates. But the truth is that you’re likely to encounter much more dread if you don’t house your content planning within a documented and strategic editorial calendar for blogging. Building out a set schedule (with a bit of flexibility) ultimately makes your life easier because it provides a guiding light, and ensures your content strategy remains cohesive and oriented around your objectives. In other words, editorial calendars are no joke. Here’s how you can construct one that seriously drives your company’s blog (or any other content initiative) forward. 

Fortify Your Editorial Calendar in Five Steps

Whether you’ve already got a content calendar, which you hope to refine and improve, or you’re starting from scratch, these five steps will put you on track.

Step 1: Crystallize Your Objectives

The biggest issue with many content plans is that they’re aimless and wayward. When you’re figuring things out on the fly, it can be difficult to tie everything back to the same goals and desired outcomes. So the first step is to zoom out and nail down what you’re trying to achieve with the content in question. For instance, if your blog is designed to generate leads with specific audiences, are you tethering each piece on your calendar back to this outcome in some way?  Placing objectives front-and-center is a key benefit of documenting your content strategy, and making them the underpinning of your planning will help ensure everything you publish has a purpose. 

via GIPHY

Step 2: Chart Your Pillars and Timely Focuses

With objectives clearly defined, you can formulate content pillars that will serve as the cornerstones of your editorial calendar. Also known as topic clusters, these are the general categories that all of your content will nest under. Pillars are determined by the intersection of what you want to be known for, and where demand exists. They should be informed by SEO research around keywords and queries, hitting the sweet spot between search volume, expertise, and buying intent. Here on the TopRank Marketing Blog, our pillars are aligned with our agency’s core services — content marketing, SEO, influencer marketing — and so pretty much everything we create for the blog approaches these topics from various angles for people who are interested in learning about them and looking for insight. Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. Organizing your calendar around them will help ensure you stay focused, and relevant to your target audience. In addition to identifying a topical mix, you can start to define your content types — how-tos, thought leadership, influencer collaborations, conversion-driven pieces, etc. These can be aligned with various stages of the buying cycle, and mapped back to the key objectives established in Step 1. At this point, it’s also smart to map out industry events or seasonal milestones that you’ll want to create content around.  [bctt tweet="Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning" username="toprank"]

Step 3: Coordinate with Your Broader Strategy

This is a vital consideration that is all too frequently overlooked. Whatever channel you’re scheduling content for — be it a blog, email, social, etc. — think about ways you can coordinate with other departments or disciplines in the organization. For example, does your sales team experience higher volumes of inquiries at certain times of year? Or are they attending a trade show next month that you could support with content? Maybe one of your executives will be speaking at a conference, and you want to queue up some thought leadership around the subject of their talk in the days leading up. A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. In this sense, it can be helpful to make your calendar visible to everyone and not just the folks on your team.  [bctt tweet="A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning " username="toprank"]

Step 4: Plot Your Cadence and Schedule Out Your Content

How often will you create content? And why? We all know it’s valuable to publish regularly, because this is how you build an invested and trusting audience, but “regularly” can mean different things under different circumstances. Is it daily? Three times a week? Multiple times per day? This decision shouldn’t driven by guesswork, but by data.  Although it’s a little older now, HubSpot has a helpful post on determining how often companies should blog based on variables like company size and B2B vs. B2C. But you’ll also want to dig into your own visitor behavior analytics and draw conclusions on what your audience wants. Test different cadences and compare the impacts. As a general rule, more publishing equals more traffic, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be worth your while to create new content each day.  As Alfred Lua of Buffer writes: “I would recommend experimenting and finding a suitable editorial cadence based on your content goals and the amount of time you have. There is no one right editorial cadence. HubSpot publishes several articles a day while Backlinko publishes less than once a month.” (As a side note, we highlighted Backlinko’s quality-over-quantity approach here earlier this year.) Having made this decision, you can start filling out the calendar appropriately, using your content pillars and organizational directives as guides. Plan as far out as you’re comfortable (at least one month, but forecasting three or more months is even better). Make sure you’re building in enough topical variety to keep things fresh and diverse. Once you get your schedule documented, it becomes easy to spot gaps or overloads. 

