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back2bluesidex · 2 months

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Incognito - JHS (WDBHG Drabble)

A Where Do Broken Hearts Go Drabble

Pairing: Hoseok X Fem!Reader X Jungkook

Wordcount: 1k+

Summary: Hoseok is curious about the guy who left you behind. So, he goes incognito.

Warnings: drinking!

Minors are not allowed in this blog!!

A/N: This takes place after chapter 4 and before chapter 5

Try as he might - Hoseok can’t think of anything else other than your lips, which he was about to kiss.

He doesn’t know what had possessed him earlier tonight but he really regrets it. He had been trying hard not to look at you for the better part of the day. But he failed

As if he hasn’t sold himself as a creep by continuously ogling his daughter’s therapist, that he had to lean down and almost kiss you.

Thank god Sua woke up and stopped him, otherwise things might have changed from the next session and he doesn’t want that. Not only Sua but also he have been forming a genuine relationship with someone for the first time in all these years, he doesn’t wanna fuck things up now. Even though you seemed ready for him to take you over.

He pours a good amount of Hibiki in his fancy diamond cut glass. Looking at the liquid he sighs, he thinks to himself of the countless identical nights that he has been spending locking himself up in his study after putting Sua to sleep.

He could have called Mina tonight. She is always ready and one call away. But somehow Hoseok feels greatly turned off by the idea.

He almost had a taste of you, he almost put his mouth on yours and lord, he can still somehow smell your sweet subtle vanilla scent in the air. How the fuck he can think of anyone else when you were ready to jump in his arms just an an hour ago?

He groans at the thought.

What is this feeling of confusion? Why does he want you but is grateful that things didn’t escalate?

The whiskey burns at the back of his throat but does nothing to take away the troubled thoughts he has been having.

Then something ticks in his mind.

“Jungkoo-?” he murmurs to himself. You didn’t say the full name but this jungkoo person has to be the ex boyfriend that supposedly fell out of love with you.

And suddenly Hoseok is curious. He wants to see the face of this idiot who let you go. He wants to see the person who broke you and whom you still probably love. Whom you probably thought of while he was about to kiss you.

He takes a big gulp from the glass and walks towards his desk. Settling down in the huge chair he opens his laptop, taps on the browser and goes into incognito mode. Typing a specific address and agreeing on using the site on guest mode, he filters out the search criteria.

Location: Seoul, Gender: Male, Age: he thinks hard about it. You don’t seem like the type to go for very older or very younger guys. Given the fact that you are still under 30, he selects the age bar from 20 to 35. Name: Jungko

Enter.

There are 5 results that pop up:

Jeon Jung Kook

Shin Jung Kook

Kim Jeong Gguk

Kim Jeong Guen

Lee Jung Min

It’s good that your ex-boyfriend has a distinct name, it makes it easy to find him. The website showed him the most relevant results, so there are 5. But he knows which two he has to work with.

So, he clicks on the first profile:

Name: Jeon Jung Kook

Age: 28

Occupation: Modeling

Address: Unknown

Email ID: Unknown

Website: www.goldenstudios.kr

Hoseok frowns at that. He has been using this people finder tool for the better part of his career but this ‘website’ section is added only on special cases. Either this jungkook guy is a bigshot or a celebrity. And he doubts if you settle for those types.

But he clicks on the link regardless.

His breath hitches upon seeing Jungkook’s face. He is the Calvin Klein model, whose face is in every possible billboard?

Jesus. Is he really Y/N’s ex? He thinks to himself as he scrolls down the page.

He can be wrong as well. There is another guy with the same name, so yeah. And he doesn’t really think you would have the mind to put up with a celebrity for three years.

But something keeps him from exiting the page. He clicks on the instagram icon that is added at the end of Jungkook's bio.

When the instagram opens, the first thing he tries is to look for your face but he finds none. Then he clicks on a random post and starts scrolling.

Hoseok stumbles upon a post from a month ago. In the picture a pretty lady is hugging Jungkook tightly. As Jungkook lovingly wraps up her waist with one of his hands, laying his head on the top of her head. There are no captions but a ton of congratulations in the comments.

So, this guy is already committed.

Hoseok thinks of the likeliness of this guy being your ex. You said he broke up with you but didn’t mention when. Given the fact that your wounds are still fresh, it might haven’t been that long. And this guy just got into a relationship a month ago. So, he can very well be the Jungkook you were talking about.

However, still, you dating a celebrity doesn’t sit right with Hoseok. So he decides to exit instagram and investigate the other guy.

Before exiting, though, he decides to tap on the profile picture to view the recent stories.

There is a picture of Jungkook, with another strikingly beautiful guy inside a condo. The caption says “happy birthday @j.m” with a tagged location.

And.. it is the same location Hoseok picked you up from today. You also mentioned visiting a friend just before the session.

Hoseok’s eyes narrow at the screen as he takes a better look at Jungkook’s face.

“So you left Y/N for the girl in the photo, huh?” He talks to the screen as if Jungkook can hear him.

“What an idiot you are, Jeon Jungkook.” Hoseok takes a swig from his glass making a silent promise of making you forget your ex.

Taglist 1:-

@phenomenalgirl9 @variety-is-the-joy-of-life @sukunabitch @chimchimmarie @coffeedepressionsoup @meowstake @vonvi-blog @nochuel @xjoonchildx @justmewondering-recs @cuteipat @miakey98 @purpleanchorcrown @chimmisbae @ane102 @junniesoleilkth @terjeonbebas @kookssecret @appleh4ad @kayleeshinee @whoa-jo @definetlythinkimanalien @lovelgirl22 @agrika

Taglist 2:-

@llallaaa @mikrokookiex @parkinglot-nights @hiqhkey @diamonddia-mond @00frenchfries00 @koalasandcuddles @superchamchi88 @ttanniett @coralmusicblaze @multiasf @kookscumrag @sumzysworld @knjjjk @xtrataerrestrial @survivalistghost @kelsyx33 @aann95 @btsffreader92 @jjk174 @dragonflygurl4 @xwniazx

#bts angst #jhope angst #hoseok angst #bts x reader #hoseok x reader #jhope x reader #bts fanfiction #bts oneshot #bts scenarios

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duckprintspress · 2 months

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Fandom 101: Getting Started on Fanlore.org

Not long ago, we at Duck Prints Press decided that we’d like the Press to have a page on Fanlore. To accomplish that, Press contributor Shea Sullivan made an account and figured out the nuts and bolts on how to add pages to Fanlore. Turns out, it’s not very hard, and now in this guest blog post, Shea will teach y’all how to do it too!

Making Your First Fanlore Page!

Hello! I am an editor on Fanlore as of a few days ago. Before that, I’d worked with mediawiki (the open source platform Fanlore uses) for unrelated projects, so I had a general understanding of how things worked, but no idea how Fanlore preferred their pages to be formatted or organized or linked.

This is how I got started!

First: What is Fanlore and Why Should You Care?

Fanlore is a wiki specifically dedicated to the fandom experience. It’s not for canon info about a specific fandom; rather, it’s for information about how fans interact with media and each other. Fanlore is run by the OTW, the same organization that brings us our beloved AO3. This context helped me in understanding the focus of Fanlore. It’s about fandom: the ups, the downs, the trends, the drama…all the things that can get lost forever when sites disappear or there’s a purge. And that said…well, you may still not care. But if you do, read on!

Second: You Care. Now What?

(read more)

Get an account. Right now. It’s worth getting the account, because you won’t be able to create new pages for a few hours. So, get the account first, figure out what to do with it later.

Go to fanlore.org and click on “Create Account” in the upper right-hand corner:

Third: You Have the Power (Soon)!

Read up! No need to invent the wheel in this post – they’ve got some great resources for getting started already written on their webpage.

Fanlore Getting Started Page

General Help Pages on Fanlore

Four hours after you create your account, you can create pages! Congrats! There are a ton of help pages out there, but the questions I had initially were:

How do I make sure this page doesn’t exist already?

Search. Search for the page. Search for key phrases associated with the page. A page name is a fiddly thing, so search for significant phrases in a few different ways before you determine it doesn’t exist. Always make sure you check before you set out to create page!

How do I add this page?

If it’s not there, you’ll see it come up in red when you search. Type the page name you want to create in the search bar. Click “Search” to get all the results, and then click on that red link.

How do I format this page?

You now have an empty page. When I was getting started, my big question was: what should my page look like? Well, Fanlore has templates that can help with that! The templates are in a markup language, but do not fear! Copy and paste the template (everything in the blue box on the template page, typically starting with curly braces), make some updates, and click “Preview.” You can repeat those steps indefinitely until you get the hang of the markup. There’s also a ton of information on the Fanlore.org cheatsheet. (If you’re still confused, keep reading, there’s more specifics under the infobox section.)

Once you have the page created and published, you can edit it without the markup language if you prefer – there’s “Edit,” which gives you a non-code-based option, and an “Edit Source” button, which gives you the code-based option.

If your proposed page topic doesn’t have an official template created for that topic, you can look up similar pages and see how they’re structured. If you’re not sure how they managed to make something look a certain way, click the “Edit Source” button and look at the code there to get a sense of what they did. Be sure to cancel out of the edit when you’re done so you don’t make unintentional changes to someone else’s page! Some pages are locked down (like the template pages) so you can’t make edits, but most “normal” pages will have those links at the top so you can dig in and see what’s there and how the people who wrote that page made it look the way it does.

How do I add an infobox?

Those infoboxes on the right of a lot of pages give a quick overview of important information. These are templates, and you can find a list of available infobox templates here.

The templates, when you click into them, have a heading and some info that you can fill in. You can’t remove items from the template without making a new template, which I don’t recommend trying when you’re getting started. Use the template, fill in the information, and mark “N/A” if you don’t have information to insert in a specific field. A sample template for an infobox looks like this, and you fill in information after each “equals” sign. You can add a list, and you can add links to these after the equals sign using the markup for internal and external links on the Cheatsheet.

