For a future binding project, I’ve been typesetting a fic series I’ve loved for many years and today I hit a treasure trove! The fic takes place in the early 20th century and dancing—waltzing specifically—is present throughout. Given that the main character is a detective and technically minded, I knew I wanted to find some clip art of the footstep diagrams used to teach dance moves.

Today I found a PDF of a book from 1914 that is absolutely chock full of these illustrations—I even found a simple little arrow diagram to use as page breaks!

But my favorite illustration of all is this simple waltz step/turn that I put on the title page, entirely because when I tilted it to fill up the space, it looks like a heart ❤️

Anyway, if you binged The Murdoch Mysteries during finals week of your sophomore year in college and thought the actor that played James Pendrick looked like David Bowie if you squinted and were also drunk, you should read this series.

DAYTIME SHOOTING STAR - REO MIKAGE

synopsis: Being a college student sucks. Having a crush on your best friend also sucks. Your best friend having a crush on your other best friend is . . . kinda the worst. In which, Reo is hopelessly in love with you but you’re hard crushing on Nagi.

-> MASTERLIST. -> PLAYLIST.

contents: second lead syndrome feat. fem!reader & reo, heavy narration in the beginning as per usual whoops, also in an au where bluelock never happened LOL, grandparental meeting, reo x stardew valley vibes, of course y/n and reo get together duh, nagi's been shipping them together since high school word count: 3.9K a/n: FINAL PART OUT YAY :3 thank you for joining me on this journey hehe this was also my first time attempt of writing reo so hopefully his characterization went ok ;-;

VEGA -> prev.

You get the feeling that Nagi is up to something, after a while.

Well, Nagi is always up to something — gaming and dozing off, to be exact. This time, though, all of his attention seems to be fixated on you.

“That’s not your sweater,” he says, pointedly, one day, when you waltz into their apartment with a handful of pastries. You decided to make a detour trip to a local bakery earlier in the morning, carefully curating the palettes of the two males because —well— after that happened you felt like a small offering would be needed in a way. 

Like how many others delegate, the kiss was rather… confusing to all. Nagi doesn’t bring it up when you three all return back to festival grounds, nor does he bring it up to Reo when you finally go home. Reo’s been texting you like all things are normal, and you guess it’s because he doesn’t really know what to do either. Though, he’s been more endearing than usual over text, which you take as a sign that something is progressing.

Let’s just say that it’ll be weird for you to wake up without a ‘good morning, did you eat yet?’ text from a certain billionaire’s son.

Backstory aside, Nagi’s not lounging around for once. He’s leaning against the kitchen counter with a freshly brewed cup of coffee in his hands from a brand you’re not familiar with. Judging by its fine print font and pastel color scheme, you assumed that Nana stopped by not too long ago. And his gaze isn’t leaving your sweater. Whatever, you’re probably not wearing it correctly anyway. Stupid rich people problems.

“It’s Reo’s,” you say, lightly, and scoot by him to place down the baked goods. “He accidentally gave me his sweater when he returned my things, that’s all.” 

It wasn’t an accident. Reo had made sure to spray that sweater with all the cologne he had. The sweater is warm, comfortable, and smells just like him. It’s nice.

Nagi gives you a look. It’s not a strong look, but it’s obvious enough to make your cheeks heat up. “Uh huh,” he deadpans before giving you a full up-down. “You’re wearing it, though.”

“Yeah, I am,” you shrug it off, trying to pretend that you don’t understand what the big deal was. 

Okay, yeah, your best friend suddenly kisses you and now you’re rethinking about your life choices since high school because you were so sure that you liked his other friend. And the fact that you kissed back? Was that supposed to happen? And you didn’t wear this sweater today in hopes of Reo seeing you, nope that’s not it. Reo doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy because this sweater does all of that. It’s a comfort thing and Reo doesn’t bring you comfort… right?

You apparently have some cheesy expression written all over your face, though, and that causes Nagi to pinch your cheek to snap you back to reality. “Suits you,” Nagi decides to end the topic before shifting to the main subject. “Reo’s out this morning.”

“I wasn’t trying to see him,” you grumble out, eyes narrowing as you fix yourself a latte and adding way too many shots of espresso to fight off your internal turmoil. You add a large serving of caramel syrup to balance out the bitterness and then top it off with a heavy serving of whipped cream, sighing happily as you get a mouthful of the sugary concoction within the first sip.

Nagi simply shakes his head and drains the rest of his drink in one go. “Well, he’s been talking about you nonstop, if that makes—” Nagi stops in his tracks when he watches your ears perk up. “—you happy…”

At this point, Nagi probably thinks everyone is in on a poorly executed inside joke, except for him. He doesn’t like it, but what can he do? His two best friends are now awkwardly pinning each other and neither of them are sparing him any details. Then again, he’s not sure if he wants all the details. So, instead of poking a dead fish around, he exits to the living room and throws on a weekly series that he’s been meaning to catch up on. These past two months have been quite tiring.

You eventually join him on the couch, body now running on full blast of caffeine and loads of caramel. “Sei, tell me everything that he’s said, please?” and you throw out your best attempt at puppy eyes because you know that Nagi has always been horrible at saying no to these kinds of things.

But maybe getting a girlfriend has changed him, somewhat.

“You’ll hear it from him, eventually,” Nagi simply answers, smiling.

Of course, regardless of how many times you repeat yourself, Nagi would spit back the same response. Since when did he start caring for Reo’s secrecy all of a sudden? Pretty lame. You zone out when an action sequence comes on the screen and begin texting Reo.

‘where are you’ You text over a character monologue in the background.

‘At some stores, picking up last minute gifts for later.’ Reo replies back with a series of emojis.

By ‘stores’, you would only guess it’s nothing but high-end designer stuff. ‘Gifts’ implying that he’s buying multiple for your family and relatives. ‘Later’ is when the two of you will depart on visiting your hometown for the weekend because it turns out Reo was actually serious about taking up your off-handed comment.

‘i told you not to get anything!!’ You send an angry emoji right after. 

Nagi is absolutely reading over your shoulder, too, and if looks could kill, you’re pretty sure you’d be in a million pieces, burning to bits on the floor. “Got a hot date with Reo, huh?”

“Well, you didn’t want to come and we’re not dating…” you huff before pushing him away. “And stop reading my texts!”

“Don’t text while I’m watching my show, it’s distracting.” Nagi shoots back, and you don’t really have an argument for that.

Though, you just glare at him until he eventually backs off and you go back to texting Reo, a bit more subtly, talking about various expensive gifts that he can get instead of showing up to your family doorsteps with diamonds and silk robes. You haven’t had anyone from the city come visit your hometown, so you’re a little nervous to say the least. Especially since someone accompanying you is several tax brackets ahead…though Reo wouldn’t judge you differently. Because he likes you, in more ways than one. Fuck.

You’re ignoring a lot of things happening right now, and bringing him over to meet your family is making you feel weird. Ugh, whatever.

In the end, Reo ends up returning half of his purchases because apparently designer bags and jewelry won't serve your grandparents that well in their everyday lives. So he opts to buy them expensive fruits instead. Fruits are already expensive in the country, so when Reo showed up with boxed grapes that costed more than your current outfit, you could've sworn your eyes were about to pop out of your sockets.

