marketing blah

Jun. 13th, 2025 09:59 am
tassosss: Shen Wei Zhao Yunlan Era (Default)
[personal profile] tassosss
While I'm waiting for my manuscript to cool, I'm doing a short book marketing course that I bought to see if I can get my head around where the heck to find readers. I know I'm not doing a lot of marketing and I'm okay with that because my strategy right now is in the one hour of useful creative energy I have a day I want to get the writing done. The next book sells the previous one and all that. So the goal is to get this trilogy done, then lean into marketing hard for a while.

I've set up a foundation - I have a brand style, I'm on Instagram and have indie author friends. I have an email list. I have not... done much else. I don't even have freebies to get people to sign up for my newsletter (see above one (1) hour of functional creative energy per day.)

Hence this little course. It's basically all stuff I know from my day job. But it does have worksheets, and I'm a sucker for worksheets. 

So, since my target audience is exhausted, demoralized older millennials/borderline gen X whose hips and knees hurt, who are tired of their favorite characters dying and into competence porn, who like sci-fi and fantasy in the Gen and Bob flavors (me. it's me.), where do they hang out online?

I'm on Instagram and that's about it, because I can only handle one social channel at the moment. Is Bluesky the new Twitter? If I'm going to put energy into marketing, I want to be in the right place, because I sure as hell am not going to be able to do more than one or two channels. 

Today just keeps on giving...

Jun. 12th, 2025 06:32 pm
settiai: (Hughes -- psychodragon82)
[personal profile] settiai
Welp. This is certainly a day. The fire alarm went off again this afternoon. And this time? It was an actual fire. 🙃

They managed to get it put out fairly quickly at least, and from the time the fire alarm went off to the fire trucks arriving was, like, less than two minutes. So good on them for a great response time.

Long story short, the laundry room that the hotel staff uses to wash sheets, towels, etc. caught on fire. I'm guessing it was one of the industrial dryers in there based on what I saw. There's currently a hole in the wall leading into the laundry room, firemen still running around, and a shit ton of smoke in the hallways, but they've let everyone back inside. And my suite is about as far as you can get from where the fire was, so there's at least no smoke in here as long as I keep the door shut.

Garrus is already back to normal, but Keyleth has hidden herself under the bed and probably won't be coming back out for at least a few hours. Minimum.

June is, uh, certainly shaping up to be a month. That's for sure.
[syndicated profile] darths_and_droids_feed

Episode 2634: Finn Diesel: Fast and Injurious

Now, technically a handbrake turn shouldn't work like this on a vehicle that doesn't have wheels, but don't argue with the Rule of Cool. Especially when you're in a setting that takes contemporary things and just dresses them up in a science fantasy veneer.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Looks like the other speeder gets to be removed first, then. And in a way unique to ground vehicles as well! I guess that's the real reason these weren't hoverbikes then. It'd be really hard to have a grapple get wrapped around an axle if there's no axle in the first place.

And hopefully the grappling hook exploded too! Pulling around a burning treadspeeder sounds like a problem. Of course, there's only the two jet troopers now, so maybe that's the next part of this scene: dealing with towed burning wreckage. It shouldn't be much of a problem on its own though since it's just rope; maybe Finn's got the rope wrapped around a foot or something so getting rid of the rope is the real challenge.

I don't think the players have beaten the "flaming wreckage per metre" record though. There'd need to be a lot more vehicles around for that to happen.

Transcript

musesfool: being hung over is like winning the lottery, except they pay you in regret! (paid in regret)
[personal profile] musesfool
ZOMG what a day!!!

I was in a training this morning when around 10:30 am, my internet went out and didn't come back in 30 seconds the way it usually does. And my cable was out also. But Spectrum said there was no outage in my area, so it was a me problem. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And so I was in the middle of texting with a Spectrum chatbot (or maybe it was a real person?) when the cleaning ladies showed up but the bell wasn't working and then they called me and I didn't respond because I was in the middle of chatting with Spectrum (doing all the things I had already done, i.e., unplugging and re-plugging in the modem and router) with no success, but luckily I realized who was calling so I went and opened the door and they began their work and I went back to chatting with Spectrum.