{{FanProfile |name= |alias(es)= |type= |fandoms= |communities= |other= |url= }}

If you’re still confused, let’s go to Astolat’s fan page and click “Edit Source” and see how the infobox looks behind the scenes:

See how everything that was in the original template is still there, there’s just a list of information after the equals sign?

And here’s how it looks formatted:

How do I categorize this page?

Categories are important because they help Fanlore’s back-end coding group pages together so people can find the page you’ve created and so the page is in the right place in the site map. If you can’t figure it out, though, don’t worry, there are people who will find it and take care of it!

If you have an infobox from a template, this is taken care of.

If you didn’t use an infobox template, you can add a Category to index the page.

Finding a Category can be a little overwhelming. If you have an example page (another page that contains the same type of content as yours), you can scroll to the bottom of that page and see what Category has been assigned to it. You can add that Category to your page by editing the source and adding that category into your page at the bottom with 2 square brackets, like this: [[Category:YourCategory]]

Use “Preview” to make sure you set it up correctly before saving the page.

If you need to find a category and can’t find a good example page, I recommend going to the sitemap, finding what fits your article the best, and clicking into it. Categories are set up in hierarchies, so click through until you find the Category and Subcategory that fits best.

Add it at the very bottom of the page, and it should show up when you preview, at the very bottom of the page.

How do I add those nifty citation references[1]?

Review theFanlore page on citation formatting for details. The basics are:

Add a blank References heading at the bottom of the page.

Add tags and include the source information.

What is the difference between a citation and an external link? Good question! I don’t know for sure, but the way I’ve been using it, if I make a statement about a thing and I want to direct you to the “proof” (article, webpage, etc), I will use a citation. If there is a thing I’m linking to because it is relevant but not as proof of what I’m saying on the wiki, I will add it as an external link.

Fourth: Don’t Worry

You’ll find there are a lot of instances when you might not be sure what the “right” way is to do whatever it is you’re trying to do. Don’t let that stop you! Do a little research, do your best, and be okay with a learning curve.

The thing about wiki editing in general, and this includes Fanlore, is that it’s a community project, and everyone is doing their best. It’s worthwhile to think about trying to make your pages consistent with other pages where you can, because it will help people who are trying to find what you’re providing. So, poke around similar pages first and look for common trends in how they’re organized, and mimic that for your own page.

All that said, there is very little hierarchy in editors and few rules set in stone. It’s a community site put together by volunteers. You may find that you’ve labeled, referenced, cited, categorized, etc, a page incorrectly, or that you added a page that was already there under another name, or you may have put in a canon page when that’s really not what Fanlore is for. No problem! A page can be reverted to a previous version. It can be removed by a “Gardener” (higher-level editor), or edited by someone else who is more familiar with the inner wiki workings, or you can even tweak it yourself when you learn a better ways to code the page.

There is always a path forward, so get in there and get started!

Happy creating, happy fandom, and welcome!

GO VISIT FANLORE NOW!

#duck prints press #resources #tutorials #otw #ao3 #fanlore #fanlore.org #how to #fandom #fandom wiki

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juniperskye · 3 months

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Remember That Night.

Sneak Peak: Hotch reaches out to you five months after breaking your heart. Based on the song Remember That Night by: Sara Kays

Aaron Hotchner x GN! Reader

Angst

Word count: 1095

I wrote this in an hour soo…. it’s not edited - please be kind. Requests are open and feedback is welcome if it's constructive!

Warnings: My blog is 18+, minors DNI, not use of y/n, some language, implied smut, talk of heartbreak, some mention of toxic-ish relationship, reader and friends are all left gender neutral, idk ummm bad writing – lol. Let me know if I missed any!!

I do not consent to having my work translated or reposted to any other site. That being said I do not own the characters portrayed in this story.

He had broken things off just over five months ago. It had been out of the blue and you were devastated. The day after he said goodbye you had felt paralyzed, things had been so good, so how could Aaron be so okay with walking away? You had a hard time grasping onto reality after he left, so much so that all you did was lay in bed and cry. You had ignored all the incoming texts and calls from your friends for a few days, finding it impossible to leave your bed. But as time went on, you could feel things returning to normal, you started to feel joy again.

When Aaron first broke things off, you were sure you’d never heal. You were certain that he’d been the one, but after one month, you started to move on. You had started going out with your friends again. You had allowed yourself to be open to meeting someone new because things were good, and you were happy. You could return the smile of the handsome stranger at the supermarket because it no longer riddled you with guilt. Instead, that smile sparked something inside you, hope.

One month had been good for you, and after two, you felt alright, truly. Every once in a while something would come up and your thoughts would return to Aaron, but it was happening less and less. For that you were thankful. Your friends had set you up with someone and the date had gone well, he was nice enough and he made you laugh. So, when he asked you out on a second date, you didn’t hesitate to agree.

Then three months in, he was off your mind. Aaron hadn’t crossed your mind in quite a while. You felt good and things with this new guy were going pretty well, you weren’t sure if anything serious would come of it, but honestly you didn’t care. It was nice to be dating again and to have someone who was around.

And month four and five, you were living your life, you were better and didn't have to try not to think of Aaron. You had just moved to a new apartment and gotten a promotion at your job; the pieces were finally falling into place. You felt good about things and tonight wouldn’t be any different.

Your friends were throwing you a sort of housewarming/congratulations dinner party! You had put on your favorite outfit while they set the table beautifully and waited for the rest of your guests to arrive.

The night went on full of laughter and so much love. You were so grateful to be surrounded by so many people who cared about you and who celebrated your success with you. The group of you were a few bottles of wine in when a ping from your phone caught your attention. The notification had stolen the breath from your lungs.

You had been fine. Great even, that is, up until now…'til he reached out and said, "Remember that night?". You didn’t need any further explanation; you knew exactly what night he was referring to. It had been pretty early on in your relationship, Aaron had gotten home late from a case and you went for a drive, 2:30 in the morning he kissed you, it was pouring. You held each other tight, before the night was over he looked over his shoulder. You had known exactly what he needed, and you hadn’t hesitated. That night you had climbed into the backseat of his SUV and let him have his way with you. It had been clear he needed to let off some steam and who were you to deny him. You’d never forget that night…but you hadn’t thought of it in a while.

Your friend had immediately seen the shift in your mood and gestured for you to go with them to the kitchen. Gently grabbing your arm to guide you there.

“Babe, are you okay?” They asked.

“Oh, I was doing fine until he said, “Remember that night?”. “Remember that night?" are you kidding me? I haven’t seen him or heard from him in five months, and he texts me that? That’s so fucked. I was finally moved on, hadn’t even thought about him. Oh, I was doing fine he said, "Remember that night? Remember that night?".” You couldn’t help but wave your hands around as you explained the situation to your friend.

“Are you kidding me? Babe do not reply to him, he’s not worth it. Did you want me to stay with you tonight?” Your friend offered.

You shook your head, wrapping your arms around yourself in hope of finding some sort of comfort. Your friend wrapped you in a hug and made their way outside to start cleaning up and hinting to the rest of your friends it was time for them to go.

That night you hadn’t slept a wink. You tossed and turned, your thoughts racing through your mind, feeling completely unsure of how to proceed. The day after he had reached out you were broken for the second time around. You barely made your way to the couch, thankful that you had the weekend to sulk before needing to return to work on Monday. You prayed on the third day that you would be okay, that you'd forget he was ever yours.

You felt so frustrated with Aaron, how could he be so inconsiderate. To text you after all this time and ask you about a night you shared together. He broke up with you, he broke your heart. The more you sat with it, you started to think; “Oh, I don't think you realize How long I had to fight to be living my life To be better and never have to try Not to think of you until you reached out And said, "Remember that night?" We went for a drive, 2:30 in the morning I kissed you, it was pouring We held each other tight before the night was over You looked over your shoulder Oh, I was doing fine You said, "Remember that night? Remember that night?".” Aaron was probably reaching out because he was thinking about himself and how he was feeling, and not how his actions would affect you, which had been a constant issue in your relationship. As much as you wanted to reply to him, you decided against it, but that didn’t stop the memories from flooding your brain. As much as you didn’t want to, you definitely did, remember that night.

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seresinsbabe · 1 year

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Conveniently Yours

Pairing: Jake Seresin x fem!reader

Synopsis: In a desperate attempt to pay for your mom's cancer treatment you take a job as a dancer at one of NYC's prestigious strip clubs where you meet Jake Seresin who just happens to need a wife.

Warnings: Mentions of cancer, cancer treatment, mild sexual themes. Nothing particularly bad in this chapter.

Word count: 2k

THIS BLOG AND ITS FICS ARE 18+! MINORS DNI!

I do not consent to having any of my work shared on any other platform. If you see any rendition of my works on another site know that it has been posted without my permission.

Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter

“Jake! Over here!”

“Y/N can we get a smile?!”

“Are you two planning on having kids?!”

“How have you felt about Jake’s previous women?”

It was a barrage of questions, camera clicks, and light flashes as you exited the town car with Jake. His hand securely wrapped around yours to help you exit the vehicle before pulling you tightly against his side in an attempt to shield you from the paparazzi. You’d seen them in public before, living in NYC they were common place given the amount of high status people that lived in this city. First hand you knew how relentless they could be. Practically vultures. It was so much worse being the one they were pecking at.

Jake’s lips brushed against your ear, sending a shiver down your spine. He’d been different since the whole bathroom fiasco with Bradley. A change you couldn’t understand why he was making. It hadn’t gone unnoticed by you the decrease in the amount of women he had over. Not to say he didn’t ever take a woman to bed, but he definitely wasn’t bringing nearly as many over as he had been. You’d started to notice it would coincide with the days you spent in Bradley’s presence. Jake always made sure you saw him with the woman, as if on purpose. Like he was trying to make you jealous.

“You’re doing so good, baby.” His voice was soft and encouraging, but there was something else laced with it. Something you couldn’t place, but it had you clenching your thighs together in a way you never had for Jake. In a way you normally clenched them for Bradley. “This event isn’t going to be easy, but I promise I’ll make up for it.” That. That right there was different.