Reo should’ve known better than to wear anything remotely formal when he agreed to come visit your hometown. Tailored suits are expensive and difficult to replace and, from what he’s experienced within the past hour, the mud that’s been splattered all over his dress shoes and pants haven’t gone away no matter how much cleaning reagent he’s used so far. But complaints are off the table, no matter how much he absolutely wants to point out the sweltering heat and the lack of air conditioning in your home. 

The plane ride over wasn’t any better. You blatantly refused to use his credit card for first-class seating upgrades regardless how many times he’d begged you.

“It’ll only be a two hour flight, Reo. Plus, economy isn’t that bad.” You reasoned. 

Oh, but it was.

He’s a gentleman and gentlemen should always let others pick which seat they want first. Window seat was a non negotiable for you, and he didn’t really mind. What he did mind was the random stranger seated to his right.

Screen brightness — max.

Volume settings — max.

Chewing noises — sadly, also max.

It’s a miracle that he didn’t flag down an attendant and leave you for first class. Well, flight aside, landing happens and, inevitably, comes the next part.

“Are you enjoying your stay so far?”

Your grandmother comes into view, coming to Reo’s rescue with a sunhat and a bottle of water, and the basket next to her was already filled to the brim with all types of vegetable assortments from the garden. Reo graciously takes the hat and sips of the water before glancing down at his own basket, which is very much barren. He thought offering to help with harvesting will win him some brownie points, but he should’ve known how dirty it would get.

“It’s definitely different from what I’m used to, but it’s nice here.” He’s honest about the last part. 

The city doesn’t offer much in terms of parks and recreational activities and, despite the fact he’s pretty sure his button up is practically attached to his skin and that there’s probably a centipede (or two) crawling in his shoes, the whole nature thing is pretty serene. Your parents’ old home is a cozy cottage right off the side of the country road, surrounded by rice paddy fields with a wide range of mountains in the backdrop. Occasionally, Reo would see truck drivers making pit stops out in the front to either pick up a small shipment or make small talk with your grandfather — it’s completely foreign to him given that he’s so used to the stuffy business world. Seeing all of this makes Reo understand why some would enjoy a life of simple living and solitude. 

Your grandmother laughs. “We were afraid that you wouldn’t like it here.”

To this, Reo digs his hands back into the soil and pulls out a set of carrots in hands. “Sorry, did I give off that impression?” Says the boy who’s currently dressed head to toe in formal wear. Idiot. 

“Our granddaughter has been…” she trails off for a moment, finger pursed to her lips and head tilted, before finishing. “She’s been blowing up the family group chat about this trip for a while now. Safe to say she’s been worried.” 

Oh. That’s news.

Reo wipes off the puddle of sweat from his face and straightens his back. “It’s beautiful and peaceful here, you wouldn’t be able to get this back in the city. Everyone’s been really nice and the food,” he points down to the field. “You wouldn’t be able to get these without them costing an arm and a leg for the sake of being ‘organic’.”

“Sounds like you want to move here.”

And for the sake of earning those brownie points, “Yeah, I can see myself doing that one day.”

“Imagine that. Can’t stay away from our granddaughter, right?” she teases, and it causes him to do a double take.

“W-What?”

She ignores Reo’s stammering and hands him a pair of gloves and a metal bucket. “Once you finish picking the rest, come meet me by the farmhouse, the cows need some attention.”

Reo might have to rethink his career path after this trip.

“Can you tell your cousins to knock it off, please?” Your best friend is grumbling and hiding behind you for all things safety related.

One thing you forgot to mention, outside of the laborious work, is that your little cousins are an absolute menace to outsiders. The youngest one has been non stop terrorizing Reo around the house with a live grasshopper while the older one keeps throwing him glares and middle fingers. This has been going on right after dinner and Reo’s getting really sick of them and their chattering about how they hate seeing you with someone that needs ‘pampering’.

You huff and roll your eyes playfully. “You think I haven’t tried shutting them up?”

“Good point,” Reo groans from behind. He’s gripping your shoulders as if he’s on life support, shaking every time the youngest one raises the grasshopper closer. “Can’t you just give them an iPad or anything?”

“And what? So they can turn into those kids who stare at a screen all day? No thank you.” You tease, but you give your cousins a final stern look before getting to their eye level. 

Reo watches, silent but amused, as you pluck the insect out of the boy’s grasp and pinch his cheek with a light tug, not enough to shed tears but enough to cause him to yelp. You motion the older one over, who just grumbles under his breath but obeys anyway.

“Big sis, we swear we’re just playing together—” the older one starts, and you simply respond with a hard head shake.

“That’s not how we treat guests in our home. Last time I checked, you guys didn’t like it when I made you clean out the pig pen for fun,” you retort with a casual grin. “Time to head back to auntie’s place anyway, it’s way past your bedtimes.”

Both of them sigh in defeat, but that doesn’t stop them from throwing up a pair of middle fingers at Reo. Hey, down with the rich — they’re on the right track in life. And you know deep down they’re just looking out for you ever since your experience in high school, even if the hatred towards city folks is on the extreme side.

You’re stifling a laugh as the pair leave the house. Reo loosens his grip on your shoulders when they are out of ear shot and nudges your sides because you still have that damn grasshopper in your hands.

“Puke or cry in my house and I’m making you sleep with the cows tonight.” The threat is spoken casually, with a bit of affection to it, but Reo knows damn well it’s a valid threat.

“I’m not going to puke or cry,” he replies, haughtily. “And, for the record, I helped the cows earlier today so I’m practically their mother.”

“Oh yeah, thanks for that, you didn’t have to.” You gently toss the grasshopper out the kitchen window, making sure it landed on a patch of soft grass. “Grandma was constantly raving about you after you finished. Saying something about planning the next weekend trip together.”

“Yeah, might as well help around, you know?” Reo weakly chuckles and briefly looks down at his hands. What he doesn’t add is that his hands are going to be sore for the next few days and that maybe your grandparents think he’s going to move in with them in the future. Something of that sort.

“It’s not the worst idea,” You grin. The sun is down, and the stars in the sky are starting to poke through. You catch Reo trying to get a good look before an idea pops up. “My room has a pretty good view of everything, if you want to head up?” You would offer to lay outside but, considering that the ecosystem here offers much bigger bugs, you decided against it.

Unsurprisingly, Reo takes up on the suggestion.

Your old bedroom is sparsely furnished, and that’s intentional. Most of your personal belongings are currently at your college apartment. All that’s left is a full sized bed, an old boxy television with an equally old boxy stand, a couple of bookshelves stuffed full of children's books, and one of those large colorful beanbags by the window sill. 

It’s a nice bedroom, for all things considered. A lot more vibrant and has more character than Reo’s old bedroom growing up. From what he’s shown you before, his bedroom was almost a black and white minimalist’s wet dream. 

“It’s a bit dusty, hope you don’t mind.”

Your bedroom window has a nice view of the mountain side, and Reo’s quickly distracted by the swarm of fireflies and night stars as he quickly shoves his suitcase into the corner and settles on your bed without a second thought. 

“I like it,” He replies, in a careful, casual voice. And maybe it’s just your imagination, but you swear, your best friend sounds both anxious and excited, and maybe there’s a hint of nerves in there, too. Whatever it is, your stomach is back to doing those weird flips.

