#this pretty much also applies to everything else i have learned for fun and nonprofit

[presumenothing]

heyooo this is probably a weird question, but what's ur learning process exactly? like you've been doing the gifs thing, and you seem pretty knowledgeable, so i was curious

not weird at all!! i just (a) don't know how informative this answer is gonna be, and (b) have clearly deceived you into thinking i know anything at all ever, because while i do in fact Know some things my decision making process also literally looks like this:

though in terms of what i Know about the particular sort of gifs thing i like, i literally just posted this which is a hilarious coincidence

but you asked me about my learning process, so!! i have to add a term and condition (singular) here that i'm apparently an unusually fast learner for anything not requiring hand-eye coordination, but that aside… insofar as i have any Process™ it goes something like this:

decide to do the thing. in this case it was "fell into the zhou shen pit" meets "be the content you want to see in the world"

start doing the thing as quickly as possible. i don't wanna say strike while the iron is hot but.... there is truth to that. my first gif wasn't great but it was there

read a lot. i'm sorry, video tutorials, i'm sure you have actual content to offer but also 99% of the time i do not care. fortunately most tumblr posts where the gif tutorials are continue to be in text (never change)

though what and how i read has shifted over time, from initially reading pretty much every general gif related tutorial i found (there is so much So Much to read about colouring) to narrowing down to specific things i'm interested in

aside from more standard gifs (mostly interview gifs? probably??) i usually start out having a strong idea of what i want to make, then it's a matter of looking up or figuring out myself how to achieve the effect i want. (sometimes it's the other way around – i save a cool effect for reference and then the stars align and i get to use it!! very nice of them)

make stuff, post, and repeat. imo especially when you're just starting out to gif, it's important to set the "good enough" bar reasonably low-ish? your stuff is never gonna look as good as what experienced giffers make, at least not yet, and there's probably even a fundamental difference in how you're making your gifs that makes the comparison nonsensical.

basically you're likely to learn more and learn it more quickly by going for quantity first, especially since part of giffing is learning how to deal with inconsistencies like the source video lighting never being the same dammit. insert that story about the two halves of the pottery class here

considering that i started out with 0 knowledge aside from some dusty leftover recollection of using gimp like a decade ago, i think i'm doing pretty good! but also – and i cannot possibly overstate this – i have made a lot of gifs. the birthday countdown alone was more than a hundred. some things you just learn by doing

(if this sounded suspiciously like "step 1: get hamster brain obsessed with one thing step 2: ???? step 3: Profit" that's because it pretty much is. it's the most effective and fun way i learn anything. the lifehack is always to catch your brain with the correct bait)

(the other lifehack is to have some organisation, even if not in any form recognisable to polite society. my gif stuff is in the realm of tidy because i have a channel in my notes to self server literally called giffing where i put everything from "cool thing i saw" to "thing i want to gif" to "not even sure this effect is in the realm of possibility but it would be Cool yknow??". my fic stuff, on the other hand,,,)

#i...... do not think that actually answered anything. oops #if you have a more specific question feel free to send another ask! though admittedly i can't do much in the way of linking resources etc #bc unless they're recent or i keep referring to them for whatever reason i have otherwise almost definitely forgotten where they were #definitely a lot of it was read on tumblr though!! since well. nobody else really makes gifs like this hellsite (affectionate) does #also idk if you were asking about my learning process in making gifs specifically but then again #this pretty much also applies to everything else i have learned for fun and nonprofit #just that it's been months for gifmaking as opposed to literal years for learning japanese and fic writing #well more like a decade plus for the latter But Anyway. when do i get my fandom veteran card and what benefits are there #long post #asks #anonymous #journey to the gif #if you go /chrono on this tag there are probably some text post documentations of when i was actually learning? all the way at the start #the internet really is just my commonplace book now huh. that's fine actually #anyway right now there are Too Many siken bot quotes in that channel labelled with some variation of 'dammit wkx' so that's where i'm at #ramble tag

[ch21con]

2019 Blog Tour: Interview with Julia Byers and ON THE COME UP Giveaway!

Hello, readers! Today we’re participating in the Ch1Con & Ch21Con 2019 Blog Tour, an annual tour in preparation for this year’s conferences, which brings original content from the Chapter One Events team to a number of fantastic, writing-related blogs. This is the 2019 blog tour’s FIRST STOP! Yay!