Step 5: Leave Room for Change

Note that you don’t want to completely fill out your editorial calendar. As we mentioned earlier, it’s important to leave some flexibility so you can nimbly address timely matters as they arise and account for the (expected) unexpected. Contently editor-in-chief Jordan Teicher proposes a 75/25 rule, wherein one out of every four slots in your calendar is left blank.  “In my years managing the site, I’m certain of one thing: s*** happens,” Teicher writes. “People miss deadlines. Sources don’t respond in time. The design team can’t find the right image. My day gets stuffed with meetings, which prevents me from editing a draft. A flexible content calendar is about more than just coming up with ideas for the current news cycle. It’s also about realistic expectations.”

Smart Practices for Getting the Most Out of Your Editorial Calendar

The five steps above will help you solidify your calendar. Here are a few additional tips to help make the process smoother and more effective.

Hold group brainstorming sessions. Usually, the toughest thing about building out a content calendar is coming up with enough concepts to fill it in. I recommend setting up a time where a bunch of your creatives come together to load up the pipeline with ideas (run these ideas past your content pillars and SEO research to assess strategic viability). Make sure to incorporate voices from various departments. 

Slice up and repurpose. It’s always valuable to get the most mileage possible out of your content. If you’ve got a big, meaty blog post planned on a certain subject, why not divvy it up into three parts and run it as a series? If you’re looking for a reliable performer next month, why not take your most successful piece from last month and flip it into an infographic, or conceive a follow-up post that expands on it? Repurposing is a great way to get the most out of your content leftovers.

Lean on the right tools. For some content teams, a spreadsheet or even a Word doc can be sufficient for organizing your editorial calendar. In other cases, this initiative can be run through your project management software. But for high-volume teams with many elements to track and account for, it might be helpful to go with a dedicated content-centric solution. There are plenty of them out there, including Contently, DivvyHQ, Kapost, CoSchedule, and more.

Create comprehensive coverage. What this looks like can vary in different scenarios. It might mean approaching your topical pillars with best-answer content that addresses every subtopic your customers are interested in learning about (especially those queries carrying any level of purchase intent). If you’re in a crowded niche, it might mean gobbling up every bit of white space your competitors are missing. If your content is oriented toward B2B buyers, it might mean creating content for every role on distributed buying committees, and speaking to each stage of a lengthy purchase cycle. 

Right on Schedule

If you feel apprehensive about building an editorial calendar from scratch, you’re not alone. It can feel intimidating to schedule out so far in advance, and to consistently manage and maintain this resource. But I assure you, once you get into the groove, your life will be much easier and your results will improve.  Following the steps and recommendations above will help you stay on target and derive maximum value from your efforts. Want to add further efficiency and foresight to your strategy? Learn more about getting ahead with your content planning. 

The post Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/07/editorial-calendar-content-marketing/

[ralphlayton]

Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar

I can’t believe I got fired from the calendar factory. All I did was take a day off! Opening today’s post up with a bit of levity felt fitting, because calendars can cause much anxiety. They bring to mind deadlines, meticulous organization, and time crunches, which are often oppressive realities for marketers with a million things on their plates. But the truth is that you’re likely to encounter much more dread if you don’t house your content planning within a documented and strategic editorial calendar for blogging. Building out a set schedule (with a bit of flexibility) ultimately makes your life easier because it provides a guiding light, and ensures your content strategy remains cohesive and oriented around your objectives. In other words, editorial calendars are no joke. Here’s how you can construct one that seriously drives your company’s blog (or any other content initiative) forward. 

Fortify Your Editorial Calendar in Five Steps

Whether you’ve already got a content calendar, which you hope to refine and improve, or you’re starting from scratch, these five steps will put you on track.

Step 1: Crystallize Your Objectives

The biggest issue with many content plans is that they’re aimless and wayward. When you’re figuring things out on the fly, it can be difficult to tie everything back to the same goals and desired outcomes. So the first step is to zoom out and nail down what you’re trying to achieve with the content in question. For instance, if your blog is designed to generate leads with specific audiences, are you tethering each piece on your calendar back to this outcome in some way?  Placing objectives front-and-center is a key benefit of documenting your content strategy, and making them the underpinning of your planning will help ensure everything you publish has a purpose. 

via GIPHY

Step 2: Chart Your Pillars and Timely Focuses

With objectives clearly defined, you can formulate content pillars that will serve as the cornerstones of your editorial calendar. Also known as topic clusters, these are the general categories that all of your content will nest under. Pillars are determined by the intersection of what you want to be known for, and where demand exists. They should be informed by SEO research around keywords and queries, hitting the sweet spot between search volume, expertise, and buying intent. Here on the TopRank Marketing Blog, our pillars are aligned with our agency’s core services — content marketing, SEO, influencer marketing — and so pretty much everything we create for the blog approaches these topics from various angles for people who are interested in learning about them and looking for insight. Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. Organizing your calendar around them will help ensure you stay focused, and relevant to your target audience. In addition to identifying a topical mix, you can start to define your content types — how-tos, thought leadership, influencer collaborations, conversion-driven pieces, etc. These can be aligned with various stages of the buying cycle, and mapped back to the key objectives established in Step 1. At this point, it’s also smart to map out industry events or seasonal milestones that you’ll want to create content around.  [bctt tweet="Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning" username="toprank"]