You try to think. You’re aware of several things right now. First, your best friend is making himself very comfortable in your bed. Second, he’s giving you a look, one that just screams some sort of smug superiority. Third, despite it being humid and warm in your room, you really just want to bury your face into his shoulder. Maybe you should climb in with him, look at the stars together, curled up and snuggling, maybe even run your fingers through his hair, and—

“So,” Reo interrupts and snaps you out of your strange reverie. “You’re sleeping on the floor, right?”

“Huh?” your voice is bleary, and your thoughts are kinda far off. Reo shuffles his way under your sheets and suddenly you put two and two together. “I saved you from those little demons and this is the thanks I get?” 

“I deserve it since I worked,” Reo sighs, dramatically, when you finally find the courage to sit down on the ends of the mattress. “Or did you want to share it together?” Tease oozes into his tone.

That last bit makes your heart skip a couple of beats. Alcohol wasn’t in the dinner mix and, even if it was, Reo would never be this bold in front of you. Perhaps there’s something floating in the summer air.

“Stop pretending that you live here,” but you eventually settle yourself underneath the blankets too, just on the other side to put some good inches in between.

Reo’s smiling, and that’s all that matters. It doesn’t bother you when he manages to hog all the blankets and the limited amount of pillows. He’s a gentleman, but also has his needy side that he’s not afraid of showing. Not to mention that he looks good in the dim lighting, even though he’s only been wearing one of your grandpa’s old t-shirts after working in the field. It finally makes the strange fluttering in your stomach calm into a steady, present warmth, and that’s maybe more problematic, but you don’t give it any real thought.

Reo speaks up after a few passing heartbeats. “Can I… say something?” 

You swallow thickly. “Go for it.”

It can’t be just your imagination, the way Reo’s mouth parts, just a little, the way his tongue is dating out to wet his lips. You’re leaning forward, hand reaching down between. You can’t stop looking at him. 

“I want…” Reo tries to say, but his throat is a giant lump.

“Reo,” You breathe out in response, head tipping, “If you keep looking at me like that, then…”

It comes in swift moments, with Reo pressed close, with both of your hips bumping together, with arms slung over the other’s shoulder. There’s been those moments of laughter, where it feels as if the whole world has faded away in a blur beyond the gaze of your best friend. It’s cliche and dumb, but you feel, in a way, that you’ve been looking at Reo for your life. And you have, really, because he’s always been there for you.

There’s a lot of things that Reo could say. They’re burning on his tongue, building in his throat, getting stuck there. He should just push them out, just say it. Or, maybe, he should say nothing at all, because that wonder and those answers are all reflected in your gaze.

Both of you are so close that he can make out every strand of your lashes. He can see the subtle shift of color in your eyes, the dark band increasing around your pupils, that slight nervous glimmer there. It’s got Reo’s heart pounding in his chest, hammering to be freed. He’s got one hand pressed into the small of your back, stroking there, slow and affectionate. His other hand is trembling, just a little, and he steadies himself bracing it against your cheek.

It’s got you shivering, and Reo realizes that you’re both a bit terrified.

“I want to be yours,” Reo might be nervous as hell, but he steels his voice, and brushes your lips together, he’s so close, when he talks. “I can’t think about anything else when I’m with you. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, but—”

“Reo,” you take the initiative here, shifting closer, and settling your lips close to his neck. “It’s okay. I want you too.”

You take another inch forward and Reo allows it. Maybe you’re both getting more comfortable with each other. Maybe getting brave and feeling more grown up. Likely, it’s a combination of everything, and a good dose of ‘fuck it’s, from being young, and dumb, despite it all.

You’re not sure who leans in first but, before it even fully registers, his lips glide over yours. There’s some awkward teeth clacking involved, probably from the fact both of you are way too full of nerves over this, but Reo fixes it and begins to trace his tongue over the small opening of your lips. You move your hands straight to his locks, still damp from the earlier shower he took and the scent of lemongrass and citrus invades your nostrils.

Reo's kissing you as if he wants to swallow you whole. It's hungry, desperate, and intimate in a way that made your heart swell triple in size. The sounds of your beating chest floods your ears as he's pouring his emotions into the kiss, making sure that he's leaving behind evidence that his soul is yours to claim. The heat radiating off his body pulls you in, like an invitation, and you sink further into his touch.

After a moment, you pull back, hands still entangled in his hair.

“Your parents, aren’t you worried about—”

“I don’t pay mind to that type of stuff,” he presses a firm kiss on your forehead. “And you shouldn't have to either. That’s a future thing to worry about.”

That sounds good, you agree, but you’re growing too sleepy to voice it. Instead, you shut your eyes, reaching over blindly to find the edges of the blankets, tugging it up over you two. There’s really no way to move, without cramming at the edge of the mattress. You don’t care, and Reo doesn’t seem to, either.

“Hey, Reo?” You mumble as you both slip into silence.

“Yeah?” He’s tried, but awake enough to shake past the exhaustion, enough to form vague words. “What is it?”

You sit up, just a little, and it’s enough to inspire Reo to force his eyes open. You’re watching him, eyes intent, shining bright with emotion. It’s almost — just almost — enough to have Reo saying those three special little words. They’re right there, on the tip of his tongue, and only then he realizes that he’s terribly in love with you. He’s hopelessly in love. It’s way too early to say it, but he is.

You laugh, burying your face in Reo’s neck again, pressing a kiss there. “I’m glad that you’re here with me.”

Reo has hesitated a lot, during the past months. It’s taken him a while to get here. For once, though, awake or dreaming, it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t hesitate. 

“I’m glad too,” he mumbles, and then, he’s dreaming, of endless what if’s and possibilities with you now in his life.

© 2023 DOOBEA. do not copy any of my writing and translate/repost.

additional note: idk why it took me over a month to pump this out LMAO but i hope you guys like the ending bc i was mulling over this chapter so many times before deciding to end it as such... anyways, I WILL BE BACK INTO MY BLLK FIC GROOVE HEHE gotta focus on my milestone fics + that ice skating rin series next :3 i love you guys and thanks again for being patient with me ;3

TAGLIST -CLOSED

@celestair @kitorin @popponn @yoisami @anurst @katsukiiishoe @yuzurins @vitaniangel-blog @kunikame @miwafei @astruoise @faeroow @wooasecret @limerence-lu @jaynawayna @iloveblogging2 @futuristicxie @rinlvr @au-ghosttype @wavetokio @yuusami @phtogravi @funnibunneh @idontevenknow129 @startaee @darthvada @livelaughloveisagiyoichi

5 Things about working in a (small) publishing house that surprised me

My experiences definitely aren’t true of the entire industry. I work in a very small, very local publishing house as a marketing assistant, and I’m certain that you’d have a much different experience at Penguin Random House, or even another small house on the other side of the country. That being said, here’s five things that really surprised me about what I’ve seen from the industry so far…

1. Very few of the people who work in publishing are writers

Okay this was one of the biggest surprises but also kind of makes sense? Publishing is a lot about the business side of things—numbers and marketing strategies and event planning, etc. People who are talented in design and accounting and other essential pieces to book publishing aren’t necessarily good at or practiced writers, and not all people who love reading also love writing!