And: along with it comes a GIVEAWAY for a signed copy of ON THE COME UP by Angie Thomas! In order to qualify, you must:

tweet about the giveaway

follow one of our Twitter accounts (@Ch1Con or @Ch21Con on Twitter)

register for the conference

love Angie Thomas (which every human should anyway)

(Rafflecopter link for this giveaway here)

That is all pretty thrilling, but you know what else is thrilling? A nonprofit conference both for and by young writers, with lots of online events! If you are or know a writer between the ages of 11 and 29 who’s in need of a strong community, well, you’ve come to the right place.

What’s Chapter One Events, you ask?

Chapter One Events is a nonprofit organization that brings writing information and publishing opportunities to young writers—culminating in the annual Chapter One Young Writers Conference (Ch1Con, ages 11-20) and the brand new Chapter Twenty-One Conference (Ch21Con, ages 21-29). The Chapter One Events team is composed of a mix of middle school, high school, college, and twenty-something writers, who work together to create a unique, inclusive experience for young attendees.

The two conferences bring tweens, teens, and young adults together to hear from accomplished authors their own age, participate in professional workshops, and celebrate the influence young writers have on the world. With an atmosphere that combines the professional aspects of writing conferences with the awesomeness of hanging out with fellow young book nerds, Ch1Con and Ch21Con are truly can’t-miss events!

OK, so what is this post about?

To be clear, this post is NOT an advertisement, promoted post, etc. We (the Chapter One Events team) are just way too excited about this conference, and really want the right audience to know about it! That’s what the blog tour is all about: getting the info out so that young writers in need of community can find us.

This year we’re opening up the Ch21Con Tumblr to start off our 2019 blog tour, to let you know all about this year’s conference. (Don’t worry, if you fear you can’t make it, you totally can keep up with us through online events and live-streams!)

We’ve got an interview from the FOUNDER of Chapter One Events, Julia Byers, below. Even if you’ve never heard of us before, I would recommend reading through her interview! She’s got tons of awesome thoughts on the world of being a young writer.

(She’s also being interviewed by Ariel Kalati, a member of the Ch21Con team, who is a large fan of Panera Bread and complaining.)

READ MORE:

1. Can you tell us a brief history of how the conference came to be?

So, our original conference, the Chapter One Young Writers Conference, for younger writers ages 11-20, came about thanks to two things. First, there were these old writing forums for teens called Write It. A group of us on there had become close friends over the years but, being the internet (and us being minors), had never had a chance to actually meet one another. So, we lay the scene with that. Then, when I was sixteen, I began attending big writer's conferences in NYC--and I was pretty intimidated by the scale of the events and the fact that I was one of very few non-adults attending them, and also was frustrated because all of the advice shared didn't quite apply to me (because the speakers were talking about fitting in writing around taking your kid to theatre rehearsal, not, well, being the kid going to theatre rehearsal). So somehow, between these two things, I got it into my head that WE, the teens of Write It, should put on our own writer's conference--something small and fun and tailored explicitly to teenagers. And so, Ch1Con was born. As for our second conference, the Chapter Twenty-One Conference, for writers ages 21-29: fast forward to 2016, and I was graduating from college and moving to NYC to work in publishing, and I wasn't quite the awkward teen writer I used to be. (No, now I was an awkward *twenty-something* writer.) A number of our volunteers and attendees were also aging out of the target age group for Ch1Con. We all really loved the conference, though, and none of us wanted to give it up. So, we thought, "Why not make a similar conference, just targeting slightly older writers? And hey, while we're at it, we're all of age and full of existential dread now, so why not add alcohol?" And so the Chapter Twenty-One Conference was born as well. We officially launched Ch21Con in 2018 and I'm SO excited to see where both conferences go in the future! 2. What are some difficulties that face the average twentysomething writer, and how does Ch21Con help with these?

I think one of the biggest issues my twenty-something writer friends and I face is finding the time and energy to write. It's so easy to get over-scheduled, between work and/or school, chores, working out, cooking, errands, attempting to maintain some semblance of a social life--basically, it turns out life is very good at getting in the way. So, Ch21Con works to help carve out a space in everyone's busy schedules throughout the year, by hosting monthly online events such as Twitter chats on various writing-related topics and virtual write-ins where we all discuss our current projects and motivate one another to get in some words. Basically, we strive to give writers the opportunity to carve out the space in their lives they need in order to tell their stories. 3. What are you most excited about for this year's conference?