The CSR/bot told me they would schedule the next open appointment and I was like sure, while thinking, "am I going to have to into the office for my meetings tomorrow? I need to be here when the tech comes but it probably won't be until Friday or Monday?" and then they texted me the appointment and it was for TODAY at NOON so of course I was like, YES, I WILL. TAKE IT. And then he showed up at 11:55 am!!! And told me there was a major outage in my area, so it was unlikely that he could do anything, but I was getting texts saying that the outage should be fixed by 1 pm. No, we mean 1:30 pm. No, we mean 2 pm. (It came back for me around 1 pm.) And finally at 4:05 pm a text saying the outage was over.

Meanwhile, yesterday, we were supposed to be sending materials out for a meeting tomorrow, but I hadn't received them by 5 pm yesterday, and I hadn't received them by 9 am this morning, and while I was in training and then offline, my boss was poking the CFO who was like, "we don't have them, should we cancel?" so my boss was texting me like, "We should cancel!!!" and I was like, that's fine but we can't reschedule for next week since the board members are not available, and then the board meeting is the week after, so we would need to get approval by unanimous written consent. But then the CFO is like, "I'm calling you!" and I'm like, "I have no internet, I can't get into any files, please don't!" But she was already calling, so I spoke with her and she was like, "We got the documents! I'm reviewing them! I will let you know when it's ok to send!" and I was like ok.

A little while after that, my service had returned and I discovered another committee member had sent out an invite to a meeting on Friday with incorrect information while trying to accept the correct invite for Friday's meeting? I don't even know, but it didn't replace the correct invite on anyone's calendars, so I just declined it. Then she emailed saying she was now getting all these RSVPs and I was like, "can you cancel it? It shouldn't affect the correct invitation, which I will then forward to you." So she cancelled it, but it looked to other people like the meeting was cancelled, even though the correct invitation remained on their calendars. So I had to send a teams message internally and an email externally to explain to everyone that the meeting was not cancelled, it was just a technological glitch of some sort. Idek.

I ate breakfast after the cable guy left, so I didn't eat lunch, and at around 3:30 I was like, "the CFO still hasn't given me the go-ahead to send this out - they are going to complain about getting a complicated set of documents less than 24 hours ahead of the meeting!" to my boss and then the email telling me the materials were good to go dropped into my inbox, so I was able to send them out.

Then while I was trying to catch up on email, a nasty looking bee (hornet? wasp?) started hovering around my window, and as you may recall, I had problems with them somehow getting into my apartment last summer, so I immediately slammed down the window and put the AC on, even though it was comfortable enough with the fan with the window open. I appreciate bees, but not in my living room! Especially not ones that look mean.

And then I read that Brian Wilson died. And Sly Stone died earlier this week. And I thought that was sad. #legends only #RIP

*
helloladies: Gray icon with a horseshoe open side facing down with pink text underneath that says Adventures Elsewhere (adventures elsewhere)
[personal profile] helloladies posting in [community profile] ladybusiness
Adventures Elsewhere collects our reviews, guest posts, articles, and other content we've spread across the Internet recently! See what we've been up in our other projects. :D


Read more... )

Our Favourite Media of May 2025

Jun. 10th, 2025 10:51 pm
helloladies: Gray icon with a horseshoe open side facing down with pink text underneath that says Favorite Media (favorite media)
[personal profile] helloladies posting in [community profile] ladybusiness
Each month, we look back over the media we loved in the previous month, from books to film to video games and more. This entry in the series was written a while ago, but we haven't posted a favorite media since then, so we're posting it now for maximum completion!


Read more... )

DYI

Jun. 11th, 2025 11:14 pm
dhampyresa: (Default)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
I've been drawing a lot more than usual lately and now my wrist fucking hurts. I have an appointment with the doctor next week. In the mean time I've been using a wrist warmer + pieces of cardboard as a makeshift brace/splint to keep my wrist neutral, and if anyone has stretches or something I could do, I am all ears.