I guess this surprised me so much because I’ve never been a reader without being a writer, but we often actually rely on the author’s writing on their own works (summaries, bios, etc.) to populate the backs of books and other marketing. Including me, there are three writers in my entire office.

2. Big booksellers (think Indigo) release yearly cover palettes for book covers

When we’re deciding the colours for a book cover, one thing that goes into that consideration is actually the different palettes Indigo releases! They have different palettes for different sections they update every year. I imagine it’s to fit a certain look for their shelves for new releases, but it’s not something I had ever really thought about, or thought that they would care about!

3. On that topic—publishing houses don’t sell to readers

My first day in marketing, my manager told me, “you’d think we’re selling to readers” I did think that. She said, “we’re actually selling to bookstores and libraries, they sell to readers.” How the money works is booksellers buy our books to put on their shelf. Everything they don’t sell, they’re allowed to trade back for credit, so we want them to buy big upfront, and then sell big to readers. Every book they send back is inventory we can’t get rid of and a “free” book for them down the line, so we don’t want books to come back!

If you want to support authors and your favourite publishing houses, buy from local bookstores who can’t afford to keep underselling books on their shelves for as long as say Indigo. If you really want to support authors, check out their books from libraries (yes really). Libraries are great because they buy books from publishing houses and can use the same one book to get into the hands of several readers, (in Canada) authors get a small amount every time a book is checked out (up to a certain amount so that the library’s entire budget doesn’t go to one book/author). Often, an author’s largest cheque is from libraries.

Unfortunately in the States authors don’t get the same boon, but still supporting your local libraries is just as good as supporting your local indie bookstores!

4. Soo many people look at covers, and soo much goes into creating them

I’m not really a designer, so I’m certain this wouldn’t surprise those of you who actually do graphic design, but they seriously look at every single detail and how it will benefit or hurt the sales. The placement of blurbs, choice of fonts, colours, subtitles, even the placement of raindrops for a rainy background, everything is discussed and tested and tried several different ways. So yes, DO judge a book by its cover, we work so hard on making covers perfect for the audience we’re trying to reach.

5. Publishing houses don’t necessarily have in-house editors, publicity, or other roles

I had always assumed that every publishing house had its own editors and publicists and what not. That’s probably true for the bigger ones, but if you’re being published by a smaller one (which you may be for your debut) you may be working with freelance editors and publicists who work somewhat with your publishing house and also with others as well. We have one in-house publicist, and no editors!

I wouldn’t turn down a publishing house just because they use freelancers (our freelancers are amazing!) but it’s important that they’re upfront about it. Huge red flag if they say they have in-house editors and they don’t actually—I would pass on a publishing house that lies to you.

Any other questions you have about the industry I’ll try to answer!

So I recently participated in a pink-themed shojo protagonist collab with some friends, and chose Sora Naegino from Kaleido Star! If you don't know the anime you should give it a try, it's really beautiful!!  😭 💖

Also please don't judge my choice for the background and font 😂  I'm no graphic designer but did my best to imitate the official art style back then lmao

So. The 7th episode of Hudson and Rex after a long and fully undeserved hiatus. First of all, good episode. Even if the plot is ridiculous and overdone in other crime shows, and the concept “Russian spy in St. John’s” is kinda laughable. But hey, I’ve heard more improbable stories in the news lately, so who am I to judge what’s realistic anymore?

How many English speaking people would be able to differentiate a French accent from an Eastern European accent in three words? Just wondering.

I don’t usually laugh in this show (not where I’m supposed to, anyway) but Jesse’s deadpan delivery of "Is it interesting?" was spot on.

Absolutely thought the boyfriend would have somehow ended up being tied to the murder. That didn’t happen. Then I thought the professor would have something to do with it. Didn’t happen either. Either I’m broken or they finally wrote a good script.

Charlie speaking out loud his findings as he searched the victim's library. It's probably for Rex who can't read lol

"I'm not a caveperson". Nope, it's still caveman, you can have this one, boys.

A Canadian getting banned from entering the US for violence? That’s truly a bad guy.

I did not understand anything about oil rigging in the Arctic. Nor do I want to. You guys can keep your Canadian secrets.

It happens in every show. If it's a cop show, we hate the feds. If it's a show about feds, the cops are morons.

How come I've watched so many shows referencing Russian spies and I don't remember Novichok nerve agents being mentioned by that name?

The moment Sarah gave Charlie the antidote that was pretty much where my hopes for a ride to the hospital were dashed. Like, come on, man, let me live a little.

Joe was rightfully pissed about getting stonewalled, although I don't think this case would have been necessarily solved faster if CSIS shared their intel.

Ah, Trina. That must have been her on the phone. It's nice to see they kept in contact.

Charlie’s house??? On my screen???

Charlie and Sarah in Charlie’s house??? On my screen???

Charlie knows the story of Sarah’s family. That’s cute.

Some mentions of Sarah’s family this season. I’m getting my hopes up.

*Charlie and Sarah about to kiss* Rex: Oh shit they’re gonna fuck again. *runs away* Charlie truly meant it when he said that Rex knows to make himself scarce.

“CSIS Safehouse” in large, Arial font letters. Oh boy, I’d like to see the audience screening that warranted that. (People are dumb. I know.)

So the first three letters of CSIS are for Canadian Security Idiot :P

Rex with the syringe in his mouth: Anyone with thumbs around?

Of course Charlie would inject himself with the antidote as he was dying like we’re in some Die Hard movie (I’ve never actually seen them). This was like 5% of the whump I was hoping for.

And then he gets up and stumbles a little and that’s it? How is it that difficult to write some whump? Arrest him and then pass out!

I liked that they finally managed to set up something comedic in the first arc and finished it in the last scene, with Jesse’s interpretation of what every other character’s reactions meant. I agree with them, by the way, Austin Powers is a bad choice, Jesse.

Also, Rex would make a fine ballerina apparently. Charlie secretly agrees.

It was a good episode, I don’t feel let down. As I’ve said before, it’s hard to have that promo hanging out there for 3.5 months and have the episode live up to the expectations. But it had the team working as a team again, Charlie’s house came back from the war, there were cute Charah moments again, there was team banter and funny scenes and Rex saved Charlie's life a bunch lol. I’m not sure what they were trying to do with the first couple of episodes. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The next episode is promising me whump again. I refuse to get my hopes up again but at least it will be only a week until then. Sadly, it seems like Rex is inside the prison. Like, what the fuck. That alone would be a major red flag for any inmate, they wouldn’t even need to know he’s a cop. Although if Charlie ends up getting beaten to protect him, I’ll forgive them for that and for that atrocious undercover hairstyle. However, it truly was an opportunity to see them working separately.

I love that they mention that Charlie has arrested so many guys in there. Maybe it would work if Charlie slicked his hair back… and Rex turned into a cat.

So that teaser trailer...

Wanted to get together some observations and thoughts, would love to hear what ya’ll are thinking about it too.

-Font choice: questionable

-I’m wondering if the “My name is Nathan Leopold” “Richard Loeb, nice to meet you” talking to the camera bits and the hand clasp are going to be in the movie itself or if they were just filmed for the trailer? If they are going to be included....where would those extreme close up intros even fit? They’re like POV in a hallucination.

-They finally got the title of Leopold’s book correct: it’s 99 not Ninety-Nine.