Ahhhhh this is such a hard one! I'm excited for everything??! That said, probably what I'm most excited about is hearing debut author Joan He speak. I've been lucky enough to know Joan for years now, and I've had her name tucked away to lead a workshop at the conferences pretty much since the beginning, just waiting for her to get a book published. Joan is such a talented, smart, hardworking young writer, it's going to be truly special to finally hear her speak at the conferences. (And I recently found out that we'll be the first conferences she'll be leading workshops at, which is super cool in itself!) 4. Tell us about your favorite book or publishing-related memories from the past year.

Oof another hard one. My day job is in the industry, most of my friends work in the industry, and I run Chapter One Events and write in my free time--so basically my entire life is favorite book or publishing-related memories. But hmmm. You know, a really, REALLY cool moment was, actually, walking into my hometown Barnes & Noble in Michigan a couple weeks back and seeing so many friends' books on the shelves. Being so immersed in publishing, it's easy to forget that the books we work on are the Real Published Books that go out in the world. But seeing them in my childhood bookstore so far away from NYC--the place where I met my first authors and dragged my parents every chance I got growing up--was surreal. It reminded me of the reality of what we're all doing, that we're MAKING BOOKS, like BOOKS BOOKS, that ACTUAL PEOPLE READ, and I full-on broke down crying in the middle of the YA section. Like a lunatic. 5. Accessibility is necessary in the publishing community. What are different ways that Chapter One Events makes our content accessible?

Our goal always as an organization has been to make information about the writing and publishing processes more accessible to the young people coming up in the industry, whether they're already aiming for publication or only just starting to figure out how to write their first novel. One way we do this, obviously, is through the conferences. We keep the price as low as possible (subsidizing the events as much as we can out of our own pockets) in order to make it as affordable as we can for young writers. We want them to be able to come meet the authors and publishing professionals who are speaking, build a network with their fellow up-and-coming young writers, and learn about craft. Along this same vein, we keep the conferences small and casual, with equal focuses on learning and fun, because we know how anxiety-inducing big professional events can be and we want this to be a safe space for those just starting out. Additionally, we put on free online events throughout the year, such as the aforementioned monthly Twitter chats and virtual write-ins, as well as events such as our annual Yule Ball, which is a live-streamed panel of young authors talking all things writing and publishing. (We like to think of it as a mini, free, online writer's conference.) We're also constantly working to come up with new ways to share information with the young writers of the world, such as the autumn mentorship program we've put on in the past. 6. Finally: if you had to describe the conference using only Panera Bread-related metaphors, how would you do it?

You know, you'd think I'd be prepared for this one after so many years of answering Panera-related questions for this org, yet this is STILL SOMEHOW THROWING ME (much like that time Panera added Parmesan crisps to their Caesar salad and I was like, "Whaaat?")

But okay. I've got this, I've got this. Ch1Con and Ch21Con are all the comfort food items on the Panera menu: the mac and cheese, the tomato soup, the toasted bagels smothered in melty honey walnut cream cheese. Even if it's your first time eating one of these items, they taste like coming home, much in the same way attending the conferences feels like coming home. (It's been a wonder to me over the years to hear new attendees say again and again that attending our conferences feels like finally finding the community with whom they belong.)

That said, the conferences are also kind of like all the "healthier" items on the Panera menu, the salads and smoothies, in that they seem like the "healthy" choice (networking! career development!), but they also taste really good at the same time (new friendships! meeting authors! free books! pizza!). Finally, Ch1Con and Ch21Con are also like Panera's excellent, super salty kettle chips, because we too are a salty bunch when it comes to discussing favorite book characters and least favorite series endings. (I'm looking at you, Ariel, haha.)

If that made you thrilled to go to this year’s conference, yay! (If not, that’s fine. We’re a nonprofit organization and we’re just happy to reach out to young writers at all! But also, please consider coming.)