The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott

Jun. 10th, 2025 09:37 pm
renay: photo of the milky way from new zealand on a clear night (Default)
[personal profile] renay posting in [community profile] ladybusiness
I devoured The Witch Roads in three days. Read more... )

in a moment close to now

Jun. 10th, 2025 06:16 pm
musesfool: Michael from the Good Place, facepalming in existential horror (oh no here's a lower place)
[personal profile] musesfool
ugh how is it only tuesday???

*

Conclave made me do it

Jun. 10th, 2025 10:43 pm
dhampyresa: (Default)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
Cover for Sophie Clark's Cruel is the Light


I first got interested in Sophie Clark's "Cruel is the Light" because the cover is really pretty (art by Mona Finden, art direction by Ben Hughes). I wasn't going to read it because while the marketing said "enemies to lovers" the summary wasn't sound "enemy-ing" enough.

Then the Pope died.

And I thought I'd read a book sent mostly in Rome because I had no idea what to read next, fiction-wise.

Cruel is the Light is... Fine. It's fine. It indeed isn't enemies to lovers, it's more rivals to lovers forbidden love fake dating. The love story isn't unbelievable, anymore than any two week love story is. I guessed both that
from the summary Jules was a demon
and
from early in the book the Vatican's god was a demon
but not how those two tied together. There's one image I really liked and might draw at some point, idk. The demon/exorcist worldbuilding reminded me of the manga Claymore. Anyway. I don't regret reading it, but I wasn't going to read the sequel. I'd give it a 13/20. (Disclaimer: I read something like half of it while stuck on a stopped train.)

Then the Pope died.

Ok, in the book he's "Exorcist Primus". Point is they're going to be doing X-Treme Conclave next book and I am intrigued.

Episode 2633: Painting the Target

Jun. 10th, 2025 09:11 am
[syndicated profile] darths_and_droids_feed

Episode 2633: Painting the Target

Improvising things out of random unpromising-looking gear is a great action trope that can be used to good effect in games. Some games have explicit rules for Tinkering or MacGyvering, possibly including a specific skill that characters can have to come up with unexpected cool gadgets using spare parts and random junk.

But even if your game doesn't have rules for this, you can still make good use of it. Describe random things lying around everywhere. If your players aren't the sort to naturally take advantage of this resource, make them obviously hinty at first. It can be as simple as a pit in the floor, too wide to jump over, and some planks of wood lying nearby. Keep providing things near any sort of obstacle.

Dont be tempted to make the helpful objects traps of some sort. If your players try putting planks across the pit, they should succeed for cleverness, not be punished by having them collapse when they're in the middle. That'll just discourage them from trying interesting things. You want to encourage them.

Once they start using discovered objects, make them a bit more difficult to adapt to the situation. For example a sleeping ogre to sneak past. In the room before are some pillows stuffed with feathers. People could pad their feet or armour (or both) with pillows to muffle noise, or use a pillow to try to suffocate the ogre without making too much noise.

Ultimately your goal should be that you don't have to think about what possible use the objects could be. You can have the heroes find a store room with jars of honey, an old pair of bellows taken from a forge, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a broken marble statue with the arms intact and ending in hands in a grasping pose, and they will come up with something clever to do with that stuff.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Oh wow! And here I'd thought BB wasn't going to be able to do much. In fairness though, it's a little out there to expect that there's colored powder rockets on these random hijacked speeders. I really should have thought of this being a possibility too, given the clouds of yellow earlier.

No surprise that Rey manages to shoot this enemy out of the air though. If the machine's got to use a tread for movement, then it's gonna be on a ballistic trajectory after it gets ramped into the air. Even the distraction of driving a speeder wouldn't be bad enough to not line up a shot.