-When Leopold is typing on the typewriter you can see and hear the original actor hired to be Leopold. The continuity is also all over the place on what he’s typing. First shot: kidnapped Second shot: kill your Third shot: kidnapped Fourth shot: kill your boy These appear to be the only words on the page, as if Leopold is starting his typing there. “Kill your boy” was in none of the ransom notes used, and kidnapped was never the first word on a page.

-The Bobby kidnap scene is all over the place too. The car pulls up and obviously it’s not the same color, make or model as the real car, but for a no budget movie, you take what you can get. But in the background as the car pulls up you can see modern awnings for a florist and a Thai restaurant in the background, along with modern signage, handicapped parking spaces, telephone wires, etc. It might have been easier for them if they filmed it on a residential street-where Bobby was actually picked up-instead of on a street with a bunch of businesses.

-The clothes for all three are inaccurate to what they were wearing on the kidnap day, and everyone is rocking bow ties. Bobby also starts screaming at the top of his lungs in their open windowed car in the middle of a street, Loeb makes no attempt to cover his mouth, not sure how they don’t get caught there.

-We see Judge Caverly, Darrow and Crowe on the stairs, the only actor they tried to get close to looking like the actual person was Darrow, the other two are very far off, Crowe is bald and his suit really doesn’t fit. Nice stairwell they’re filming on though.

-Some time period inaccurate makeup as we get a close up on a flapper and then both the original Leopold and Loeb appear dancing with the film’s choreographer. 

-Then some bizarre shots of what looks like a modern fancy dance with teenagers where no actors from the production can be seen. Not sure if this is stock footage or something the production had from some other project?

-Shot of the original Loeb choking the original Leopold in extreme blue lighting.

-Then we get to the see the courtroom crowd. There’s very few of them, they can’t even fill half the courtroom. There’s also no care for period accuracy here: the clothing is off, there’s short sleeves, several extras have a lot of facial hair including thick beards and there are children sitting in. There’s also a female police officer standing guard.

-Loeb throws a peace sign to the crowd, then turns around and looks directly into the camera. His suit is also noticeably too small for him.

-There seems to be a jury? EDIT: Have confirmed from an actor that yup, there’s a jury! A huge change from the actual case!

-The last scene:

Reporter: Alright boys, let’s get some pictures. Reporter: Woah woah woah woah woah. What does it feel like to be celebrities? Are you guys nervous? Loeb: Do I look nervous? (laughs)

This could actually have been taken from actual newspaper coverage, not the celebrities bit, but there were several times where newspapers printed similar responses from Leopold and Loeb about being nervous.

So, if I’m honest, I think it looks like a bit of a mess. This production is also nowhere near done. They’ve only shot one week with the original Leopold-Loeb actors and one week with the current Leopold-Loeb actors. I assume that first week will have to be scrapped and reshot, unless they’re actually planning to just include both sets of actors and hope the audience doesn’t notice?

I WANT to believe they were PR because seriously if that was all in earnestness……… //

My thoughts exactly!! Like I say the tattoo is what throws me off but judging by photos he had that before Harry’s House was released from pap photos of him filming videos, which makes sense to me because although he seems noncommittal to relationships outwardly, looking at Camille how that was less than a year and how much it affected him he does fall in deep when he wants too. But back to Holivia, the whole thing ended quite quickly when everything became public what she’d done with Flo/Shia and the nanny and it just kept piling up… so I’m thinking that’s when he came to his senses and took off the rose tinted goggles.

Also yes please do a reading on why they broke up! I’m so skeptical about what was released in the announcement!

Alright here’s my tattoo rant: not to encourage microanalysis but if you look at the two supposed i’s don’t match, which is either really weird font choice or not an i. And that man has the weirdest tattoos so I don’t put it past him to have some obscure word in another language,

And honestly I felt like the conclusion was sooooo dragged out but I was in an intense period of my own so everything felt like that to me haha

What caused the final axe:

TWO PENTACLES

Okay this is a weird one for a relationship conclusion. It says someone found balance. You’d expect the reverse: like the relationship would end because there was no balance

buuuuuuuuuuuut

Pentacles can always connect to money.

(Anyone want to say something about the film “breaking even”?)

Because I don’t read Chinese, I didn’t catch on my first watchthrough that it’s Zhao Xinci who plants the Record of Ancient Secrets in the SID library. And it’s a brilliant move on Zhaddy’s part.

Judging by the stack of books Sang Zan gathers on the table for Zhao Yunlan (and helpfully sticky-notes! librarians are the real heroes!), SID’s collection of Hallows-relevant material is not exactly page-turning stuff. Sure, some of the books have pictures, but they’ve censored the boobies, so they’re not even fun pictures.

And then, in the midst of all this, there’s one little book that’s basically the size of a comic book. You can practically see Zhao Yunlan decide that, all things being equal, if he’s got to read one of these things, he’s going to pick the smallest one. It’s got a cool title, too, written in a cool ye olde font, so why not? Time to fold it in half, shove it in his back pocket, and fire-pole out of the library without even checking it out properly.

Sang Zan, who has literally murdered people before, does not kill him for this. He deserves a raise and a medal.

(You think he ever gets salty about that? When everybody’s making such a big deal about, oh, Chu Shuzhi, monster criminal! he’s over here like, hey, I’ve killed people too, you know, guys...)

Anyway, by playing on Zhao Yunlan’s inherent desire to get as much done while also doing as little as possible, Zhao Xinci not only puts the appropriate information into play, he makes it instantly the most appealing choice. He knows his failson well.

(I also ran my Google app’s camera over the book text just to see what machine translation would make of it. It was predictably a mess -- but it did give me something about a “famous black cloak”, which I guess is the version of the song Dragon City’s Leonard Cohen wrote about Scientology.)

Going to put on my day job hat on for a second and talk about accessibility. In today’s Magic Story, red font was used to denote some important information to the reader without spoiling things because you shouldn’t have to worry about spoilers in a post about accessibility.

Anyway.

I will applaud the fact the text was in bold and a good size.Since bold font is not standard, I feel that choice of bolding the text shows there was some thought into how to  to make this accessible while using red text to convey this information.

For example, without the bolding, the red text would look a lot like the example below to people with various color blindness after I used a tool to pull the color of the text and background from today’s story.

(Image Alt Text: Image showing how the color used in the Magic Story, “One and the Same” looks to people with various color blindness.)

Thinking of accessibility of your stories shouldn’t be an afterthought. Judging by what we saw in the story, I don’t think it was but this is just some thoughts about how important it is to think about these things when something like color is used to convey important information.

Observation: RYM Top 100 Album Cover Review #14

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady by Charles Mingus

Out of Rate Your Music’s top albums so far, this is the first one that doesn’t fit into any subgenre within Rock or Hip-Hop. I think there’s probably some very interesting criticism that someone smarter than me could level about how RYM is dominated by mostly male users and their opinions on music. Rock and Hip-Hop are the most popular genres among men on average, so it makes sense that the “greatest albums of all time” according to RYM fall mostly within those genres, even if they are experimental or alternative versions.

Anyways, I don’t really want to write a whole essay dissecting the various flaws of a stupid music rating website, so let’s talk about RYM’s favorite jazz record of all time, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, arranged by Charles Mingus.