Step 3: Coordinate with Your Broader Strategy

This is a vital consideration that is all too frequently overlooked. Whatever channel you’re scheduling content for — be it a blog, email, social, etc. — think about ways you can coordinate with other departments or disciplines in the organization. For example, does your sales team experience higher volumes of inquiries at certain times of year? Or are they attending a trade show next month that you could support with content? Maybe one of your executives will be speaking at a conference, and you want to queue up some thought leadership around the subject of their talk in the days leading up. A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. In this sense, it can be helpful to make your calendar visible to everyone and not just the folks on your team.  [bctt tweet="A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning " username="toprank"]

Step 4: Plot Your Cadence and Schedule Out Your Content

How often will you create content? And why? We all know it’s valuable to publish regularly, because this is how you build an invested and trusting audience, but “regularly” can mean different things under different circumstances. Is it daily? Three times a week? Multiple times per day? This decision shouldn’t driven by guesswork, but by data.  Although it’s a little older now, HubSpot has a helpful post on determining how often companies should blog based on variables like company size and B2B vs. B2C. But you’ll also want to dig into your own visitor behavior analytics and draw conclusions on what your audience wants. Test different cadences and compare the impacts. As a general rule, more publishing equals more traffic, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be worth your while to create new content each day.  As Alfred Lua of Buffer writes: “I would recommend experimenting and finding a suitable editorial cadence based on your content goals and the amount of time you have. There is no one right editorial cadence. HubSpot publishes several articles a day while Backlinko publishes less than once a month.” (As a side note, we highlighted Backlinko’s quality-over-quantity approach here earlier this year.) Having made this decision, you can start filling out the calendar appropriately, using your content pillars and organizational directives as guides. Plan as far out as you’re comfortable (at least one month, but forecasting three or more months is even better). Make sure you’re building in enough topical variety to keep things fresh and diverse. Once you get your schedule documented, it becomes easy to spot gaps or overloads. 

Step 5: Leave Room for Change

Note that you don’t want to completely fill out your editorial calendar. As we mentioned earlier, it’s important to leave some flexibility so you can nimbly address timely matters as they arise and account for the (expected) unexpected. Contently editor-in-chief Jordan Teicher proposes a 75/25 rule, wherein one out of every four slots in your calendar is left blank.  “In my years managing the site, I’m certain of one thing: s*** happens,” Teicher writes. “People miss deadlines. Sources don’t respond in time. The design team can’t find the right image. My day gets stuffed with meetings, which prevents me from editing a draft. A flexible content calendar is about more than just coming up with ideas for the current news cycle. It’s also about realistic expectations.”

Smart Practices for Getting the Most Out of Your Editorial Calendar

The five steps above will help you solidify your calendar. Here are a few additional tips to help make the process smoother and more effective.

Hold group brainstorming sessions. Usually, the toughest thing about building out a content calendar is coming up with enough concepts to fill it in. I recommend setting up a time where a bunch of your creatives come together to load up the pipeline with ideas (run these ideas past your content pillars and SEO research to assess strategic viability). Make sure to incorporate voices from various departments. 

Slice up and repurpose. It’s always valuable to get the most mileage possible out of your content. If you’ve got a big, meaty blog post planned on a certain subject, why not divvy it up into three parts and run it as a series? If you’re looking for a reliable performer next month, why not take your most successful piece from last month and flip it into an infographic, or conceive a follow-up post that expands on it? Repurposing is a great way to get the most out of your content leftovers.

Lean on the right tools. For some content teams, a spreadsheet or even a Word doc can be sufficient for organizing your editorial calendar. In other cases, this initiative can be run through your project management software. But for high-volume teams with many elements to track and account for, it might be helpful to go with a dedicated content-centric solution. There are plenty of them out there, including Contently, DivvyHQ, Kapost, CoSchedule, and more.