More often he’d been promising things like that. Apologizing more frequently for the nature of the things you had to suddenly endure. Things he had never apologized for before. Because before Jake didn’t feel like he had to, that you’d known full well what you were getting yourself into. Even if you really didn’t know how severe it actually would be. You weren’t going to complain. This was a side of Jake you would accept for as long as you could get him. For once you didn’t feel entirely like an unwelcome guest in what was supposed to be your home.

You looked up at him with big doe eyes. Ones that Jake had avoided looking whenever possible for weeks because he wasn’t certain he’d be able to deny them. “How are you going to do that?” You whispered back, ignoring the calls for your attention as he led you inside the event. You didn’t even remember what it was for, but you weren’t sure that mattered. No one ever asked you about his work. Everyone was always far more interested in your elusive relationship. The one that you’d been secretly maintaining for the past year.

“I was thinking a date? Like a real one.” The words caught you off guard. You’d been on a few dates with Jake before, but they’d all been for show. Giving the media something to build on and talk about. Conversation had never gone very deep, mostly soft spoken discussions about upcoming events and wedding details. Nothing to get to know the other person. Any smiles, laughs or PDA caught on camera had been entirely faked. You were actually impressing yourself with how good of an actress you were.

The idea of a date with him wasn’t repulsive. You liked the version of Jake you met at the club and the version he’d been lately, but you weren’t sure how real those versions of him were. They’d disappeared before and you were worried they’d disappear again. Briefly your mind flitted to Bradley, worried about how it might make him feel, but it didn’t linger there for long. Bradley wasn’t anything serious. At least you didn’t think he was. Neither of you had ever breached the subject and you were fine with that. So as far as you were concerned you were more than able to let Jake take you on an actual date.

The chance to respond to his offer was quickly taken away as his attention was called for an interview and you were left to politely mingle with others. A glass of champagne was offered and you gladly accepted it. Your mind was still swirling a little bit with this sudden change in your fake fiancé.

“Hello,” the biting tone of his mother’s voice hit your ears and did nothing to ease your nerves. She didn’t like you. Louise Seresin had made that clear from the jump. Now, she had never outright said the words, but she didn’t really hide her distaste for you either.

You curled your lips up in what you hoped was a believable smile. “Hi Louise, you look lovely.” As much of a cunt as the woman could be, she was always dressed to the nines. Today was no different with her pink and floral patterned chiffon dress. It seemed a bit young and playful for her age and personality, but she still looked good. It was a definite contrast to the dress your stylist had picked out. A maroon blazer dress that hit just below your thigh, with gold buttons and gold Jimmy Choo heels. Professional and sexy enough for the future wife of Jake Seresin, who was dressed in similar shades of maroon and gold.

Louise’s eyes swept over you and you waited for her to tell you about her distaste for your outfit. All she did was hum, but you couldn’t tell if it was approvingly or not. Half the time you wondered if she had you figured out. If she knew this was all a sham, but if she did she never said so.

As if the universe knew you needed saving Jake’s father, George, approached and pulled you into a tight bear hug. George’s reaction to you was the exact opposite of his wife’s. He was a kind man that took to you immediately, reminding you vaguely of your father.

George let out a whistle as held your hand, motioning for you to spin and you did with a giggle. “My son sure snagged a winner.” He nodded approvingly as he dropped your hand. “How’s your mother doin’? Chemo goin’ alright?” It warmed you how he always asked about your mom, checking in to see if she needed anything. How this sweet man had ended up with such a cold woman was beyond you. Louise had to be different when you weren’t around.

“She’s alright, starting to lose her hair, but it seems to be working. She’s got a treatment tomorrow that I’ll be at.” Treatments were hard and long and you’d gone to every single treatment with your mom since she started them.

“You mean we’ll be at.” A large, heavy hand rested on your waist. You turned to look up at Jake who was staring back at you with those brilliant green eyes and a soft smile. “I promised I’d come to some sessions and I haven’t been yet, works been keeping me away but I’m putting my foot down.” That was a lie. Not once had he ever even mentioned attending one of your mother’s treatments. He hadn’t even met your mother. Jake could see in your eyes that you were confused, but he just returned the look with one that promised he’d explain later.

You accepted that and turned back to his parents. George looked proud of his son. Louise looked skeptical. Her mouth opened to speak, but as if Jake knew what was going to come out of her mouth he quickly excused the two of you. As much as you wanted to ask him about what he’d just said, this wasn’t the place. Especially as he kept getting pulled away to talk to different people.

Between conversations you managed to get a word in, other than assuring him you were okay. “Yes, you can take me on a real date.” Jake’s smile grew as wide as it did when you accepted his proposal. He was really starting to confuse you.

The event had gone successfully. You later found out it was a promotional event for some new software that Jake’s company had created. He had tried explaining it to you, but it all had gone right over your head. You’d always considered yourself as smart, but when it came to technology you were as skilled as someone’s grandma.

Currently you were sitting in the back of the SUV headed to Marea, an upscale Italian restaurant. Jake was next to you scrolling through his phone with one hand while the other rested on your leg, his thumb rubbing small circles on the sensitive skin of your inner thigh. An intimate gesture, one that he seemed to be doing absentmindedly. As strange as it felt, you also enjoyed it as each circle sent a tingle through your body.

“Were you serious earlier…you know about the chemo treatment?” It had been gnawing at you since he said it. If he really wanted to come you weren’t going to stop him. It would be nice to have some company, especially considering your mom was so drained she slept through most of them. Still, didn’t he have more important things to do than spend hours in a hospital room with his fake fiancée while her sickly mother had cancer treatment?

Jake tucked his phone in his pocket while he turned his attention towards you, nodding his head softly. He knew it was probably weird for you, how he was suddenly changing his demeanor and opting to come to something he never had before. But he was being sincere about it all. “As serious as a heart attack. It’s important to you, so it should be important to me too.”

Your brows furrowed as you studied his face. You were staring so hard at him Jake was almost certain you could see through his thick skull. Suddenly the back of your hand was pressed to his forehead and you were inspecting him in a different way.

“Are you feeling alright? Light headed? Nausea? Vomiting? Hallucinations? Fever?” Jake couldn’t help the chuckle that rumbled his chest at your barrage of questions. His large hand enveloped yours, pulling it away from his forehead and pressing a kiss to it.

“I’m fine, I promise. I just-” he hesitated. How could he tell you that seeing you with Bradley had him jealous because you were supposed to be his wife. It was Jake who was supposed to be making you laugh so hard you did that little snort. He was the one that was supposed to make you whimper and moan and beg. The one you were supposed to dance in his kitchen with. Not Bradley. “I’ve been an ass to you and I want to make up for it, to be better.” Yeah, that was the best way he could put it. There was no way he could say he was jealous of seeing you with his best friend even though this was a fake relationship and he’d been having his own fun on the side.

The SUV slowed to a stop outside of the restaurant, but you were still processing what Jake had said. “O-okay, but you were the one who made it abundantly clear we were nothing but business partners.” You were cautious in the way you reminded him.

Jake almost looked pained as he was reminded of what he’d said. “I know and I shouldn’t have been such a dick, I don’t have an excuse for it.” His lips pressed a kiss to the back of your hand. “We can talk more later, but right now we have a date. Let’s just enjoy it?” It sounded like he was begging you, but Jake Seresin didn’t beg. That you were sure of. You just nodded, agreeing to drop the topic for now. He smiled softly at you, silently thanking you as he opened the door.

It still wasn’t making any sense to you, but you were going to take any niceties you could get from him. Because in all reality you had no idea how long this change in him was going to last. And you definitely didn’t want to be as miserable as you had been the past month or so. At least not if you could help it.

@love2write2626 @cherrycola27 @chaoticversion @3in1shampooconditionerbodywash @alldaysdreamers @sexytholland @mishala0505 @a-serene-place-to-be @emma8895eb @aemondssiut @averyhotchner @blairfox04 @realdirectionx @rintheemolion @xoxabs88xox @clancycucumber230 @inky-sun @ilovewhalesharks444 @gigisimsonmars @imnotcreativeenoughforthisblog @bl6o6dy @potato-girl99981 @emorychase @hangmandruigandmav @boltgirl426 @misshoneypaper @starkleila @rae-you-gotta-be-kidding-me @rhirhikingston @alana4610 @mightiestheroes @likeit-or-leaveit @pono-pura-vida @eccentricnos

#jake seresin fic #jake seresin x reader #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin x y/n #hangman x reader #hangman x you #hangman x y/n #jake seresin x you #top gun au #top gun maverick

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anonymoushouseplantfan · 1 year

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Two Losers Update

I don't even want to post about these two, but apparently Harry is attending the coronation alone and leaving right away and Meghan is going to stay in LA. She signed up with WME and they are doing a little "we totally are big Hollywood players" pr drive with a dinner at a private club, a Lakers suite, and hints about upcoming projects (fake awards!, rom coms! African HGTV! Tig 2.0!, Archetypes 2.0!, talk show!, etc...). It's all smoke and mirrors with these two. Archie is apparently having a secret celebrity birthday party...just like all his other secret celebrity birthday parties.

None of those projects will materialize. The only marketable narrative they have is the family drama and that isn't really working for them anymore, as the letter drama illustrated. )Of course they leaked it. Why would anyone else leak it?)

This Page Six leak read like extracts from a publicist's memo. "They had to make a decision that was genuine and authentic." "The words that Harry and Meghan have said about the importance of their family are lining up their actions." "For all the people who say they want to be half in and half out of the royal family, this proves just the opposite."

That last quote made me laugh, because they are literally trying to half-in (Harry's going) and half-out (Meghan's not). But the article does get to the heart of their problem--they are seen as fake and as long as they keep leaning into fake family drama (*cough*leaking letters*cough*) they will be seen as fake.

But, of course, they can't help themselves. Even a court case can be turned into family drama, if you're as obsessed as these two are.

That lasted for a hot minute and then everyone forgot about it. And now poor Omid is also desperately trying to create some drama and it's just not getting any traction.