Speaking of lining up a shot, I think the question for the next comic is whether Chewie can take care of the jet troopers or not. Proper jetpacks would make it a lot easier for them to dodge, but there's also the two aerial explosions that are probably quite distracting.

Transcript

musesfool: "We'll sleep later! Time for cake!" (time for cake!)
[personal profile] musesfool
I made this black cocoa loaf cake yesterday, and followed it exactly as written despite some skepticism, which turned out to be warranted, because the middle of the loaf collapsed as it cooled. Even as I was measuring out 1 TBSP of baking powder(!!!), I was like, this seems excessive, but maybe it's because the cocoa is so alkalinized??? So I might cut that back slightly to 1.5 or 2 tsps if I make it again, which I might, because the flavor is good, despite all that baking powder. I didn't bother with the ganache since I don't have room in the fridge for the cake. But it would also disguise that kind of collapse, so if I were serving it to other people I probably would make it.

It's been gray and cool since last night, but it hasn't rained yet, so I've been able to keep the windows open. I did have to use the AC a couple times last week, especially to sleep, and I'll put it on again when necessary, but it was nice just using the fan last night.

Anyway, work remains busy, the world is on fire, but the Mets stay winning! Gotta take the little joys while you can...

*

For Sale: Echo Show (2nd Generation)

Jun. 9th, 2025 06:26 pm
settiai: (Ahsoka -- xaetel)
[personal profile] settiai
I know it's a long shot considering Amazon is Amazon, but would anyone be interested in buying an Echo Show (2nd Gen) 10" in black charcoal? Or know anyone who might want one?

It's used, but it still works perfectly fine. It's been in my storage unit in the hope I'd be in a position to use it again, as it was really useful for cooking purposes (among other things) when I was living in an apartment with a full-sized kitchen, but it's become increasingly clear that I'm not moving out of the hotel anytime soon so I really have no need for it.

I'd be willing to accept any reasonable offer. There's no listings on Amazon since it's an older model, but there are some available on eBay for comparison. I could have it in the mail either this weekend or early next week at the latest.

For payment, I have CashApp ($Settiai), PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle (nancy.lynn.foster@gmail.com).

If you know anyone who might be interested, please point them my way. I'm still around $100 shy of being able to cover all of my upcoming bills, and it would help a lot if I could find someone interested in taking this off my hands.
umadoshi: (kittens - on windowsill)
[personal profile] umadoshi
Cat Herding: Our beloved Jinksy!bear turned twelve on Saturday. Twelve! He's (by a margin of a good few years) the second-oldest cat I've ever had, and continues to be just the sweetest, softest boy. May he be with us in good health for years to come.

It was also Claudia's birthday, of course, and I always think of her on their birthday. Oh, my darling baby cat.

*The oldest was Jenny, the cat of my childhood who was still with my parents for years after I moved out. She made it to nineteen, most of that time in rock-solid health, and never really forgave me for moving to Toronto and thus straight-up vanishing from her life for months at a time.

Reading: I finished reading Jennifer 8 Lee's The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food, which remained an interesting read right through, and read Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances, which I think is only the second thing of his I've read? (Elder Race is the other one I'm sure of.) Having finished it, I'm in a position that's annoyingly familiar, where I liked the book quite a bit and am curious about what happens next, but am not sure I cared enough that I'll ever actually get around to picking up the sequel.

(The thing where I've almost entirely been reading books I own for years now doesn't really help, where I've often picked up the first book of a trilogy of series or whatever on sale in ebook because I've heard it's good, and then am not sure I'm invested enough to pay full price on the next one when I own literally hundreds of yet-unread books. Feh.)

Watching: [personal profile] scruloose and I are up to date on Murderbot and have seen the first episode of Kingdom season 2.