Create comprehensive coverage. What this looks like can vary in different scenarios. It might mean approaching your topical pillars with best-answer content that addresses every subtopic your customers are interested in learning about (especially those queries carrying any level of purchase intent). If you’re in a crowded niche, it might mean gobbling up every bit of white space your competitors are missing. If your content is oriented toward B2B buyers, it might mean creating content for every role on distributed buying committees, and speaking to each stage of a lengthy purchase cycle. 

Right on Schedule

If you feel apprehensive about building an editorial calendar from scratch, you’re not alone. It can feel intimidating to schedule out so far in advance, and to consistently manage and maintain this resource. But I assure you, once you get into the groove, your life will be much easier and your results will improve.  Following the steps and recommendations above will help you stay on target and derive maximum value from your efforts. Want to add further efficiency and foresight to your strategy? Learn more about getting ahead with your content planning. 

The post Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

[viikingwitch]

CONTINUED FROM HERE, WITH CAROLINE ( @seesgood )

               It’s oddly comforting that there is something they can experience for the first time, together. Being an ancient witch comes with a set of expectations – mainly, that she has witnessed everything the world has to offer, seen empires rise and empires fall. The truth, however, is that Freya has barely lived at all. Centuries were stolen from her by Dahlia and nowadays she is too busy fixing her family’s messes to breathe. Not that anyone is forcing her to. She loves them and she likes being useful; one of them, instead of the outsider she used to be.

               But it is starting to wear down on her and she cannot pretend otherwise much longer. She is supposed to be the big sister that can fix everything, but she is not ancient in the ways her little siblings are. Being around Caroline is … far less overwhelming. They might have been born ten centuries apart, but their amount of experience is roughly the same.

               As is their dedication to their loved ones. It’s what brought them here, after all. It’s why Freya respects her, more and more.

               “Still – that sounds like a lovely day,” she says, quiet. Soft in the way she doesn’t let herself be around those outside her family. “When I was a child, I would watch the shore, waiting for my father’s return.” The memory is vague. Fated. Replaced with so much pain and suffering, that she has suffered through and that she has caused. But Caroline’s answer stirs something buried deep. “But it was not exactly a beach. And it was rather cold, unlike here.”

               A small smile appears. It’s too late to turn back now so she might as well see this through ( that is what she is going to tell herself whenever the guilt creeps back in ). “Yes, you are right. It would be such a shame to scare them off right as we finally find them. A fitting attire is certainly in order.” If there are any witches on this island worth their time, they should be able to tell exactly what they are. Another irrelevant fact. Her nose scrunches, head tilting to the side. “ – do we know what a fitting attire would be?”

#seesgood #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #seesgood >> caroline #seesgood >> 002 #verse >> canon > post s4 > i was supposed to be the big sister that could fix everything #// moving to new post cause i'm switching to the new editor // #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts

[viikingwitch]

CONTINUED FROM HERE, WITH ELIJAH ( @enduringlystoic ) 

              By the time Elijah returns from garbage disposal duty, the itching has gone from incessant to nearly painful; her skin is already turning red from her scratching. “Hmm. Yes, I’m quite alright.” She offers him a distracted smile. “Now, where was I?” Freya resumes walking and the world spins violently before her eyes. “Not again – “ is all she manages out before she is stumbling, hands thrown forward to ease her fall.

#enduringlystoic #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #enduringlystoic >> elijah #enduringlystoic >> 008 #// cause she's the cutest evil witch ever // #// cutest poisoned evil witch ever too but we don't talk about that // #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts #// moving to new post cause i'm switching to the new editor //

[viikingwitch]

CONTINUED FROM HERE, WITH BRIDA ( @mysticlives )

               “Hmm. Perhaps you shouldn’t barge into other people’s homes uninvited and demand their attention, then.” Her lips twitch, curling up into a dry smile. There it is. The reason Brida is here. Well, if this is how she wants to play is, Freya is more than ready to oblige. She takes a step forward, nearly hovering now. “Oh, but you are the one in need of something to ease your pack’s suffering – something we both well know I can provide but you will have a hard time finding anywhere else – and you are yet to offer anything I want. Are you sure you have the leverage here?” The moonlight ring spell has been one of Esther’s MOST ADVANCED; known to few, it requires power on top of a rare stone. Freya has both ( hayley has told her about how much transforming hurts, every bone breaking – but it’s losing all control of her own body that sounds the most terrifying. and she can relate to wanting to help family ). “One for the topic of this information; the other should it prove useful.”