And that's an "ask not for whom the bell tolls" for the Sussex brand. They've spent the last five or so years feeding off the family drama and have built nothing of substance. Now that the drama is fading, it's time to take stock. That's why Meghan is now looking to build her "rich mom" brand. If I were building a "rich mom energy" brand, I'd iron my clothes and show up at the coronation, but maybe that's just me.

When they left I argued that they should go for a lifestyle brand. I think I wrote an entire business plan for them with a new blog and Instagram, some Tik Tok videos, and lots of brand partnerships. I argued Meghan could guest host The View and then go on to have her own show with some political word salad and guest stars.

However, I don't think that's an option for them anymore. They are now too closely associated with royal family drama. That's their brand now, whether they like it or not.

I guess skipping the coronation is an attempt to move on from that, but I don't think it will work.

I did love the return of the diaper shorts. Hopefully Meghan will now return to the "California street style" (diaper shorts, ripped jeans, and tinfoil minidresses) she favored before her sudden 2017 Princess Makeover and we'll stop hearing nonsense about how Kate is copying her. An "un-Princess Makeover" so to speak.

I think that's what they are aiming for with the relaunch of The Tig (who starts a lifestyle site nowadays???). It's less about the business angle and more about "re-winding" her brand. The problem, of course, is that Meghan's pre-royal brand was bland and unsuccessful. Not sure how they are going to deal with that. Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, and Drew Barrymore are all doing the "California Hollywood Player" lifestyle with more personality, talent and pedigree than Meghan. It's a crowded field. The only thing that sets Meghan apart is the "Duchess" title and that title is both incongruous and hypocritical.

Can't wait to see what WME does with this mess.

Moving on, I did love the "Moment Harry Went Woke" anecdotes. Apparently, the article has been taken down, lol. The granola story was fantastic. That could be part of Meghan's new brand, "the granola that turned the prince woke."

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ramp-it-up · 1 year

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This Thing Of Ours AU Teaser- Carnivores, Vegans, & Boy Scouts, Oh My!

Characters: Mob Boss! Bucky, Mob Boss! Sam, and Mob Boss! Steve

Word Count: 515

Warnings: As always, 18+ ONLY, MINORS DNI. Mob Bucky, Steve and Sam. A carnivore making fun of Veganism, Steve being ab innocent little Mobster, Sam being a vixen. Talk of a female centered sex club, Bucky being cocksure of his reader but he’s about to get knocked on his ass. No smut, but it’s coming soooon!

A/N: This is a teaser drabble for the next fic, Queen of The Night, and sort of ties the threads together. This is in the This Thing Of Ours AU This occurs about three months before the events of Try a Little Tenderness, and about two weeks after Addicted to You.

I no longer operate a taglist. Follow @rampitupandread to be notified when I post.

I Do NOT consent to my work being reposted, translated or presented on any other blog or site other than by myself.

“Want some?”

Bucky shoved his lox and bagel in Sam’s face. Sam grimaced and held out his hand to stop him.

“C’maaannnn! I remember when your four food groups were meat, bacon, cheese, and pizza. Now you want to tell me you eat none of ‘em?”

Bucky was busting Sam’s balls.

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand. Veganism is only logical.”

“Stop, you two. We gotta focus. Sam is healthy, and he’s a grown man, Buck. Leave him alone.”

“Leave him aloneee,” Bucky mocked Steve. “I’m only eating this because you’re too scared to ask that sweet thing in the grocery store out. I’d be eating a BLT from Sal’s right now, but we haven’t gone there in a month!”

Bucky jumped at Steve who didn’t flinch, but just grinned back at his friend and watched him finish off the sandwich. Sam chuckled and shook his head, folding The Times and placing it on the table for Steve to snatch.

Bucky shook his head too as he watched Steve devour the paper while he devoured the sandwich.

“Not that this isn’t good, but don’t get it twisted. I’m sacrificing for your lack of game, pal.”

Sam was exasperated. These two fools.

“Yap yap yap, let’s get down to business. What’s up with Three Rivers?”

Bucky chugged his coffee, then chucked it in the trash. His eyes twinkled as he talked about you.

“We knew that the owner had some secret funding source. Found out what it is. She co-owns Queen of Heaven.”

“Holy Shit!” Sam exclaimed and his mouth dropped open.

Bucky raised his eyebrow at him.

“What’s Queen of Heaven?”

Steve had no clue what Bucky and Sam were excited about.

Bucky gave Sam a sideye.

“Sam? Why don’t you tell the boy scout here what Queen of Heaven is?”

Sam cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable.

“It’s a… ummmm. A sex club.”

Now Steve’s mouth dropped open.

“Holy shit.”

Steve looked from Bucky to Sam.

“Wait. How do you know that Sam?”

Sam continued his discomfort and straightened his vest. Bucky filled Steve in.

“It’s not a secret, Steve. It’s just… exclusive. There’s even a website. And the owners are… elusive. One has to be a member and pay thousands of dollars a month membership to even get the address. If you’re not a member, and you step foot in there, you’re disappeared.”

Steve watched Sam sweat a little.

“Have you ever been there, Sam?”

“I’m not a member, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“That isn’t what he asked.”

Bucky interjected, then informed Steve some more.

“Men can’t be members, only guests, Steve. And the male guests are screened thoroughly. The club caters to women’s pleasure. The question to ask Sam is if he’s ever been a guest.”

Bucky fell silent to let the information sink into Steve’s skull and allow Sam to sweat.

Same stared at Steve and Steve stared back, a showdown. Then Steve shook his head, laughing.

“So. What are you gonna do with this information, Buck?”

“What I do with everything, Steve.”

Bucky grinned at his friends.

“Try to take over the world.”

#Steve Rogers #Bucky Barnes #Sam Wilson #mob boss! avengers #mob boss! sam wilson #mob boss! bucky barnes #mon boss! steve Rogers #x readers #this thing of ours au #Sebastian Stan #chris evans #anthony mackie

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terraliensvent · 3 months

Note

I feel like some of the people posting these vents fail to realize that the moderation team is human too. They should be allowed to make mistakes here and there without people having a whole mental breakdown and swearing up and down they’re not doing anything. While I understand some frustrations, most of it just sounds like pettiness and throwing a pity party. Oh you’re not a guest artist? Boohoo.

Another thing, it makes sense that people who the mods promoted are their friends humans are full of bias !! Whether we choose to admit it or not, we all will always lean towards our companions. Not trying to be a “white knight” or whatever y’all call it, just saying!

you say you arent trying to whiteknight as you repeat the same lazy defenses consistently made by whiteknights

i always thought the “mods are human” excuse to be exceptionally lazy because you know who else is human? literally everyone on the planet. i dont think that mods should get extra special good boy points just because they are mods and voluntarily manage this niche community. its also really dismissive of you to say “mistakes here and there” when these arent little tweedle dum “oh no i made the site glitch!” type errors. these are large glaring problems that have gone unaddressed for over 10 months, and when members of the community provide constructive criticism, people like you use the “mods are human” excuse to take away any responsibility from them. yeah, theres work to be done, but thats what you sign up for when you volunteer for your role. if you dont want to do the work purely out of motivation to make things better, then youre not fit to be a mod.

making a small mistake isnt the same as ignoring criticism, neglecting to work on things to actually solve problems, and constantly pumping out adopts despite the fact the species, again, does not have lore or trait sheets written anywhere after almost a year.

also yeah, i know it makes sense for them to pick their friends to be mods, but that also means that the people in charge arent getting any new outsider viewpoints on issues, and it creates an incredibly cliquey and unwelcoming community. i would be a little more forgiving if the new mods they take on would actually do work besides instantly posting their customs in their oh so elite staff commissions channel, but so far there is nothing that proves to me that they dont just use the role to exert some hierarchy over everyone else. “im a mod which means im friends with staff” but not “im a mod because i want to fix the big issues here.” have you seen any of the new mods do anything but make adopts and answer the questions that are too trivial for the other mods?

also, this is a vent blog. if people want to complain that only pop artists get to be GAs how is it hurting you.

this mindset of “mods are human so we can never criticize them” is exactly the reason why this species is so godawful, because yall can never stand to suck it up and see some pop artist get critique.

#closed species vent #terralien #closed species #terraliens #vent

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lsotp · 6 months

Note

Hi-! I'm here for the daily blog attacks!

Questions from Chapter 5 and 6 Incoming-!

1.) Your heavy eyes looked up into the face of your rescuer. His eyes were squeezed shut, his own ears being covered by his hands as he formed a cage over you. You felt a bit better here in this strange man’s lap.

In the world of LSOTP, Is Edge afraid of storms and lightning too?

2.) Figure 1:

“S-sissy?” His eyes opened to look at you, the white eyes that were usually about the size of a dime seemed to fill his whole sockets.

Figure 2:

His eyes snapped open as a shrill scream left his small body. His soul rose from his chest as the scent of watermelon lemonade filled the area, his soul turned a beautiful sunset orange casting the same bright light in the area before shooting up in a beam.

Figure 3:

Whip opened his eyes- once white- were now the same sunset orange as his magic

Before a whelp has reached a certain age/maturity, is their magic generally white before turning to a color AFTER an awakening?

I think i know the answer. The Figures I've provided said it all, but I just want confirmation.

3.) He popped his magic in little pops of orange, as he had practiced while his magic was still white. Little fire works of lemonade scented orange sprang up before a jet of water squirted out of his palm and sprayed Buck in the face.

I would like to know more about Special Skill Sets, please.

4.) they’re sharp teeth biting into your collar bone or neck to put you back in line after you decided to go against the grain.

Mate Marks? 👀.

5.) Figure 1:

You had forgotten about those features, honestly. All the doors in the house had two knobs. One for your taller family members and guests to use,and one for you and (at the moment) Whip to use.

I feel bad for (Y/N). She's essentially a mouse in a family of cats. ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ.

Figure 2:

It was humiliating to you. Your feet didn’t even touch the floor and your head barely poked above the arms of the chair.

I arrest my case.

6.) What happened during 'The Seige of Coronet'? Just how bad was it?