In the case of the former, I'm skeptical about the nqqvgvba bs n punenpgre jub qbrfa'g nccrne va gur obbxf ng nyy--juvpu V'z abg vaureragyl ntnvafg, tvira gung gur fubj vf pyrneyl vgf bja guvat, naq V'z thrffvat fur'f gurer gb pbairl fbzrguvat gung jbhyq'ir orra gevpxl gb qb gur fnzr jnl va guvf sbezng nf va gur abiryyn. Ohg fur'f naablvat, naq V'yy cebonoyl xrrc svaqvat ure naablvat jurgure fur vf va snpg freivat jung V pheeragyl guvax vf ure cebonoyr shapgvba (rarzl ntrag znfdhrenqvat nf nyyl) be fbzrguvat zber vagrerfgvat. [ROT13] Guess we'll find out soon!

Working: Thank goodness the manga I'm working right now is (as usual) a fairly easy rewrite and not a tight deadline, because scrounging the mental energy for freelance work has been frustratingly hard recently. I'm almost halfway through my draft and have about a week and a half left with it, so it's fine, but. :/

Weathering/Householding: We've had a lot of gray days and some high-ish temperatures combined with humidity (which I hate), and the air quality, while not remotely as bad as it is in a lot of places, has been fluctuating significantly...and the AC function of the heat pumps is essentially nonfunctional. >.< This is crappy timing, given how much of the time over the last several days has required having the windows closed (and the air purifiers running for good measure, although they don't address some of the nastiness from wildfire smoke). And for bonus fun, while the heat pumps are still under warranty, the company we bought them from went under a few months ago, which complicates things. (I think possibly the main person died. :/)

That said, [personal profile] scruloose made a bunch of calls today and we have reason to hope that someone can come in and take a look at them soon, if that particular company has the parts in stock. And while it's been uncomfortably warm inside some of the time because of this, at least it's not full summer yet. Hopefully we can get things dealt with by the time summer heat arrives in earnest.

And on a purely pleasant note, a couple nights ago we were in a phase of "somehow the air quality is fine outside right now, so we can just open the windows and run fans" while it was pleasantly cool and raining atmospherically and the wind was doing a wonderful job of wafting the smell of the lilacs into the living room.
jadelennox: its the story of an ice cube but every time he feels happy it make him melt a little bit more (story of an ice cube)
[personal profile] jadelennox

For reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, I made a GF variant of Emma Goldman's blintz recipe this morning. (It's because for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, I happened to have farmer cheese in the house.)

When I went looking for something snappy to turn my blintzes into a post, the first quotation on wikiquote is from a newspaper report after her arrest:

I feel sure that the police are helping us more than I could do in ten years. They are making more anarchists than the most prominent people connected with the anarchist cause could make in ten years. If they will only continue I shall be very grateful; they will save me lots of work.

Anyway I am not an anarchist by any measure whatsoever, but I have generally found reading Emma Goldman to be informative and fulfilling (My Disillusionment in Russia is gutwrenching and honestly I think keyboard warriors should read it). Her wikiquote page is so chock full of evergreen statements that I can't even cherrypick anything else to quote. But how about this one?

The very proclaimers of "America first" have long before this betrayed the fundamental principles of real Americanism...the other truly great Americans who aimed to make of this country a haven of refuge, who hoped that all the disinherited and oppressed people in coming to these shores would give character, quality and meaning to the country.

You can make blintzes vegan, too, if you use banana instead of the egg and flip the blattlach very gently. That can be potato or blueberry blintzes, although I've seen a recipe for blintzes with cashew cheese.

In conclusion, blintzes! Mine had strawberries.

iddybangmod: (Default)
[personal profile] iddybangmod posting in [community profile] iddyiddybangbang
Welcome back, iddybangers! It’s (nearly) that time of year again, and we’re all revved up and ready to go. *nyooms into the iddysphere* We're also [twitter.com profile] iddybang on X and and [tumblr.com profile] iddyiddybangbang on Tumblr, so check us out there too!

Signups will be held on Dreamwidth starting July 10th. If you wish to sign up privately, please PM your signup to [personal profile] iddybangmod or email iddybang@gmail.com!