#mysticlives #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #mysticlives >> brida #mysticlives >> 001 #// moving to beta editor!! / #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts

[viikingwitch]

why do you hurt ?

this isn't enough for you

the words creep into your head in the dead of night one night and you cannot get rid of them. 'this isn't enough for me anymore'. you thought this was enough for you at some point, or maybe you hoped that it would be, but it isn't, and it hurts. you need to change something, or die trying. this - life like this - does not make life worth living. there is a lump in your throat that demands attention every waking moment of the day. there is pain in your body like a cavernous maw you cannot keep balance over. this is not what you wanted. you need to change. you can't stay here. it is not a character flaw you want more.

Tagged by: stole it from my other blog Tagging: you >:)

#quizes >> call freya out won't you #about >> the world is a bad place and sometimes we have to do bad things to survive #// look i'm not saying this is freya realizing just fighting for her immortal family isn't enough for her ( and feeling super duper guilty #about it ) but that's what i'm saying // #// 'poor girl; you searched a thousand years for family and in finding them they will be your undoing' // #// i will make a post about it at some point // #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts

[viikingwitch]

@fiercebit >> “  i can think of at least a dozen people that need killing.  or a light beating.  will that cheer you up?  ” / rebekah to freya

prompts for emotionally stunted idiots

              A strangled laugh escapes her at the offer. Oh, how long has Freya wished for a sister! Has dreamt of her for centuries, of the things they would do together, only for Rebekah to turn out to be so much more. More wonderful. More real. Perfect in all her imperfection. “Well – “ Freya takes in a deep breath, tries to steady herself. She wants to be the one looking after Rebekah, not the other way around ( she does not wish to be a burden ). “Much as I appreciate the offer, I think I would rather avoid bloodshed and murder if possible. A peaceful day is all I want.” It feels like they are constantly at war; and while Freya will not stop fighting, it does not mean she is not tired.

              Her lips twist up into a dry smile. “A peaceful breakfast, at least. The rest is probably wishful thinking.”

#fiercebit #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #fiercebit >> rebekah #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts

[viikingwitch]

silencedrage @founderscouncil >> I didn’t need your help. – bonnie

Confrontation! Sentence Memes ( memes from old blogs <3 )

              “Right. The next time a vampire gets a drop on you, I will happily stand by let them snap your neck.” A roll of her eyes shows her annoyance rather clearly as Freya steps over the now dead body ( brain melted, heart ripped out ). It is hardly a matter of Bonnie not having the magic to defend herself – she is PLENTY POWERFUL – but rather vampires being so much faster than them. “New Orleans is in a state of a constant war; I assure you, having allies is much more beneficial than having enemies.” Freya herself would much rather have a Bennett witch on her side; or, at the very least, not directly opposing her.

#founderscouncil #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #founderscouncil >> bonnie #// THIS IS OLD OOPS // #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts

[viikingwitch]

@responsiblealpha >> There's a large, thin box delivered to the Compound, addressed to Freya Mikaelson. Inside the box is a large landscape painting of the woods, with some beams of light breaking through the dark green canopy. There's a squirrel poking it's head out of a bush, robins building a nest in a tree, and some birds flying overhead in the sky. But more importantly, in the middle of the painting sits a woman. The sun catching onto her blonde hair giving it the illusion that it is glowing. Surrounding her are several wolves, but she's not frightened. In fact she has a large smile on her face, and happiness in her eyes. A brown wolf is half laying in her lap, demanding attention, while a large black wolf with dark eyes sits right at her side, watching and protecting. ( there's a note that simply says; 'I hope you like it. J. Danvers.' ) 

asks from old blogs <3

              The painting within the box nearly brings her to tears, the joyful rather than sad or angry type. She knows what it means, she knows Jeremy primarily paints his pack. The fact he has painted her among them is clear confirmation that he sees her as ONE OF THEM.

              Klaus will most likely not like it – but that is a problem for the future. For now, she only lets the happiness in.