7.) “She can speak, it’s just hard for her to do. It’s a side effect from an injury from when she was little.

We were in the Siege of Coronet when Old Centry fell in the war. The enemy was after women and children, in hopes to put a dent in our numbers. Sadly both my wife and daughter were injured.”

I FOUND A CLUE-! I'm sure of it.

IM SURE THAT THIS WAS WHAT YOU WERE REFERRING TO!

During this Siege of Coronet, Cobalt basically admitted that there were enemies, enemies that scarred both (Y/N) and Lilith.

He KNOWS who they were fighting with.

But the fic doesn't give any implicit confirmation as to WHO or WHAT the enemy is.

(1) Edge isn’t terrified of storms. He has super great hearing. The noise of the wind, the debris, and other noises were hurting his ears.

(2) Yes. They are born with white magic that they can practice with until they hit puberty, when they start to unlock their abilities.

(3) You may need to open a new ask post for this one with more specifics on what you want to know. It’s too broad of a question for this post and would make this entirely too long.

(4) Not necessarily. The reader is just kinky. It’s a form of discipline between mates and usually how a male will dom a female. By biting- however the bites don’t hurt more so than overstimulate the person being bitten. (Don’t bite someone in the LSotP au. The scandal that would result would be massive.)

(5) Yeah. She’s a lil’ short stack compared to everyone else. Her baby brother is only three inches shorter than her.

(6) Old Centry was a province or state in the region.

The siege of Coronet was an invasion of the state and one of the first settlements hit in the dead of night. It was pillaged and burned down in less than 10 hours. A flag that said “Down with the Queen” was left on the hot ashes of the site.

(7) I never said he didn’t know. And while it’s important, that wasn’t the thing I was referring to. ;p

#lsotp #undertale au #undertale #undertale fanfiction #undertale oc #skeleton

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vavandeveresfan · 2 months

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Writer Beware: How a Book Really Becomes a Movie.

Writer Beware is an excellent site of information for those who are or want to become traditionally published. The official blog of Writer Beware® shines a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls. Also providing advice for writers, industry news, and commentary. Writer Beware® is sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.

by Victoria Strauss, April 12

Book-to-film scams are extremely common these days. If the publishing industry is opaque and secretive, the movie biz is even more so, and scammers take full advantage.

From disreputable marketers claiming to take your book to pitch events, to fake agents offering to represent you to major production companies, to scammers impersonating those production companies themselves, hordes of fraudsters are soliciting writers by phone and email with tempting-sounding "offers" and "opportunities" that they promise will route your book directly to the silver screen.

In reality, of course, the fraudsters have no Hollywood connections. The sole aim of these solicitations is to trick you into paying large amounts of money for products or services--screenplays, pitch decks, "cinematic trailers", and more--that you don't need and that may not even be delivered.

How to defend yourself? As noted by Jeanne Veillette Bowerman, today's guest post author, the best way to avoid being scammed is to understand the process. The more you know about how things should work, the easier it will be to recognize questionable or dishonest practices when you encounter them.

In the article below, Jeanne offers a comprehensive overview, unpacking the multiple and often complicated paths by which a book really finds its way to the screen...which, as you'll see, bear no resemblance to the shortcuts and guarantees claimed by fraudsters.

*~*~*~*~*

How a Book Really Becomes a Movie

Jeanne Veillette Bowerman

Anyone passionate about their work, desperate to get published or have their book adapted to film, is a perfect target for a scam. Like this one.

First, if you’ve fallen for one of these too-good-to-be true solicitations, don’t beat yourself up. It’s easy to do. Writers tend to be solitary creatures, many without a support system. That's what makes us vulnerable to exploitation. But the best way to protect ourselves is to understand how the book-to-film process works.

Get comfortable. There’s nothing simple about Hollywood.

The filmmaking industry baffles many—even those working in it. The reality is, there is no single way to get a film made. There are quite literally as many ways to break in as there are writers who’ve successfully done so, making scams harder to identify.

Sadly, when someone proactively reaches out to you, you have to assume it’s fake until you can prove otherwise. With scams abounding, the burden of proof has shifted. Due diligence has never been more important.

You do NOT need a screenplay to sell your book-to-film rights.

You do NOT need a sizzle reel or "cinematic trailer".

You do NOT need storyboards.

You do NOT need mood boards.

You should NOT have to pay any upfront fees.

You should NOT be required to buy anything.

Let’s go through the traditional paths first, then I’ll share an unusual story to demonstrate how varied this process can be.

Most common paths for book to film

What you need is a great story with cinematic elements that would attract a large audience. If it’s for TV, it should have compelling characters and a broader world that could translate to multiple episodes.

Your agent strives for one of three opportunities:

Sell the book-to-film rights directly to a studio or producer,

Option the book for a set dollar amount for a specific period of time, or

Sign a shopping agreement for a shorter period of time with no money being paid to the author.

1. Selling the Book

When you sell your book outright, that’s it. You’re done. You no longer have any claim to said material, nor the right to participate in the adaptation. You probably won’t be able to write a future sequel if the studio owns your intellectual property … which means they own your characters. There are exceptions though, depending on how the contract was negotiated. You definitely need a talented agent or attorney to assist … not a pitching or consulting “service” that solicits you via email.

The sale price typically will be 2-3% of the film's budget (that's money paid to you, not the other way around), but it depends. It always depends. Your agent should at least try to get you Executive Producer credit, or a consulting gig. But many producers want the author far, far away from the project. Your book is merely a blueprint for the film. A lot will change—subplots and characters will disappear—which can be difficult for the author to accept.

If you’re lucky, and have the proper experience and background, they’ll give you first crack at writing the script. But don’t expect it. Your payday is the sales of the rights plus more copies of your book being sold.

But … here’s the hard part … even if you sell your book, the movie may never get made. Yes, you read that correctly. It takes millions of dollars and hundreds of people to align to make a film. People often say it’s a miracle any film gets made. They’re right.

2. Option Agreement

An option by a showrunner or producer usually runs $1,000 to $30,000 for a set period of time (again, that's money paid to you), the standard being 12 to 18 months. This gives them time to “package” the project by attaching a director, actors, etc. and (hopefully) sell it. Note: It is illegal to not pay a writer for an option, hence why you’ll sometimes see an option happen for a penny or a single dollar—which is more common when optioning a screenplay, as opposed to a book.

The vast majority of options expire long before any movie deal can be struck, but they may be renewed for an additional fee. With each renewal, your agent will likely either ask for more money or less of a time commitment. I do know authors who have optioned the same novel multiple times—not a bad payday. But still, no film and no purchase of book-to-film rights ever happened in those cases. An option doesn’t guarantee you a sale.

3. Shopping Agreement

A shopping agreement is similar to an option, only the producer tries to shop it around town without paying the option fee. Since the author receives no money, the shopping agreement typically lasts only six to nine months. Renewable, just like options.

These are more common than traditional options because the producer gets exclusivity, albeit for a shorter period of time, without coughing up money. Authors might agree to this strategy simply because there’s some sense of hope that a deal will be made.

So, how do your book-to-film rights get sold?

Just like everything else in the industry, you need relationships with the right people. Agencies spend years fostering those relationships with production companies and will go directly to them to pitch the book, sometimes in person, sometimes with a phone call. They’ll set up meetings with producers, not junior execs. Junior execs are the ones who go to pitching events, not decisionmakers.

Usually, an agent only needs a logline or a one-sheet. A logline is a one- to two-sentence elevator pitch. A one-sheet is exactly what it sounds like—a single page that summarizes the book and gives details about the author. That’s it. What your agent will not do is spend money to hire a screenwriter or hire someone to create a sizzle reel, trailer, or story boards.

If a potential sale is on the table, your agent should negotiate development fees, as Hollywood famously tries to get writers to do development work for free. Get your agent to negotiate compensation for that. An agent might also ask for the title card on the film not to be buried and to also be able to use key art of the movie poster for the book cover.

Before any significant negotiations happen, they’ll want to know there is a clear chain of title, meaning must prove you own 100% of the property. This is where having a screenwriter adapt your book in advance muddies the waters. If you didn’t pay them to adapt it, and have it in writing that you own the script, you’ve now entered into a trickier situation where the producer might have to pay both you and the screenwriter.

Moviemaking is a business. As in any business, people want things clean and simple. So, say you fall for one of those scams where you split the cost of hiring a screenwriter, making a sizzle reel, and creating story boards. That scammer could potentially now own half of your work. No exec is going to touch that with a 10,000-foot pole.

The most popular word in Hollywood is “no.” Don’t make it easy for them to say it.

The author may, however, take a stab at writing the script themselves. I’ve had top producers at the New York Rights Fair tell me they actually prefer having an author’s rough draft for several reasons—it saves them development money, and they appreciate having the author slashing the story down themselves. Less room for arguments later.

Author Lee Matthew Goldberg has both adapted his own book as well as optioned another. “I've been told, with my Runaway Train project, with the actress attached, that my script is what gets the project in the door. And then ultimately, it's most likely not going to be my script [that gets produced] when it actually sells. But had I not had a script, and it just was the book, it might have been harder to sell … Hollywood doesn't like to read. It's easier for them to read a script than a book. So, I think it's in the best interest for an author to write the screenplay. Be open to the fact that their screenplay might just be the thing that gets them over the first hump.”

But brace yourself. Hollywood isn’t going to wrap their arms around you, as the screenwriter. You will get fired, and they will bring in a pro screenwriter. However, per WGA rules, if you’ve written that original draft, you’ll get a shot at the first rewrite … before they finally fire you. But you will be fired. Don’t be offended though. Every great A-list screenwriter has been fired. It’s how the business works.

What if you’re self-published and/or don’t have an agent?

Let’s say you’re self-publishing and query producers yourself, and they bite. That producer is not going to take your book to a pitching event (a common scammer claim). They have direct contacts with people in the industry and will set up a meeting.

Again, you could take a stab at writing the screenplay, enter it into contests (see below), pitch to actors' production companies, or query screenwriting managers.

If the script gets sold, they’ll still fire you. See above.