This record is great. Of course it is, it's this high for a reason. It’s got a different feel than some of the other jazz albums that I’ll talk about later, Mingus was working with a much larger group than most of his contemporaries and the music ends up exploring many more spaces and feeling a lot larger and grander because of it. Personally, I think I appreciate the spiritual jazz of Pharaoh Sanders and John Coltrane a bit more, but I’m also not a huge jazz-head, and definitely don’t appreciate all the subtleties. I’m okay with that though, I’m sure I’ll get better at it as I listen to more great jazz, and for now I’m fine just sticking to album cover reviews.

So what about that cover? This one is pretty simple, it’s a photograph that almost looks like a painting, with a bit of text and a very plain background. Like a lot of older records, including ones I’ve already reviewed like Abbey Road and Ziggy Stardust, I think my current expectations for design and aesthetic are definitely getting in the way of appreciating this cover for what it was when it was made. But at the same time, I’m only here to give my opinion, so I can only really judge it by my standards. And my standards tell that this album, while it does fall into the “picture of the artist with text” genre of cover, it’s at least a nice and somewhat interesting version of that. The portrait is really cool, Mingus looks very smooth, relaxed but powerful, and it’s a great way to introduce him as the orchestrator of the music that’s to come. The text is alright, I like the font and placement of his name, but the name of the album is in a different, very boring font and I feel like a slightly different placement would make it more readable. The smaller text underneath is in another version of the title text’s font, so we’ve got three different fonts in three different type sizes sitting all right below each other, which is a strange choice. The color choices are nice though, and it's overall not a bad cover. Just kind of boring and with weird text choices. I personally think a more maximalist cover might convey the feeling of the music better, if I hadn’t listened to this I would have guessed that this is just one cool dude playing the saxophone (I know Mingus was a bassist, but that also isn’t conveyed by the cover at all). Bonus points for being a really good portrait and an example of nice photography, but it’s still not my favorite cover.

For the first jazz album in RYM’s top 100, I’m starting off pretty low with a 5/10

Effective Product Branding Tips In 2023

Among thousands of competitors offering the exact thing as your brand, product branding is the thing that makes you stand out.

With the power of a good logo, packaging, design, imagery, and brand message, your product can get people to stop and notice.

All that said, we know it’s not as easy as it may seem. A lot goes into building a product brand, and marketing is among the most critical factors that generate successful branding.

To help you out, we’ll discuss the best product branding tips to get your company going in 2023!

Effective Product Branding Tips For 2023

Make An Eye-Catching Brand Logo

An effective product and package design can only be achieved if you focus on the critical elements of your brand identity.

‘Dark and mysterious’ or ‘colorful and quirky’- your visual choices determine what customers will connect to your product design.

Here are some factors to consider when designing your brand logo:

Color Palette

When choosing the color palette for your logo, it’s crucial to incorporate shades that reflect your vision, products, and target market.

Font

Fonts typically evoke emotions; they can show your brand’s best side if chosen correctly. Choose a text style to help consumers connect your logo to your brand.

Graphics

When it comes to buyers, people do judge their product by its cover! If your graphic game is off, there’s a high chance that your product may go unnoticed on the shelves.

Have A Clear Vision

You may have a clear idea about what your brand identity is and what your goals are. But product branding requires you to take it further by encapsulating your brand vision in your product.

With this in mind, starting your product branding process with a clear vision is essential.

Here are some key questions to answer to have a deeper understanding of your brand’s vision:

What message are we trying to imply?

What does our market need right now?

How can my product stand out from competing items in the market?

By answering these questions, you will have a clearer idea of your marketing strategy.

Identify Your Target Audience

Your product branding’s success hinges on clearly understanding who your target audience is and how to reach them.

By knowing your audience, you can target those willing to pay for your products – this is an effective and affordable way to generate business in 2023.

Take SEO Seriously

Search Engine Optimization is a great way to trailblaze your product branding. 

You can use keywords, backlinking, and other SEO strategies to reach potential customers even though they aren’t actively following you on social media.

However, SEO isn’t only about reaching new customers.

It’s also about the technical aspects of your brand’s website, including loading speed and user interface-friendliness. 

Always Be On-Brand

Consistency in product branding is about how all your products represent a consistent brand message.

Your goal with a consistent brand image is to ensure that your products, including your package labeling structure, are recognizable.

No matter what color you tweak according to the theme of a variant, your logo is the key to product branding.

Take famous brands like Coca-Cola and Starbucks, for example.

Coca-Cola has trademarked its “Coca-Cola Red” color, logo typography, and glass bottle shape.

On the other hand, Starbucks has revised its logo throughout the years, but two things remain consistent – its green color palette and siren graphic design.

On top of your packaging and brand logo, it’s also essential to remain consistent whenever you engage with your target audience. Make sure to bring consistency to your company website and social media accounts.

Don’t Be Afraid To Use Humor

Nowadays, consumers respond well to humorous brands compared to serious ones because they cut through the tension and appear more approachable.

Now, more than ever, consumers are drawn to relatable brands. 

They are more likely to support brands living in the same world and experiencing the same stuff, so using humor and satire is an intelligent way to build that connection with your audience.

Use Social Media To Your Advantage

In 2023, social media will be unstoppable – it will be the most powerful tool to market your brand, increase sales, generate leads, and separate your company from competitors.

Therefore, regularly posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms is essential.

Task 2 - I enjoyed deciding what was good and bad typography. It was interesting to see the variety of typography I interacted with in my daily life. I watched a video on YouTube that discussed the good/bad areas in type and used this to influence my choices. A good example is the quote in red (pictured left), it has been justified, coloured, creates hierarchy and uses a bold, sans serif font. From this, I can defer that the message is urgent due to its colour and important due to its size. An example of bad typography is the Manchester bell (centre), I thought the letters were too compressed which made it difficult to read as each letter is stacked on each other. There was some type that I struggled to decide whether it should be placed in the good/ bad typography. An example of this is the 365 days book (pictured left), I understood the message of the typography but didn’t like the execution. I like that the front of the book showcases the different mediums that can be used on the paper but I don’t think that the white, black and gold colours used complement each other. I did find it difficult to have an opinion/ judge someone else's work. But, I think it strengthened my skill as a designer because being objective and sharing/ having an opinion is essential. I think this task was helpful and insightful.

Final Project

For our final project, I decided to go with Self-Identity, and attempted to develop my own personal brand. 

We were told to approach the project with a specific career in mind; since I’m quite active in my art-making, I chose to market myself as an artist, with ‘Kahlieste’ being my art brand/ pseudonym that I’ve used for a while now.

Ideation Process

I began by running a few of my existing works through a color scheme generator, just to see if there were any common threads that could help me develop a brand genuinely representative of my identity as an artist.

Generally speaking, a good number of my art is red, black, greyish, and cream, with something creeping up the characters, or blood dripping. Which was a problem, because I don’t exactly want potential employers to perceive me as broody or creepy. The somewhat more positive works had elements of galaxies or the night sky, but also mainly used dark colors as a backdrop. Thus, I chose to preserve these elements: darkness and night, in my final. 

I was particularly drawn to the color scheme at the bottom right, the gold, cream, and black. My classmates also liked that choice, and commented that the colors would complement each other well. 

