“I know you used to be depressed for a long time, and I want to know what your motivation was to change something to not live that way anymore?”
“I think it’s important to have something to do, something to look forward to, and something to love. If you have those three things in place, then…it is not a cure-all for depression…it’s not a cure-all for mental health issues…but it’s a place to hang your hat. It’s something around which you can build your day. It’s a starting off; it’s a foundation, at least…to go from there.”
– Wentworth Miller at German Comic con, 09. 12. 2017.
Look, here’s the deal with tumblr: it moves fast. A lot of people follow enough blogs that scrolling through one’s entire dash is impossible. I remember the days when I could wake up in the morning and scroll back to the last post I saw before bed. Sweet, summer child.
Here’s the other deal with tumblr: I see so much anxiety about reblogging one’s own stuff, be it art; analysis; fanfiction; hell, personal posts and replies. I have (and continue to feel deeply) that anxiety. Every time, my inner critic and I go through the same song and dance.
Critic: You look like you’re begging for notes/replies/reblogs. People will think you’re needy/full of yourself/have to be the center of attention. You already have a few notes, why do you need more? Other people have it worst than you. Ugh, you’re just clogging the dashes of your followers. If they wanted to read it, they’d have read it already.
Me: *ball of anxiety* You’re right. Wait, no you’re not. Wait, maybe you are. Wait, no—
I’d say it’s 50/50, even now, that I’ll reblog myself.
And you know what? Fuck that.
Not everyone can get through their dash in a sitting.
Timezones are a thing.
Work hours are a thing, also affected by timezones.
Life away from tumblr is a thing (what??? I know).
There are so many reasons a person might not see your fic/art/stuff the first time. Reblog it the next day. Reblog it a week from now. Hell, set up a schedule or a queue and have it reblog itself three months from now. Go back through old fics and reblog the ones you really liked; I guarantee you have followers who are new enough to have never seen it or who would like to reread it.
Be proud of the work you do.
Oh yeah, I felt that resistance from here.
Say it again. Out loud. Write it on a post-it note and stick it where you’ll see it.
Be proud of the work you do.
You wrote/made it for a reason. And yeah, part of that reason was probably to share it with other fans. Otherwise, why post at all? I know. Man, I get it. I’m cringing even writing that. The fucked-up “don’t show off” mentality runs deep, right?
Fuck that, too.
If you have followers who unfollow you because you’re reposting your stuff (and this is hard to prove, remember; maybe they quit tumblr, maybe their interests diverged from yours, whatever), who cares? Let them go. For everyone who leaves you, many will stay. And many will be happy to see that thing they missed because of work, life, sleeping. Especially if you follow a few points of tumblr/dash etiquette:
Use cuts/read mores for anything longer than a few hundred words (I tend to cut at about 400-500 words, though if something’s under about 700 I might leave it).
Reblog at reasonable intervals (day/evening, next day reblog, etc. Hourly might be a bit much ;D).
Use tags so people can filter appropriately.
Be proud of the work you do.
(Write it down. Yes, you. <3)
it’s honestly helpful for those of us that can’t check tumblr at work if you DO reblog your stuff. If you’re an artist, i’m following you because i want to see your art and I don’t want to miss it. But I’m at work all day and I can’t check tumblr for obvious reasons.
Dude, just reblog that shit. I want to see your shit. That’s what I’m here for. You inspire me and I don’t want to miss that.
The Addams family was, in fact, both magical and supernatural for its depiction of a healthy, loving, supportive, and fun married m/f couple.
This is now officially an Addams family appreciation post
In order to depict such purity and love in a m/f relationship, one must first set the foundation that these people are odd and not the norm. (per media standards)
They cared about their children, their children’s interests, and wanted the kids to always be true to themselves. How peculiar!
Gomez and Morticia never showed negative jealousy towards each other’s past love interests. Even going to far as complimenting them for being special to their true love. How bizarre!
They could forgive almost any character flaw in a friend or relative. The only thing that could not be forgiven was betrayals and pastels. Weird amirite?
Morticia is a woman’s woman. She allies herself with other women instead of competing with them. She even seeks to understand women different from herself and her beliefs. Strange.
Gomez wants Morticia to have whatever Morticia wants. He doesn’t give her permission, he actively supports her and motivates her. Fa-reaky.
Do you think this show was social commentary, stating that what we believe a normal life is is unattainable so long as we continue living life the way society expects, and when we live life the way we need to is when we live authentically despite what makes us different
Don’t hate-read. You know what I’m talking about. Are there blogs or people who automatically make you clench your jaw and roll your eyes? Or always trigger a reaction of “Oh dear angels and spirits, not them/this AGAIN?” Stop reading their stuff. Don’t seek it out, no matter how much ranty entertainment you feel it may be.
Hate-reading is a drain of your time and energy.
(Note: I am posting this as a REMINDER TO MYSELF, because I fall into that trap, too.)
“The act of true reading is in its very essence democratic. Consider the nature of what happens when we read a book – and I mean, of course, a work of literature, not an instruction manual or a textbook – in private, unsupervised, un-spied-on, alone. It isn’t like a lecture: it’s like a conversation. There’s a back-and-forthness about it. The book proposes, the reader questions, the book responds, the reader considers. We bring our own preconceptions and expectations, our own intellectual qualities, and our limitations, too, our own previous experiences of reading, our own temperament, our own hopes and fears, our own personality to the encounter.”
past me: canon is sacred I must carefully fact-check everything to make sure it is canon-compliant
present me: canon is a box of scraps in a cave I’m gonna tear that shit apart throw away 90% of it and out of the good bits build something absolutely beautiful and amazing
I-want-my-IWTV 