The case study: The Reincarnationist Papers

Buckle up … this is but one example of how long it takes to go from book to film … and how totally unpredictable the process can be.

In 2009, Eric Maikranz wrote and self-published The Reincarnationist Papers. On the first page of the book, he put a “bounty” on it, stating that whomever finds this book and can help get it sold to a major publisher or movie studio will get 10% of his take. Great marketing!

Years later, while on vacation in Katmandu, a producer, Rafi Crohn, finds the book on a shelf of a bathroom in a tea house—no idea how it made it all the way to Katmandu—reads the “bounty,” and that alone intrigues him enough to dive into the book. Loving it, he tracks down Eric and secures an option.

It’s now 2012. Rafi contacts Ian Shorr, a professional screenwriter who feels, “There’s something magical there … an element of Willy Wonka.” Ian then pitches his take on how to adapt the book to Imagine, Ron Howard’s production company. (Note: This is how open writing assignments work. Before paying a screenwriter, execs ask them to read the book and pitch their take.) In this case, they don't go for Ian’s vision. He pitched a Matrix version; they want a Harry Potter version. Imagine never finds a writer’s idea they can align with.

Movie is dead.

Almost two years later, the rights are about to lapse again, so Rafi, who liked Ian’s take, approaches him to see if he’d be game to write the script on spec (which means without pay).

Why would a pro screenwriter write for no money? Ian explains, “For me, it was like the one that got away came back … I was still thinking about that book.”

Ian’s manager re-ups the rights.

Since Ian is writing this on spec, obviously, he is concurrently working on projects that actually pay him. Go figure. And The Reincarnationist Papers is a complicated one to adapt, taking Ian about three years to finalize the script.

The script and the rights to Eric’s book finally get purchased by Paramount.

Time to celebrate, right? Nope.

Immediately after the script gets sold, the president of Paramount leaves, and the new head sees the $200-million price tag and crosses it off their slate. The book was not a best seller, and the risk is too high.

As Ian puts it, “This movie died a million times before it lived.”

What brings it back to life: the director Antoine Fuqua, about to do a film for Paramount, is craving to do a Matrix-type project, but was brought on to direct something else. A producer slips Antoine the script Ian wrote, now called Infinite. Antoine loves it, and tells the studio this is the one he wants to make. Total fluke. The right champion at the right time. Finally.

Again, relationships.

Ian writes more drafts for Antoine, they cast the movie, lose the star, get another star, shoot it in 2019, and it finally gets released in 2021. Just a short 12 years from book to film.

Ian sums it up, “I think a lot of writers don't understand that their work is going to change. They all want the adaptation for all those other reasons that Eric enjoyed—like book sales, publishing deals, sequels. But some writers definitely do struggle with the fact that there are changes. The second you get into bed with Hollywood, that's the first thing you have to be prepared for. Because the spec that I wrote was very different from the book that he wrote. And then my spec got rewritten by other writers, who changed what I wrote.”

There are thousands of stories similar to this … and also very different.

You can watch Ian discuss the adaptation process on Pipeline Artists here.

Oh, there are still more out-of-the-box options …

Have you heard of “The Book Whisperer”? Meet Lane Shefter Bishop. (You can find an in-depth one-on-one conversation I had with her on Pipeline Artists’ Symposium here.)

In short, Lane has relationships (there’s that word again) with literary agents and will often get a shopping agreement on the book prior to it ever being published. Her goal is to be able to mold the story, pre-publication, to help create a more cinematic experience, structured like a movie.

Frankly, it’s genius. Give the conversation a listen.

Pay-to-play versus true champions

Let’s go back to “What do I do if I don’t have an agent?”

There are more and more writing contests popping up that won’t lead you anywhere except a few dollars less in your pocket, but reputable ones absolutely exist. Full disclosure, I’m a Senior Executive at Pipeline Media Group, a company that discovers novelists, screenwriters, and filmmakers via contests. Trust me when I say I’ve heard all the arguments about contests being pay-to-play scams, but it’s not the case for most, so do your research on the top platforms.

I’m also a writer, and I’ve entered plenty of contests in my day. Some have propelled my career, others, despite being a finalist, did absolutely nothing for me. They didn’t even email me to inform me of my selection!

Just like with any opportunity that feels too good to be true, as mentioned, do your research.

Beyond reading a contests’ success stories, I always recommend doing a search for a contest’s past finalists. Follow them on social media and message them, asking what that contest actually did for them. Getting previous finalists’ feedback on their take will tell you everything you need to know.

Get more than one perspective though. Get as many as you can! Strike the most positive, and strike the most negative. Take the average, and you can be confident in the results. Writers will be honest with each other. And if they got screwed over, they’ll be more than happy to tell you!

Bottom line

Scams are everywhere. The best way to identify them is to know how the process actually works.

Hollywood loves adaptations for many reasons, but mostly because the bulk of the story development work is already done, and a dedicated fan base exists. So, cast out as many nets as possible, even if it means writing the script yourself.

Why not? No one knows your story as well as you do.

If you want outside help, please do your research. Check multiple references, not just one. The Golden Ticket isn’t going to drop in your inbox. If it sounds too good to be true, it’s a scam.

Above all, trust your spidey senses.

I’ll leave you with Ian Shorr’s final advice: “Because writers are so passionate, and because we're so willing to work for free, and because it's such an aspirational, dream-based industry, it makes us a really easy target for scammers. Plus, the way that Hollywood operates is so opaque to people who don't work there. It's easy for someone to come along and say, oh, yeah, this is how you play the game. The reality is, if you write something that people love, they will come to you. And they will put their energy into it. Just remember, anybody who’s looking for you to pay them is a red flag."

Jeanne Veillette Bowerman is a Senior Executive at Pipeline Media Group and Book Pipeline, Editor-in-Chief of Pipeline Artists, co-host of the Pipeline Artists original podcast, "Reckless Creatives," former Editor-in-Chief of Script magazine and a former Senior Editor at Writer's Digest. Her Script column "Balls of Steel" was selected as recommended reading by Universal Writers Program. A compilation of her articles is now available—Balls of Steel: The Screenwriter's Mindset. She is also a partner at Fringe Press and Co-Founder and moderator of the weekly Twitter screenwriters’ chat, #Scriptchat. She wrote the narrative adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, with its author, Douglas A. Blackmon, former senior national correspondent of The Wall Street Journal and has now ventured into writing historical fiction. Follow Jeanne on X: @jeannevb

#writblr #writers on tumblr #writing community #writers of tumblr #writing advice #writing tips #writer beware #screenwriting #screenplays #writing scams #publishing scams #writer #writers #writerscommunity #books to movies

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the-galactic-hunters · 11 months

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Why this still annoying to set up?

There

ATTENTION HELL SITE,

ITS YOUR SUPERIOR SPEAKING!!!

Yes, yes it’s your truly, MIGHTY ZIM!! speak to you.

Some of you might notice our sudden disappearance in last month or two.

Dib-mine got too busy to give you lots the update he promise after we finish with the job because he is an idiot. And Zim have no interest to play with this “blog”, Zim have more important matters to deal with.

But Zim going to give you an announcement, so pay attention.

As the moment of star rises on the planet we are living, its will be Dib-mine’s Misery Day.

Or what your earthmonkey called “Birthday”, and that rat doesn’t know it today because he don’t give a damn.

But Zim do.

IT’S THE GREAT CELEBRATION!!!! AN EXTRAVAGANT OF TORTURES FOR DIB DAY!!!!

TRAPS, POISONS, ALL YOU CAN NAME IT, ARE FOR ZIM TO GRABS!! AND NOTHING WILL STOP ZIM FOR THE GREATEST FUN!!!!

Yeah sure.

ZES-SMEET!!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE???

DID YOU GET THE DISTRACTION PREPARE?!??

I've been ready for a few hours since you woke me up with your text. Unless you wanna monologue more.

EXCELLENT!!!

WITH YOUR GREAT DISTRACTION OF DIB-MINE’S FATHERHOOD AND ZIM’S GLORIOUS PLAN, THIS MISERY DAY WILL BE SPECTACULAR!!!

It will be something alright.

IT WILL BE SPECTACULAR!!

Ahem

So what this have to do with this blog?

Simple, for the next few days, we will be back on Tumblr.

Which mean you can send many ask as you want!! BUT THIS WILL BE A LIMITED TIME!!!

Before we go back to work again, it’s up for Dib-mine to post the actual update he want. It’s not Zim’s business.

That is just asking weird anons but oh well..

Zim can deal with that, when Dib-mine is on that thing, Zim always been the moderator.

Not going to make the same mistake like months ago.

And so, that’s the announcement!!

See you all in a bit with hilarious Dib torture fun!! JULY 16!!

((Ooc there :D

Welcome our guest star (well, family) of the announcement, @explosions-and-chill

TLDR: for about a week starting tomorrow, July 16, it will be an ask event for Seeker’s Birthday!!!

Why the whole week since it’s only 1 day?

Because it’s been known to the multiverse rp discord of how stupidly fucking slow Universe 10 (where the hunters are living) are. One day for them might be a week for other universe. So that be more accurate

I might not be as fast as I use to because life and health been kicking me but I’ll try my best. This is for Seeker, no not really I just want Zim to have fun, I wanna try, but still not sure when I can fully comeback committed on the blog. So at least this is something I can do and actually can complete it :,D

Hope y’all as excited as I do, see you tomorrow :]))

#the galactic hunters #ic zes #iz verse #zim talk #invader zim #px

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blubberquark · 2 months

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How Not To Do A Podcast

Don't have a web site: You don't really need one is this day and age. People find your podcast on Spotify, or on Apple Podcasts, or on YouTube. If you put your episodes up on YouTube, don't need hosting or a domain or a home page!

Don't link to the RSS Feed: If you do have a web site, you can just not bother with a public RSS feed. People on Apple podcasts get your episodes from Apple. If you want to post the episodes to your Web site, just embed the mp3a in blog posts! Don't give the hoi polloi access to the RSS feed, or they might steal your content, or worse, drive up hosting costs by downloading all the mp3s at once!