With these ideas in mind, I took inspiration from tarot cards, and astronomy symbols. This was my moodboard: 

For one of our tutorials, we were told to come up with a Word Cloud, which was 6 words describing our concept. Here are some ideas that I wanted my brand to reflect:

1. Unique/ distinct

2. Dark/ominous

3. Shadows/ night

4. Elegant/ sophisticated

5. Classic/ornate

6. Bold/edgy

7. Strange/eccentric

(yep, it’s a lot more than 6 words) 

I also referenced Ivy Lane’s brand style guide, which is an alternative/ bougie wedding planning company. Ivy Lane used many of the same themes as I intended to, so it was very helpful and interesting to observe the way they presented their brand. I was especially drawn to their brand because of their golden skull logo (pictured below), above a black background. This was generally along the lines of what I was going for, so it was cool. (I didn’t rip them off though, here’s their link you can check: https://issuu.com/corinnealexandra/docs/ile-brandguide) 

Primary Logo Sketches: 

Original Logo Designs:

I was determined to retain the image of a hand in my logo; most of my art is about people, or it has human figures in it, so this was a way for me to preserve that element. Also, hands are commonly seen in tarot card designs, so this stayed consistent with the theme. I subsequently had the idea to have the moon phases ‘drip’ from the hands, or sprout from the hand through vines. I thought this was consistent with the theme of my works, but communicated it more subtly than with red or blood. I also considered the hand’s pose, and decided on the logo on the right - the composition seemed more balanced, and was comfortably spaced with the bottom border, unlike the one on the left. 

Primary Name Card Drafts: 

Font Choices:

I downloaded and experimented with a lot of fonts, before deciding on the best ones. 

I wanted my brand to have a classic feel, but I also didn’t want it to look dated. I tried some serif fonts, but they didn’t seem to complement my logo, which was very geometric in nature. More ‘vintage’, ‘theatrical’ fonts also seemed a bit too overpowering. Ultimately, I decided that the san serif fonts made my logo look more modern and clean, and settled on De Valencia for the Titles and Headings, with Courier New for the subheadings (in all caps), and the body text (sentence case.) 

For context, “Sphinx of Black Quartz, Judge my Vow” is just an edgier, more pretentious version of “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

(Some of my rejected fonts tried out on my original name card draft) 

I also considered the sizing of by brand name, and how cohesive it would look within the design. 

Original Color Scheme:

Original Name Card: 

Critique: 

Following critique from class, I redesigned the name card such that the information on the back would also be in portrait orientation, for consistency. I also added in a secondary ‘light’ version - my dad commented that printing on black is expensive, and I thought it was good to have an alternative. 

My primary concern was about legibility, and that the gold wasn’t as contrasting against the white/cream color as it was against the black. During critique, my classmates commented that the gold was still clearly legible, but it was true that the contrast was weakened. In response, I added another shade of gold to the color scheme, to be used against the white.  

Here’s the before and after: 

Updated Color Scheme: 

Also, instead of purely using the new, darker gold against the white, I also used it in my brand guide for some of the subheadings, in order to contrast with the body text. I thought that the extra color added some depth to the guide, and made the text more readable. (Personally, I hate reading big chunks of text, so this made it less overwhelming.)

Other critique was about the finer details, like improving the pdf quality and consistently arranging the elements on the brand guide itself, both of which have been corrected before the final submission. 

How Adobe was used:

In this project, I primarily used Adobe Illustrator to create the logo, the name cards, and really most of the deliverables. 

An example would be how I created the moon phase pattern on my final slide. Same process as usual, ellipse tool, line tool, direct selection - change line and fill colour. But an exciting new thing I learnt (should’ve learnt earlier) was using the scissors tool to cut the circles in half. I used to just create a rectangle and put it over half the circle, but I’m smarter now. This way’s way easier. 

Same goes for how I created the logo grid and the zone of exclusion. I used a combination of the rectangle and the line tools, and changed the lines into dotted lines on the properties panel > stroke > dashed line. This was really fun for me. I was about to DIY my dotted lines by making like.. 1000 little rectangles. Good thing I googled it first, you know.  For the zone of exclusion, I copied and pasted the middle moon into the 4 corners, then lowered their transparency. Fun times. 

These elements and more were saved, and as required, InDesign was used to assemble the final pdf:

It was fun! Ok it was really challenging, but I did enjoy the process. Thanks for the semester, I had a good time. 

I did my research on websites that are mobile friendly and not so mobile friendly. The happiest place on www.Disneyland.disney.co.com/ The page has exciting visuals and has the information you’re looking for right up front-A button to purchase tickets. It has simple ads for the holiday themes and it’s not too cluttered.

Vons Pavilions grocery store. The site has to call 2 CTA right up front that are very important. Download the app and order groceries. Exactly what the target audience wants. It is organized and easy to follow and not too cluttered with ads.

www.Foxnews.com yes I like this news feed don’t judge me!  The articles have a large font for the article titles and Interesting photos. The site is simple and organize the most interesting articles in order.

Not so friendly sites:

The cat extravaganza event site. The front page has images that overlap. The site is unattractive, and organized with a little information. The tickets are hard to order and take you to another site which is a big waste of time. This site needs better functionality and better visuals.

The AHR Expo site is supposed to be for attendees to visit and map out which exhibitors they would like to visit when they attend the show. The site is horrible it is confusing and has way too many drop-down choices and search options. It would be a miracle if they actually found my company information on it. It needs to be better organized with easy links to take you to The exhibitors page.  it works a lot better on a desktop. Www.AHR expo.com

The last site is my Friends photography site. www.rynovisions.com he has too many photos on the website which makes it load very slow on a mobile phone and there is way too much copy. The copy are testimonials that need to be edited down. He needs less clutter on the page and links that take you to the sub pages.





weird questions for writers

What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting? I write in Google Docs, which is default 11pt Arial

If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil? I suppose I could, pen (Frixion?) or Apple Pencil

What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed? There is no ritual

What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral? I don't have a word that I hate

Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true? I don't have any superstitions

from weird questions for writers

What is your darkest fear about writing? That I'll run out of ideas

What is your deepest joy about writing? That it's just fun to do

If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go? No dialogue

Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know Maybe

Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you? No

Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve? Maybe

If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules I don't have specific wishes, other than to write better and in a more timely fashion

What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy? Explicit scenes; general scenes

Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back? Yes; no; no; maybe

Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends? Sometimes; sometimes; on my phone; because it's relaxing and my phone is waterproof; no; why not

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark? Not that weird, just random pieces of paper I find

Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text. Spoilers!

Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. The bookshop passage from Chapter 31. It builds upon theme of leaving, then returning, searching but not finding. From previous chapter, I knew I wanted Thomas to ask at some point whether Mollie forgives him, and I knew it had to be a close moment--it made sense that after their book club together, it would be in a bookshop. While the structure of the chapter never changed much, I did do a lot of thinking about what exactly I would want to convey about Mollie's feelings, and how much description would go into each pivotal action.

Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going? I was good at writing from a very young age and recognized for it so it encouraged me; there haven't been any notable bumps along the way simply because I never pursued writing beyond a hobby; I am here, now, wanting to finish the current work

If a witch offered you the choice between eternal happiness with your one true love and the ability to finally finish, perfect, and publish your dearest, darlingest, most precious WIP in exactly the way you’ve always imagined it — which would you choose? You can’t have both sorry, life’s a bitch Hmmm

Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not? No; no; it's a fun hobby, why would I?