Here’s all the info you’ll need about the 2019 conference:

This year, Ch1Con (ages 11-20) is bigger and brighter than ever, with more opportunities, cooler giveaways, and a new roundup of fantastic speakers headlining the conference. And the inaugural Ch21Con (ages 21-29) will feature the same speakers and opportunities—just tailored to a slightly older audience. Both conferences will take place Saturday, June 29th at the Hilton Garden Inn – Chicago O’Hare in Des Plaines, IL (a suburb of Chicago). Registration is currently open on the conferences’ respective websites for $99.99. (This price includes a complimentary pizza party lunch during the conferences, with alternate options available for those with dietary restrictions.)

The speaker lineup features Joan He (author of Descendant of the Crane – Albert Whitman & Co.), Riley Redgate (author of several books, including Final Draft – Abrams/Amulet), and more! Between the awesome presentations and workshops, attendees will have the chance to participate in literary trivia games and giveaways, with prizes including professional critiques, signed books, and advance readers copies (ARCs). There will also be an author panel open to any and all questions at the end of the conferences, followed by a book signing by participating speakers.

During downtime, all participants are free to explore Chicago, relax at the beautiful hotel (where a discounted block of rooms is available for attendees), and network with one another, establishing the sort of vital connections that can jumpstart careers and create lifelong friendships.

The conference weekend will kick off with parties on Friday evening. For the Ch1Con crowd, this will be a gathering in the hotel lobby, where lemonade and assorted snacks will be provided. For the Ch21Con crowd, the Friday night party will be an informal cocktail hour hosted at the hotel bar, the Garden Grille & Bar.

More information on transportation and lodging can be found on the Ch1Con and Ch21Con websites. Early bird registration is currently available here for Ch1Con (ages 11-20) and here for Ch21Con (ages 21-29). Those under 18 need a parent or guardian’s consent in order to register.

So, if you’re a young writer and you’re interested in these conferences, register ASAP! With a growing number of tweens, teens, and young adults discovering the magic of Chapter One Events, seats are sure to sell out fast. The last day to register before the higher late rate registration price begins is June 14th. For more information and to join the Ch1Con and Ch21Con communities online, check out the following links:

Chapter One Young Writers Conference (Ages 11-20)

Website: Chapter One Young Writers Conference

Twitter: @Ch1Con

Tumblr: Ch1Con

Instagram: @Ch1Con

YouTube: Chapter One Conference

Facebook: Chapter One Conference

 Chapter Twenty-One Conference (Ages 21-29)

Website: Chapter Twenty-One Conference

Twitter: @Ch21Con

Tumblr: Ch21Con

Instagram: @Ch21Con

Facebook: Chapter 21 Conference

And, of course, you can follow the rest of the Ch1Con & Ch21Con 2019 Blog Tour at: www.chapteroneconference.org or www.chapter21conference.org.

#writing #young writers #books #ch21con #ch1con #chapter one events #blog tour #blog tour 2019

[thisnerdsadventures]

2020 is over (finally)

So obviously 2020 was a bit of a shitshow and everyone is eagerly awaiting 2021 as if it will automatically grant us mercy because of the hellhole that 2020 was. Honestly - same, I really have such low expectations for 2021 that they make my 2020 resolutions seem like such high reaches.

Even though 2020 was ... 2020, I still feel like I did accomplish to some extent my goals for the year. I didn’t write them out on this blog, but I think broadly, my goals were

to work out more - I definitely think I did this on and off. Like many, I took up running, and actually stuck with it for a while, so I’m very happy about that. I think I’ll keep that as a goal for 2021, and probably every year, otherwise I won’t actually keep myself accountable on it lol

to follow through on things more - this was the high key most vague goal I have ever published on the internet omg, but I think this was in reference to how I always flake on my hobbies halfway through, like if I’m trying to learn a language or write music or actually learn photography skills. I think I did accomplish this - my Duolingo streak is up to 200 (though not in Mandarin smh) and I dropped my mixtape a few days ago. I think I would say I did a good job here.

advocate or something?????? - something something Amplify!!?!??!? there was definitely a very solid attempt here, and i have no idea what this was referring to anyways, but I definitely feel like this is a long-term goal for the next 5, 10 years regardless.

How the year went:

Honestly in the beginning of it all, I wasn’t feeling 2020 very much. There was a lot going on in my life, and I wasn’t feeling my classes. I think I just needed a bit of a shakeup. And then there was a shakeup, and I was like, “no, not that kind of shakeup.” And then we went home, and then I graduated from college, I interned at Google again, I started my MEng in Cambridge, had fun with my friends, got a full-time job for next year, went home again for the winter, and now we’re here.

