I know this is big time generalising but there is something to be said about Latin American tv shows managing to be so funny and so devastating at the same time. Yes I’m looking at you Ugly Betty, Jane the Virgin, One Day at a Time

an award for being gay? finally!

i battled with my max gifset for days, partly because i learned new techniques to make it and partly because the lighting in stranger things can be so hellish for giffing that it took four different shots for me to finally get one gif to look decent. but by the end i was actually really proud of it! for a first effort with intense colors i think it’s not bad. so i posted it...and crickets. and anxiety. 

then i got one very complimentary reblog from a friend, which was nice...then more crickets. i figured, well, themed sets aren’t for everybody, even in a big fandom. maybe i should’ve expected my straightforward lucas set to get the bigger reaction. lots of people just prefer content cut straight from the show. i saw the theme as a great fit for max, but other people might not agree with me. 

so i spent my day listening to podcasts and chatting and my night doing some cleaning, and i finally bothered to stop by tumblr again just now. and i realized i had notes! and not for the lucas set! tonight is a good lesson for my creative anxiety, because i had resigned myself to my max set just vanishing into the ether, and instead it’s getting shared with tags like #op ur paying my hospital bills #mental and physical cause im jumping out a window rn

and that takes me back to how it felt to be in an active fandom along with friends, which was one of the best feelings and one that i miss very much--a real, collective experience as it was unfolding. i’m not a ‘tv shows should go back to weekly releases because asynchronous viewing is ruining us’ person (we had the joy of collective experience around whole seasons dropping back then) but clearly i need to be more engaged with shows when other people are because drifting on my own timeline just leaves me less connected.

anyway. i made a thing and it turns out people like it! i’m surprised and also a very silly person, clearly, because not even AO3 has managed to teach me the lesson that sometimes it takes more than a few hours for people who will like what you make to find it. my need for instant gratification shall not make it materialize. lol.

It has been six months since my book One Day At a Time was released to the world; half a year!

I don’t know how many people on here have read it, but it has been a story that I am still insanely proud of. I hope whoever has read it and supported it has enjoyed it. All of the support has meant the world to me. (Thank you @turniptitaness for reading the little one-shots that I send you and for being so supportive of my little story kiddos :D)

So, for this anniversary/milestone of sorts, I'm having my asks open for anyone who has any questions in regards to it, the inspiration behind certain elements, unanswered questions, or anything of that nature. You, of course, do not have to send asks if you do not want to! I'm just happy to celebrate this mark in the story's history. <3

To start off with answering things… here are some fun facts! (Contains spoilers for chapter forty-five and onward)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-This story is the second story I’ve ever successfully written. The first was a story called Where They Go, which I turn people away from because the improvement in quality and character writing between it and ODAAT is insane

-Every story I’ve written follows a similar theme and similar structure: a WLW friends to lovers story with some element of parental issues from one side (I have a niche and I’m running with it, I guess!)

-There are two other stories that have never (and will never) see the light of day, one being a fantasy story and another very heavily following the “sun and moon” duo trope

-The first story’s fantasy theme was the inspiration for Ava’s special interest in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a fantasy video game. I was able to implement imagination and fantasy without having to write fantasy, which I was quite happy about

-The first successfully written story, Where They Go, was co-written by my younger sister. She helped me with so many elements, because I did not understand how to write good characters and interactions. With ODAAT, I made it a goal to write it all on my own and it turned out great with an entire year of writing improvement between the two stories being released (My sister did create the original character designs for ODAAT, as well as suggested a few small plot ideas, which I did use and also modify. Overall, this story was more mine than the last one)

-With every other story I’ve written (WTG and the never-seeing-the-light-of-day stories) one out of the two main girls were always autistic-coded. I’ve always wanted to write autistic characters and with Ava, I finally allowed myself to say that she’s autistic, full-stop. I was previously scared of criticism or backlash, but I learned to say, “It’s my characters, I’m allowed to say who and what they are”

-Ava is autistic and there is no trauma about it. She is not treated differently by her friends and family and she is never “asked” or pushed to change who she is. She is seen as desirable by Lilly, not in a pitying way, but out of genuine love. I, as an autistic and queer author, do not stand for all autistic people, nor queer people, or autistic queer people, but it is a niche in writing that I think should be used more (or not, maybe it’ll just be my thing /j)

-Specifically on the Wattpad platform, the writing of parents is either nonexistent or of two extremes: neglectful and abusive, or permissive and non-caring in a different way. ODAAT follows two examples of parents, two examples of mothers. Ava’s mother is a single mother with two other children. She’s kind and the “cool mom” but she has standards and seeks first to understand when any of her kids do something bad or irresponsible. That’s one example; she is not a perfect mom, but she damn-well tries her best. The other example is Lilly’s mother, who’s openly judgmental of “different” people (autistic, neurodivergent, LGBTQ+, or otherwise). She is not accepting of her daughter being a lesbian and that is her biggest problem; she views it as a phase and hopes and prays that it’ll “be over soon.” She is incredibly ignorant but she isn’t stupid. She knows that Lilly has been teased and that her life won’t be “traditionally” easy because of her queerness. She is not the villain of this story, there is no villain. She is an antagonist but in a small way; an uneducated person who’s trying to help her child in an inadvertent way, a way that she learns does not work