How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud? Folders

Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture. Very large standing desk, mess of papers, large second monitor, raised laptop, mechanical keyboard, Muji drawers, fancy pens, houseplants everywhere

How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it? Not much, a few bullet points per chapter; get on with it

What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story? Mollie doesn't know how to play any instruments, she's a failed immigrant daughter

How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place? By writing; by going on with my daily life; no

Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why? Thomas is incredibly stressful

Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why? Peter

Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry? Everywhere; take in other media, take a break

Talk to me about the role dreams play in your writing life. Have you ever used material from your dreams in your writing? Have you ever written in a dream? Did you remember it when you woke up? I have very fantastical dreams, so not very often; not that I remember

Write a short love letter to your readers. Dearest readers, I love you. Take care of yourself.

What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you? "And the dreams so rich in color. How else would death call you?" -- Cormac McCarthy, The Road. Delineates the duality of destruction and creation

Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate? I regularly tell people that I am a musician so they don't bother me, and I am convincingly one; it does inform my work

Thoughts on the Oxford comma, Go: Yes

What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens? The passive voice can be very beautiful

They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice…what do you Know? Things

If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you? Part of the generation too enamored of and colored by Jane Austen and her offshoots

What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us? What? Me? Weird? The outdoor cat that I feed will probably say that I read the most boring books to her, the last one I read aloud to her was a history of the Medicis

What keeps you writing when you feel like giving up? My audience

Please share a poem with me, I need it.

All hushed and still within the house; Without--all wind and driving rain; But something whispers to my mind, Through rain and through the wailing wind, Never again. Never again? Why not again? Memory has power as real as thine.

Emily Brontë

Loewe Baggage For Women

If you retain stalking you would possibly be succesful of find the bag pop up from varied European shops and they typically ship duty inclusive. For example, proper now the light pink model, which is $2700 + tax at many retailers, is $2240 all in on the positioning right now. My bag, phone, notebook, little pouch, sanitzer, Baggu (From the Met assortment which I’m obsessed with). 24S is transport tax free for now, with the code MID15 for an extra 15% off! They are out of my tan one for now however produce other iterations in inventory. Yes, I know that the Puzzle got here out a zillion years in the past. A bunch of bloggers got the bag years again, even the sort of basic bloggers (and imagine me, I am conscious I am 100 percent basic). However, I truly have always beloved the design, and 6+ months into quarantine..my jigsaw puzzle obsession is as strong as ever. Before one dives into the history of Loewe purses, one must first perceive how the Spanish heritage brand wound up with a very German name. (We know you understand, but in case you don’t, the e’s are each exhausting and the w is pronounced like a v.) A member of LVMH’s impressive roster of luxury brands, Loewe is, actually, the oldest of them all. Founded in 1846, the label began as a collective of artisans crafting leather-based and suede goods in a workshop on Madrid’s Lobo Street. We all want these sanities and so after some waffling I decided this one would be mine. With a contribution of €0,25, you are serving to this Gold Standard-certified project whose work offsets the environmental impression of your order. Together we will actively contribute to achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals . Simply order as you all the time have, and, when selecting your preferred delivery method, you presumably can choose the local weather neutral choice to assist offset your carbon emissions. You can discover extra information about Climate Partner and the project you assist right here. We gladly accept returns inside 30 days of receipt freed from charge. Ensure that every one Dora Maar Tags and Designer Tags stay intact and that the product returns again to us in the same condition as described on the product page. If you take a look at photos of this bag on varied models you’ll see that there’s a definite “slouch” to the bag – which really adds to the informal, trendy look. Judging by which sizes are often bought out on websites, I imagine the medium dimension on this bag is the most popular, adopted by the small sized Puzzle bags. Loewe is a Spanish luxury style model that is well-known in Europe. The fashion house relies in Madrid and now owned by the LVMH group – which most likely means you’re going to see much more of it in years to return. If you get pleasure from our content material, please add us to your adblocker's whitelist. wikipedia handbags Classic canvas items are reworked with delicate updates. Introduced by the style house’s global ambassador, HyunA. The Dupe Puzzle Loewe Handbag, starting at simply $89, is a should have this winter and can be used all yr round for everyday and your calendars finest occasions. https://phoenet.tw/loewe-bag.html Besides, it my be a bit tougher to note, but the fake Loewe Puzzle bag also has its threads slightly bit too small, and the real Loewe bag has its stitches greater. In the picture with the faux vs actual Loewe Puzzle luggage above, we now have identified how the faux Loewe bag has its “LOEWE” text badly font-weight. As you possibly can see from the fake vs actual Loewe Puzzle bag picture above, we've identified how the pretend Loewe bag has its stitching badly accomplished. In reality, the faux emblem is this thick as a result of it is fit too deep contained in the leather, whereas the genuine bag has its emblem fit less deep inside the bag, and so, it appears thinner. In the image with the pretend vs real Loewe Puzzle bags above, we've pointed out how the faux jacket has its engravings on the incorrect thickness. In October 2013, Jonathan Anderson was appointed Creative Director. Under his helm, LOEWE reconfigures a 168-year-old legacy of craft and innovation to take it into the FUTURE. The newest fashion information, beauty coverage, celebrity fashion, style week updates, culture critiques, and videos on Vogue.com. However with the LVMH company now behind them and with rising blogger and social media love, I assume this is definitely a bag to look at. Wearing this bag provides you the type of look like “I simply rolled away from bed and grabbed this fab bag on my method out as a result of I’m effortlessly fashionable”. Many folks prefer Black, however fashion is all about individuality — you can find Brown, Pink and extra options on these pages. There aren’t many objects for males if you’re looking for these equipment, as many of the choices out there are for girls and unisex. I’ve been serious about the puzzle for a while however have yet to search out the proper color in my price vary. I am kicking myself for not being into Loewe when I was final in Spain — and busy pursuing other bags. All handbags, nice jewelry, and sale gadgets are last sale. Because of the softer body of the bag, the zipper is really easy to open and close, which is a major plus. There is an external zip pocket on the back of the bag, and the great factor about this pocket is that it can fit your keys or AirPods. It’s a method to maintain yourself from fumbling for one thing you should attain for quickly and permits a safe and simple spot to store. Plus, it presents a basic Puzzle Bag contact that helps outline the design. If you simply can’t get enough of the ingenious design of this piece, but the worth is a little of your range, then maybe contemplate buying a Loewe Puzzle bag alternative! A close match to the unique handbag, the selection of Loewe dupe baggage compile the same imaginative geometric style with the completely different pieces of leather-based coming collectively like a jigsaw. So I thought this bag would be a great souvenir and tribute to my interest. If Ravensburger have been to department into athleisure, I’m sure I’d purchase that too. Yes, I know we are in a pandemic so my activities really do not involve a purse however I need to have some pleasures. To “pretend” that I “may” go “somewhere” sooner or later. The Loewe Puzzle bag is one masterpiece of itself, because it looks very nice, and as good because it looks, there are many replicas on the market in the marketplace for the Puzzle bag. Read extra about studying tips on how to authenticate numerous gadgets. Innovative cuboid bag crafted using precisely reduce leather aspects that mix to create its voluminous form and versatile type, which might fold full flat.