For better or worse, the main theme of this year was definitely “reflection” -  a whole ton of it. With so much time at home, I had a lot of time to think and overthink everything in my life, past present and future. I thought about my friends from years past and why we didn’t talk anymore. I reflected a lot on my MIT years, how I wish I had made a couple key decisions very differently, and how that would’ve affected my present. I thought about all the things I should’ve done. I thought about who I was, and how I changed, and how it took me years to finally find a skin I was comfortable in. I thought about my current friends and whether they’d stick around. I thought really hard about how I treated other people and how they treated me, and whether that was ok. I journaled a lot, and read a lot of poetry to find answers, and failed to find them. I thought about whether I’d have friends in the future. I thought about whether people were supposed to feel alone in this world, or whether I’d find a home in New York, where I’m going next year.

And I changed a lot of my expectations from life - after some time, finally I started to expect less of myself in a time where getting things done is literally impossible sometimes. From other people, I expected less, and am unsure how to feel about reaching that conclusion, whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. From life, I expected it to give me nothing and to throw everything bad possible in my way, because for a while, it seemed like that’s what it was trying to do. (That actually sounds really depressing, but it means that I started making the moves to make my life better on my own, and I don’t stop anymore to wait for the universe to magically make it happen.)

A lot of this reflection surrounded events in my life - finally, mentally letting go of people in the past (i.e. giving up on them lol), losing a friendship, feeling incredible loneliness and anxiety during the pandemic, failing to find fulfillment in my research. I wonder if COVID didn’t happen, if 2020 would’ve gotten better for me. I think a lot about how I was supposed to go to Europe, go to Michigan, go to New York, visit DC, Seattle, Chicago, etc. I think a lot about if COVID didn’t happen, would I still have the friends I had, would I still have made the friends I did, would my expectations of myself and others have changed in the ways they did? I don’t know. My mental health would probably not be in shambles though. I’d probably sleep easier at night. To be honest, I think a lot about this post, and I have no real, solid conclusions about 2020, it was a very rough year, and the only thing I can say is “I’m glad I’m alive, and that’s all the good I need to extract out of it.” 

But of course, there were some pretty key highlights that still happened, so I’ll just bullet that here

I interned at MSFT! Everyone was very very nice, though it fully cemented the fact that I absolutely do not want to do data analytics, ever

I took this negotiation class, which will likely be the peak class I took at MIT, which is fine tbh. Honestly wish I took more adventurous classes at MIT, but that’s a topic to dissect another day

I actually got published this year lol, first authored a paper, I sometimes forget about this [x]

I spent like literally 80 hours helping my friend campaign for the undergrad assoc election over 2 weeks, which was a really strange tangent in my life

I graduated!! from MIT!! What a dream <3 honestly still shocked they accepted me

I became the CTO of amplify, our nonprofit org

I interned at google cloud and absolutely rocked my internship project

I chaired for the alibaba committee for mitmunc china (virtual)

I started my Masters program

I joined this new club on campus, which is our campus chapter of the google developer student club, which is really just me refusing to actually ever leave google

I became an interviewer for MIT

I got like 6 job offers and accepted an offer to work at Stripe next year!

I dropped a mixtape lol and have some exciting stuff planned in a couple weeks re:music if things go through

Ah, I should have some goals for next year:

graduate with my Masters! can be from Killian, or from living room. I have an entire photo shoot with my friends for grad pics and you know I have an entire countdown waiting for the day I can post those pictures

continue to learn languages! because what else am i going to do with my time. maybe this will finally be the year i learn mandarin....... nope that’s setting the bar too high

read more! I should read more. I really should because it is embarrassing how little I read. I should really read more. I should have a goal of reading 12 books next year ! Yes, we are setting the goal low, but again, low expectations!

Actually, I also want to apply to some MBA programs, so I’m writing that down here to manifest it

See my friends again - I have pretty reasonable hopes that 2021 will let us at some point see each other, whether it be during the spring, the summer, the winter, maybe exactly one year from now on 12/31/21, idk, but it will happen! Manifest that

Make like 2 friends..... ok make one (1) new friend.,,,,,

Let go of old things from 2020 that I miss or wish would happen. Open myself to new things.

please, please 2021, be better lol