Don't bother with show notes: Show notes limit your reach. They don't show up the same on YouTube and Spotify, and you can't embed images in a pinned comment. Even worse, show notes lead people away from your podcast or the app. Alternatively, treat show notes as required reading. If you must have them, this is the way to get the most out of your show notes. Refer to the show notes all the time, and tell our audience to just read or listen to the linked stuff. Don't bother excerpting or paraphrasing things from elsewhere on the Internet. People are on a PC, they can click on links! In the show notes, don't bother adding context either. When your listeners have listened to the episode, they will know what the links mean.

Talk about your editing process and audio setup: Did you just buy a new mic? Are you recording on your laptop microphone in a hotel room? Don't just apologise for the audio quality, tell your listeners that normally you would record on the same hardware that NPR uses for This American Life. Talk about how you bought a new Mac Studio Ultra with 128 GB of RAM for editing the pauses out, and that time you had to interrupt the interview because your guest opened the door to accept a package delivery.

Keep introductions to a minimum: Your listeners have listened to the previous 500 episodes in chronological order, so they know what your podcast is about and who is hosting it. Don't start your podcast episodes with the name of the podcast, or introductions where every host says "Hello, I am Alice" "And I am Bob. This is the Alice and Bob send cryptic messages podcast. Today we're going to discuss PGP." This stuff is lame. Just say "Hi, here we are again, how has your last week been?" or "We're back! Sooo..."

If you really have to introduce multiple speakers, just have one host name everybody. Instead of repeating what the podcast is and who is doing it every time, start the episode with frequently updated information like upcoming meet-ups, listener feedback about the episode before last, how to reach you on twitter, your new mastodon instance, and current Patreon goals.

Use .mp3, .aac, or .wma: As long as the bit rate is high enough, people won't notice. Your goal is to reach as many people as possible, so an old file format like WMA is the best. For audiophiles, also have a feed in FLAC format. In the past, 250MB episodes would have been annoying, but everybody listens on YouTube and Spotify anyway (they do the transcoding for you). If they don't, maybe the 250MB per hour will make them reconsider.

Episodes should least at least 80 minutes long: Sometimes time flies, sometimes you need a lot of time to get to the point. People love to listen to the Joe Rogan Experience, which is sometimes 3 hours long. If your guests have more to say, don't record a bonus episode, just ask yourself: What would Rogan do?

Chapter marks work against you: Chapter marks let listeners skip past the ads, but they also let them skip past the part where you announce the next listener meet-up, the new URL of the t-shirt store, and ways to contact you. It is of vital importance that in five years, people who listen to your podcast will be familiarised with the old twitter handle you used to have, the old coupon code for RAID: Shadow Legends that doesn't work any more, and the listener meet-up in downtown Mariupol.

Frequently upgrade your web site: Like I said, it's usually not worth having a web site. But if you do, you need to

keep it fresh.

To do this, you should frequently update the URL of your home page, the URLs of blog posts where users can listen to individual episodes in their browser, your commenting system, your domain name, and the character encoding of your transcripts.

Listeners love banter and personality: Don't read from a script, because that sounds lame and stilted. Don't even have an agenda or written notes. If you want to talk something out, do it live on air. If you talk to a co-host or a guest about the topic or the ground rules for the episode, then do that live on air, too. If you go off topic, or if you have to spend a minute googling something during an episode, if your dog barks, a host goes on a tangent or if there is a package delivery at the door, just say "we'll edit that part out" and then leave the whole thing in, or edit but leave in the bit where you say "we'll edit it out in post". That joke never gets old. Asking your co-hosts about the topic of today's episode gives your podcast personality, rich texture, and entertainment value. The key is to be your raw, unfiltered self. Anybody can read from a script, but only you can answer the door for an Amazon package.

Listeners love drama: If somebody sends you a mean tweet, don't ignore it and move on. Use it! Read out all the mean tweets on your podcast. Make them a regular feature. Ask your listeners whether they agree! They will shower you with sympathy and engagement. If you don't have enough twitter drama to go on, you can invite guests for drama: Get people from twitter onto your podcast. I know, it sounds like a threat when you have twitter beef with somebody and ask them onto your show where you can edit them and you have an audience that's on your side, but you're reasonable here. You can say "twitter is such a terrible format for this, let's hash it out somewhere more appropriate". In the best case, you win the twitter argument without actually having to record the episode. You can just say in your podcast they didn't want to debate you.

Don't record episode 0 or -1: Back in 2005, it was customary to record an "episode zero" as the first thing in your RSS feed. There was even a cool service (now defunct) that aggregated all every "episode zero" from feeds into a feed of upcoming podcasts. These days, you record a trailer for your podcast and that is inserted into feeds of other podcasts at Wondery, Tortoise Media, and Serial Productions. It's passé to have a 15 minute introduction to an upcoming podcast.

Similarly, it used to be customary to record one or more "negative" episodes where you just check out your recording equipment and get used to the process, figure out which segments and interview formats work. You're a professional though. You don't need to get used to hearing your own voice.

You can go the extra mile and scrub everything but the latest 5 episodes from the feed.

#podcasting #the internet is getting worse

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wevelocityteampresents-blog · 2 months

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A Better PC Than Windows

One of the things I love about the Wii U is how versatile its web browser is. The Wii U browser can visit any website and allows most of those sites' functionalities to work as they would on an average PC. I remember visiting this weblog on the browser and was able to skim through every blog post without issue. The ability to play videos in perfect quality was incredible! It's because of this that I was able to watch episodes of Sherlock Hound and Donkey Kong Country on my Wii U.

When I was still a user of Deviantart, I would use the (kind of flawed) Deviantart Muro tool to create art pieces using the Wii U's GamePad. Most of them were pretty terrible, but I owe that to my art skills at the time and DA Muro's restrictive nature. In fact, it was DA Muro's decline in functionality that stopped me from drawing with it again. Even though my experiences with the program on the Wii U's browser were less than stellar, it still gave me a glimpse into what it would be like to be a professional artist.

For the time being, the Wii U internet browser was an upgrade to what I was used to on the Wii or 3DS. While the Wii could play flash games and the 3DS allows you to download certain images, the Wii U can play videos in perfect quality, display pictures on both the TV and GamePad, visit almost any website while keeping their features intact, utilize message boards, and many more. I often found myself using it more than a computer, as it fit most of my online needs. I still use it to find references for characters or objects while drawing. Over time, however, the quality of the Wii U's browser started to drop.

First, Nintendo removed video playback, and then they removed the ability to play audio. If that wasn't enough, most websites just stopped working properly. Even though I can still visit websites like this weblog, I can't find certain blog posts or use the Guest Archive. I guess Nintendo did this to prepare for the Nintendo Network's shutdown. But even then, there are a few flaws with that.

The Nintendo Switch, despite being the best-selling Nintendo system of all time, doesn't have a web browser. It's ridiculous that Nintendo didn't include a web browser feature with the Switch. Every console before it had one. Even the DS has a cartridge that allows you to browse the internet and visit different websites.

The worst part of this is that the Switch CAN access websites. There's a dedicated app that displays certain web pages whenever I connect to an access point at a public area or play Pokémon Violet. Even if you run internal exploits to use the web tool as an actual browser, there's a high chance your Switch will lose the ability to connect to the internet. The fact that the Wii U, one of Nintendo's lesser consoles, has a functional internet browser while the Nintendo Switch doesn't is baffling. It's almost like they rushed the Switch out just to make people forget about their recent failure.

Even though most people might gloss over it, the Wii U's web browser is an incredible application that allows the console to be used as a semi-personal computer. This blog entry isn't condemning Nintendo for taking internet connectivity from a system like the Wii U, it's to show just how far they dropped the ball with the release of the Switch. While the Switch Lite fixes the bulky nature and unappealing look of the original model, it still can't browse the internet. Whatever the case, the Wii U's browser makes it fun to explore the internet and is accessible to many people. It's just sad that the Switch lacks it and Nintendo is willing to sweep their best features under the rug instead of fine-tuning them for more powerful hardware.

#Wii U #internet #web browsers #Nintendo

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the-himawari · 1 year

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A3! Troupe Event Translation - Sunny Blanc (11/11 Epilogue)

*Please read disclaimer on blog; default name set as Izumi

---

my treasure

Homare: Here comes the tea.

Izumi: Thank you very much. Phew~… I’m glad the run of your 9th performance wrapped up smoothly.

Tasuku: The stage was set in a flower shop this time, so I heard it was a big hit with our female guests for its gorgeous appearance.

Tsumugi: We received lots of flowers as gifts. There were a good number of guests who gave us peonies to match the contents of the play.

Homare: Our dorm is all the more gorgeous for that as well.

Azuma: Speaking of peonies, it’s wonderful that Tsumugi’s grandma remembered Flower Park.

Tsumugi: Yes. She recalled right away when I showed her my pictures the other day… She said she’d love to go again after so long. I think we’ll go and take pictures together next time.

Izumi: Yeah, it's good to leave a record like that so that you can remember it later.

Tasuku: —Isn’t it about time for our wrap-up party?

Azuma: Shall we head to Journey after we finish our tea?

Hisoka: Ah…

Tsumugi: What’s the matter?

Hisoka: I ran out of marshmallows…

Izumi: Those are the marshmallows you bought at the World Market, right?

Hisoka: I’m totally out…

Azuma: The event isn’t over yet, so I’m sure you’ll have another chance to buy some.

Hisoka: —.

Tasuku: Don’t tell me you’re planning to go right now?

Hisoka: I can’t get them anywhere else except that market… I’ll head to Journey straight after buying them.

Tasuku: Don’t fall asleep while eating the marshmallows.

Tsumugi: May I come with you? I don’t think it will take that long.

Hisoka: …Sure.

-pause-

Hisoka: Thank God they had some left…

Tsumugi: I doubt you’ll run out for a while if you buy this much. We were able to purchase some decorative flowers for Journey too, so how about we start making our way over there?

Hisoka: Yeah.

Tsumugi: You know, I didn’t expect to hear you say you wanted to buy flowers. That made me happy though.