              A note appears in Jeremy’s pocket. ‘Thank you. I love it; so beautiful. Freya’

#responsiblealpha #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #responsiblealpha >> jeremy & freya > the ones who never been loved ( maybe i see a part of me in them ) #verse >> crossover > bitten > there’s a little bit of a wolf in me too #// AWWWWWWWWW // #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts

[viikingwitch]

it’s not what she wants to hear — not by a longshot. but…well, she’s come to know freya. or at least know her enough to know that that’s not a very freya-response. if there’s one thing caroline knows about witches, it’s that they’re notoriously self sacrificial. and the added stubbornness and dramatics of the mikaelson lineage don’t exactly give freya an advantage in life. caroline exhales, ❝ you okay? ❞ it’s stupid to ask. she’s still pretty sure she won’t get an honest answer, but it’s better than nothing. ❝ i can bury a body, if you need. or i can steal alaric’s crossbow? ❞

@seesgood​ from ( x )

               You okay? The mere question, though spoken by someone not exactly close ( though not exactly a stranger at this point, either ) nearly unravels her. Her eyes water as a shaky breath escapes her, hands trembling. “Yes.” It does not sound believable, not even to her own ears. WILL SHE EVER BE? “Thank you for the offer but I am looking for something less lethal and more – resurrecting.” Three brothers, a woman she has come to love like a sister, her father, the mother she never had; she must be strong for Hope’s sake, but every day is a struggle. "In that regard, I am proving rather useless."

#seesgood #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #seesgood >> caroline #seesgood >> 001 #verse >> au > post s5 resurrections > giving up my mortal life to save immortal people #// this is ... old // #// OOPS // #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts

[viikingwitch]

@responsiblealpha​ >> “ i’m not going anywhere until you get some sleep. ” @ freya

PROMPTS   FOR   THE   HEAVY   HEARTED ( memes from old blogs <3 )

             “Then I certainly hope you find my company pleasant – we will be here for QUITE SOME TIME.” Not sparing him even the briefest of glances, she continues setting up the spell. The blade cuts easily into the palm of her hand; her blood drips into the bowl; the candles light up at the flicker of her wrist. “And before you chide me for not getting enough rest, do try to remember you would be doing the same was it THE PACK in danger. And, much as I respect you, nobody stands in my way when it comes to helping mine. Not even you, Jeremy.”

#responsiblealpha #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #responsiblealpha >> jeremy & freya > the ones who never been loved ( maybe i see a part of me in them ) #// stubborn stubborn witch // #verse >> crossover > bitten > there’s a little bit of a wolf in me too #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts

[viikingwitch]

@responsiblealpha​​ >> “ no one ever helped me when i needed it. so, i just. try to do my best to keep others from feeling that kind of loneliness. ” @ freya

PROMPTS   FOR   THE   HEAVY   HEARTED ( memes from old blogs <3 )

             It is the kind of loneliness she is INTIMATELY FAMILIAR with; she was once that child, innocent and good. Torn away from everything she knew, used and abused, with nobody there to help her through it – with nobody there at all. However, her first instinct is hardly to help. “ – then you are a good person.” Better than she could ever hope to be. “Such experience turns many against the world – against other people. And for a good reason. Sometimes you must help yourself instead, especially when everyone is out to get you.” She looks at him, concern filling her eyes. “Please, Jeremy; get out of here while you still can. I do not wish for you to get hurt.”

#responsiblealpha #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #responsiblealpha >> jeremy & freya > the ones who never been loved ( maybe i see a part of me in them ) #verse >> crossover > bitten > there’s a little bit of a wolf in me too #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts

[viikingwitch]

Klaus turned his nose up Freya’s so called advice. He gripped the glass more tightly and then took a deep breath. “Now is that just your sisterly love showing or are you worried that I will create a mess you will feel obligated to clean up?”

@walkinthedarkness​ from ( x )

              “Both.” Freya’s reply is as curt as it is candid, arms crossed tightly over her chest. Already, she can feel a headache building; the ‘why did I even want siblings, again?’ type of headache. “We both know who you will be calling once you need a spell to get out of said mess – just as we both know I WILL BE THERE FOR YOU. But given this endeavor will obviously end badly for you as well, must you insist on going down that path?”

#walkinthedarkness #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #walkinthedarkness >> klaus #walkinthedarkness >> 001 #// she's so done xd // #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts

[viikingwitch]

@gilbturd​ >> she just tugs on freya's hand, "you're my sister now. klaus won't bother you anymore."

things from my old blogs <3 

              The idea that THIS CHILD could keep Klaus from doing – well, anything almost tears a laugh out of her. She holds it back, crouching down to Margaret’s level. “Well, as bothersome as he may be, he is still my brother. MY FAMILY.” Her lips tug up, voice dropping to a theatrical whisper. “And my siblings, my sisters included, get the exclusive rights to bother me.” Without ending with their brains melted off.

#gilbturd #in character >> the viking witch who spends her days channeling the spirits to save vampire brothers #gilbturd >> meggie #// very healthy lessons with freya hwuihuwehwu // #queue >> queue defines you even if it does demand drafts