Rules )

General Questions )

Posting )

Check-ins and Drops )

That's a wrap

Jun. 8th, 2025 05:01 pm
tassosss: Shen Wei Zhao Yunlan Era (Default)
[personal profile] tassosss
 Draft 1 of book 2 is finished.

It's a messy draft and I'm not looking forward to editing it.

But it's done and done.

Final wordcount: 107,659

I wrote ~7k in the last two days.

"We don't trade lives" sure, man

Jun. 8th, 2025 09:24 pm
dhampyresa: (Gwen Stacy)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
I was rewatching Avengers: Infinity War and it, again, struck me how bloody hypocritical Steve's "we don't trade lives" line(s) is. Friend. Pal. Bro. My man. Do you really think no Wakandan is gonna die fighting Thanos' armies. Like. Get a fucking grip, omg.

Fic: Quiet Moments (Dragon Age)

Jun. 8th, 2025 12:14 pm
settiai: (Dragon Age -- offensive)
[personal profile] settiai
Quiet Moments (1825 words) by Settiai
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Solas/Male Trevelyan (Dragon Age), background Cullen Rutherford/Male Trevelyan
Characters: Male Trevelyan (Dragon Age), Solas (Dragon Age)
Additional Tags: Arlathan Exchange (Dragon Age), Formerly Tranquil Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Hurt/Comfort, Lyrium Addiction, Lyrium Withdrawal, One Shot, Queerplatonic Relationships, Slice of Life, Trans Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Trans Male Inquisitor (Dragon Age)
Summary: Connor Trevelyan hadn't expected anyone to join him on the battlements in the middle of the night.

Fic: A Study in Worth (Dragon Age)

Jun. 8th, 2025 12:12 pm
settiai: (Fenris -- offensive)
[personal profile] settiai
A Study in Worth (1428 words) by Settiai
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Anders/Fenris (Dragon Age)
Characters: Anders (Dragon Age), Fenris (Dragon Age)
Additional Tags: Arlathan Exchange (Dragon Age), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Mental Health Issues, One Shot, Post-Dragon Age II, Pre-Dragon Age: Inquisition
Summary: It was blatantly obvious that Anders was spiraling again.

Wheel of Chaos

Jun. 8th, 2025 05:55 am
used_songs: (Gaga waving)
[personal profile] used_songs
I took it as a sign when two posts about this in a row crossed my feed, so now I am in, too! I have never done LJ Idol: Wheel of Chaos but here I go!

[syndicated profile] darths_and_droids_feed

Episode 2632: Definitely Not a Loose Canyon

Repeat appearances of familiar scenery can be a good way to both establish continuity in your story and to evoke old memories of events that happened there the first time. This can be used to your advantage as a GM, as it provides ready-made associations that the players will remember.

If a site was the location of a particularly nasty defeat, or where things went badly wrong, then simply having the heroes go there again can make them apprehensive and cautious. Or if it was the place of a stirring victory or other positive event, it can make them feel good to be there again - perhaps unprepared for something bad that might happen...

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Aw, come on Chewie, don't Overburden yourself like that. You don't need to get all of the bad guys to chase your speeder by removing the only other target they've got.

I have to say this is a pretty neat set up for the Irregulars here. I don't think the idea of Jim having such enthusiasm about geology had been quite solidified to this degree when the pod race happened. Or maybe it just didn't have the chance to get expressed like this since Jim did come up with the idea for how Naboo actually works later that episode. And, well, the podracing scene was also compressed into a lot of dice rolling. Either way, I hope we get a lot more Gneiss scenes of the players getting excited about things they personally like.

Transcript

renay: photo of the milky way from new zealand on a clear night (Default)
[personal profile] renay posting in [community profile] ladybusiness
We're counting down until mid-year!

Myy May TBR turned out to be more of a suggestion.


I read What Moves the Dead because I managed to read What Feasts at Night. And although I didn't get to The Brides of High Hill, I did reread The Empress of Salt and Fortune and grab When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain on my way to it. :D

Read more... )

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