Hisoka: Maybe it’s because I was working at a flower shop for a while…

Tsumugi: If you don’t have the habit of decorating with flowers, then you don’t usually go out of your way to pick them up, huh?

Foreign boy: 《Hey, mister. So we meet again, huh? 》

Hisoka: 《Ah…》

Tsumugi: Do you know them, Hisoka-kun?

Hisoka: We got acquainted the first time I came to the World Market. He’s someone who knows my family.

Tsumugi: I see.

Foreign boy: 《That reminds me, I had a particular customer who knew Misha the other day. 》《While we were making small talk, they mentioned they knew someone from the town I used to live in. As it turns out, it was Misha!》

Hisoka: 《…Eh? 》

Foreign boy: 《They said they used to go to the candy shop all the time. What an amazing coincidence that we could cross paths in such a faraway country, huh? 》

Hisoka: 《I see…》 (The fact that there’s a customer from the candy shop isn’t strange. But to meet them by chance in a place like this…) (I’ll let Chikage know, just in case…)

Foreign boy: 《Oh right. Have you come up with anything you’d like me to draw? 》

Hisoka: 《Ah… I haven’t thought of anything. Sorry. 》

Foreign boy: 《No need to apologize. You don’t have to force yourself! 》

Hisoka: 《What kind of paintings do other people request…?》

Foreign boy: 《It really depends on the person… But I get asked for family, relatives, and friends quite often. 》《Everyone says they want to preserve a snapshot of their loved ones as they were in that moment. 》

Hisoka: 《Family…》 (Come to think of it, Director told me she wanted to meet August…) 《Hey, do you remember Misha’s face? 》

-pause-

Izumi: After all, I think we have to consider our organization on-site from now on.

Tasuku: I agree. It’s necessary to relay things like that to those outside our own theatre too. It’s an issue Veludo Way as a whole should think about.

Izumi: Exactly!

Homare: UuUh… *hic*, flowers are just so beautiful… We simply cannot compete with the art that’s brought forth by nature…!

Azuma: There, there.

*door opens*

Tsumugi: Sorry we’re late.

Guy: Everyone is drunk already.

Tsumugi: Ahaha… I can see that.

Hisoka: …Here you go, Guy.

Guy: These are?

Hisoka: I thought it might be nice to decorate the shop with flowers… I chose them with Tsumugi.

Guy: I see. They look beautiful. Thank you.

Izumi: Ah, Tsumugi-san, Hisoka-san. You two sure are late.

Tasuku: Was it crowded at the market?

Tsumugi: We had an important purchase to make.

Hisoka: …I have something I’d like to show all of you.

Homare: …Something you wish to show us?

Hisoka: This…

Azuma: This person is…

Hisoka: Someone… who looks like August.

Tasuku: Huh?

Izumi: It’s not August himself, but a look-alike? Is that what you mean?

Hisoka: …I asked an artist who knew August to draw his face if he remembered it. But in the end, it was a long time ago, so it was hard to reproduce without a picture… The details might be a little off… But I wanted to introduce my family member to everyone. To all of you who kept me by your side without question since the time I lost my memories and had no idea who I was myself… And to Director too, because you said you wanted to meet August…

Izumi: Hisoka-san… thank you. Thank you for introducing your family to us…

Homare: I am overjoyed that I get to gaze upon the face of Hisoka-kun’s precious family.

Azuma: I see, this is how he was. I feel a bright and kind vibe from him.

Guy: Even if you’ve forgotten the details, I am certain his personality and aura will remain in your memories.

Tasuku: Even though it’s a bit different, someone close to him will probably recognize him if they see this picture.

Tsumugi: Still, I think creating something tangible like this will serve as a trigger to connect to a precious memory.

Hisoka: …Yeah. (…I’ll show Chikage later, too.) (I’m sure he’ll be fussy about the details though, like, “this part’s off, this part’s off too, and this part should be more like this.”)

Homare: Now then, what do you say to another toast? To August-kun and to celebrate the success of our 9th play dedicated to August-kun—.

Tsumugi: Cheers!

Hisoka: Cheers.

---

previous |

#a3!#a3! translation #mikage hisoka #act! addict! actors!#that's all for this event!#thanks everyone!!! <3

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the-pen-is-mighty-and-so-are-you · 9 months

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Friday? More like Fried-as-an-egg-day - from wp blog, 18/10/2019

So, this is it - the first official blog post. Welcome again, visitor, and thank you for making it this far. To reward you I would like to share some sweet, sweet lofi with you, to listen to while reading this. Each post I'll link what I listened to while writing so that we can be on the same wave-length. The one I've linked today is a current personal favourite of mine. Once you have enjoyed this post, replay it and enjoy its fantastic animation - I love doing some colouring in with it playing in the background. Really makes the stress float away like an illegal Chinese lantern.

Today was a strangely productive Friday. A week ago I got a 6 month membership at the gym - £30, a beautiful price - with my flatmate, who is a gorgeous ray of pure, hardworking sunshine. She's far, far more organised than me, and has a determination I haven't seen in many 204-month-olds. So, she makes a great gym buddy - she motivates me to get out of my room and exercise away, releasing all the stress and guilt that gets wound up inside me.

I never saw myself becoming a gym rat. But for me, it's become a logical step in helping me structure my week and straighten out the thoughts in my head. Working out keeps the dark thoughts at bay; if I exercise I can't feel lazy, and I don't need to feel so bad about all the Bourbon biscuits I ate the day before. And going to the gym in the morning adds another bonus: getting to see a half of the day I normally wouldn't see on a day I could have a lie-in.

Seeing the morning sunshine, or even the Autumn grey it was today, is so refreshing, even if I know it will make me tired at the night-time I cherish so much. I want to thank my flatmate for giving me these special mornings, and for her positive energy that brightens up the whole flat.

So it was after one of these uplifting gym sessions and a shower and a wholesome bowl of soup that I decided to set foot over yonder, onto Princes Street: an intimidating, bustling site of mainstream chains that instils fear into the hearts of hipsters and introverts alike, alien from my comforting half of old architecture and charity shops. Nevertheless, I needed some new leggings - my old ones were looking like the loose skin on one of those wrinkly dog breeds - and moreover, a nice day out with myself. Enjoying your own company can lead to a great many revelations about the self: what you like, what your life goals are, what your thoughts are on the discussion you can overhear from the couple in front. And so, I recommend.

I am biased, of course. I've been brought up with a mum that preaches the joys of alone time, and in addition to that, I can find people quite draining. To solve the danger of becoming overwhelmed by the crowds, today I discovered that if I listened to podcasts through my headphones, I could actively enjoy the shopping experience, blissfully unaware of just how many people kept bashing into my umbrella. This revelation was a double-edged sword, because now I know just how much of a not-a-people-person I am. Not a real-people person, anyway.

I kept my podcast playing throughout my Greggs experience, pausing it only to order. I had a heated toastie from there, something I've never thought to order before, and a pumpkin spiced latte for the first time, so you could say today was very much a day of discovery. The latte was pretty basic, but not as basic as a basic latte, so I enjoyed it. The caffeine gave me an energy that had me clutching my pen and staring into my notebook with furious anticipation, too many ideas bubbling up to contain in ink. I managed to secure a booth seat marginally more comfortable than the barren wooden chairs. From it I was fortunate enough to enjoy a panoramic view both out the window into the Waverly shopping centre and of the other guests in this civil little chain that I once applied for and got rejected from.

A woman was sitting in the corner to my left, on call with someone and typing at her laptop. All her food and drink had been consumed. And so, comforted, I relaxed and took off my coat after ten minutes, now understanding there to be an unspoken agreement that settled customers would not be kicked out.

I wrote out the Japanese words for different members of family. A middle aged woman fell off her chair with great tragedy; the man who got up to help her had kanji tattooed on the back of his leg.

I moved onto my story. I managed to write three sentences. I moved to the back of the notebook and noticed an unexplained mobile number written there. After conferring with my boyfriend, I texted it. The number's name is Rob. Neither of us know how I got his number.

I dipped my glazed doughnut into the remainder of my latte, which I thoroughly savoured, though did not appreciate the sticky-palm-situation which ensued. I awkwardly held my pen afterwards, silently apologising to it, and began to plan. I wrote out a couple of ideas, a few reflections. What were my artistic goals?

I sat back and thought about the podcast I'd thought about doing. What was it going to be called? The pen is mighty and- huh. Clever name. Motivational. Just the right amount of vagueness. Plus, if it's written out all in one, the word 'penis' pops out, which is a bonus.

I thought of what else I could do besides a podcast. It slowly struck me.

I smiled slowly and put my pen excitedly to paper - but didn't write anything. I wasn't quite inspired enough yet. It was still day time, and I was still in Greggs which, although friendly and practical, is not much of a muse. So, I pack my things, got up and put my rubbish in the bin - no recycling, I noted - and asked for the toilet code. He told me the toilet was out of order and to go to MacDonalds.

"Okay," I said, and walked down the steps to the level of MacDonalds, walked towards it, and walked past it - out the exit.

I love Greggs, but I don't think the left side of my brain does. Although my stomach and heart was satisfied, the ambience would have lacked were it not for the podcast blocking out the generic music and din. Greggs - Greggory, can I call you Greggory? -the caffeine effect from the latte was beyond your control, but your décor was not. And so, overall, I give you:

6/10 - A* for effort, but the table was too basic for me to write upon.

#I'm now a qualified gym instructor #I want to give past me a hug #I am a people person I was just overwhelmed #cafe review

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thesaleswhisperer · 5 months

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Dre Baldwin on The Sales Podcast

Professional Sales Tips you'll learn today on The Sales Podcast ...

Former professional basketball player

Zig when others zag, which means sending personalized outreach

Do what doesn’t scale

“What is my competition not willing do that I will?”

He’s been making content since 2005

He has a process for researching ideal prospects

Send link to assistant to research

Assistant finds pertinent information and adds it to the CRM

He then makes the video intro

He’ll make 5-6 each day

Do enough that you can handle the replies