⚠️ THIS NEXT FACT MENTIONS SUICIDE AND DARK THEMES! SCROLL TO THE NEXT FACT IF YOU WISH TO! ⚠️

-For a split-second (a couple days) I considered making the ending of ODAAT to be incredibly sad. For that split-second, I was gonna rip away the sense of hope and optimism that comes after things go to shit in chapter forty-five, “Downpour”. I was going to make it that Lilly still gets the chance to get away from her mother and find hope in Ava and Ava’s mother, but as a result of momentarily running away, stuff get worse; Lilly was going to be cut off from her entire friend group and be barreled into a lonesome depression that would end in her… passing away by her own hands. I was going to make her mother irredeemable, a villian in her entirety. (I’ve thought about writing a one-shot for that, though the sadness might be too much, even for my standards). I changed that ending, because 1) there was so much build-up to Ava and Lilly getting together that ripping it all away would (to me) feel like a waste and would feel painful to put the reader through, 2) I wanted to show that ignorant people can be educated/redeemed (even though it’s hard to get through to them), and 3) a happy ending was needed, we don’t need another tragic death of an LGBTQ+ character

-There is no villain and there isn’t necessarily a hero, either. I wanted to show a gray-area of how people are. The phrase, “It explains it, but it does not excuse it” is used to explain that gray-area in terms of conflict and mistreatment

-All four of the main kiddos in the story serve a “traditional” story purpose but done in their own ways. Ava is the protagonist, but so is Lilly. Their stories are separate, but they are closely knit. They are each other’s love interests, not solely Ava or Lilly’s (one or the other). Lucas is the voice of the reader, who sees Ava and Lilly’s chemistry and wants to push them together as much as he can because he (and in turn, the reader) know that they go together like peas in a pod. Rose is logical, the voice of reason to Lucas’ abrupt and sometimes pushy, “Come on, just kiss already!” way of addressing things. They, like Lucas, can see the chemistry but they want it to happen naturally, to progress in a proper and healthy way.

-The four main kids are parallels of each other (which is why they bounce off each other well as a whole friend-group-unit). Ava and Lucas are both imaginative, excitable, and theatrical in their own ways, while Lilly and Rose are both calm and observant.

Those are the fun facts, which might’ve answered every question that a person could put in my ask box. Whoops 🤣😂

-Bonus sorta fun fact not really

I constantly imagine the story as if it were a movie with elaborate and really well done edits to the songs in my story’s playlist, but then I always get sad that those edits do not exist

My stomach is great!😂😅 it was delicious😅😂 and yeah same but then when I'm drunk (ngl kinda right now sorry) I've never been high before, I wanna try it buut I heard it's more fun with friends and all of them aren't realy smokers so😅😂Look at us talking about alcohol and weed😂 so responsible😎

I have bad news tho, I can't see doctor strange until 2 weeks after release (friend schedules are kinda busy, one has a boyfriend (that bastard (jk hes nice) ) so I'm either gonna be less active on social media or just not at all!

Buuuut until then I keep sailing the not so seven seas in sea of thieves (heh that rhymes) also I'm at season 2 of ODAAT (is that correct idk anymore(

Unlucky

that’s good! no need to be sorry! i would try it with people you trust and be careful, also at home too. but i think at home and by yourself might be okay, don’t do too much especially bc it’ll be your first time. haha so responsible.

oh no!!!!! i’m sorry to hear about that! definitely stay less active to avoid spoilers!!

haha.. oo is that the last season on netflix? i know the show switched to a tv program

#relatable

☐ Hi! I’m gay!

remember the subplot in the odaat s1 finale where lydia is determined to make elena cry with joy over her quinces dress and every time she presents it to her elena admires it and says she loves it but she doesn’t cry so lydia stays up all night at the last minute making it into a suit and elena bursts into tears the second she sees it

❗️URGENT INFO ABOUT ODAAT ❗️

Gloria, one of the writers/producers tweeted last night that it's not looking good for a renewal. Please help spread the word to anyone you know to watch episodes 5 & 6 LIVE on cbs. If we can get a boost in views for those two episodes we might have a better chance to keep ODAAT and get it renewed! Also, on Friday (tomorrow) help trend #WeWantMoreODAAT on Twitter. Episodes 5&6 air on CBS at 10&10:30pm EST on October 26! SPREAD THE WORD!!!

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ONE DAY AT A TIME (2017-)

One day at a time “Checking boxes”