Pick A Song

The evolution of a queen.

Drafting

The Draft Notebook 

Be More Productive with Ambient Noise 

How to Steal: Know Your Tropes 

How to Steal: Good Writers Borrow

Write What You Know (Not What You’ve Experienced)

The Best Way to End a Writing Session

How To Finish a Draft

A Few Tips on Chapters

Language, Description, & Dialog 

“To Be” Or Not “To Be”: What Exactly Is Passive Voice?

Tagging Dialog 

Narrative Voice

Writing Better Descriptions

Basic Rules for Metaphors and Similes

Character, Plot, & Setting 

Creating Characters: a 4-Step Process 

Writing Relationships Your Reader Can Get Behind

Informative Character Names

The Strength of a Symmetrical Plot 

How to Foreshadow

Crafting Homes of Paper, Ink, and Neutral PH Glue

Motivation

On Writing Flawed Books

How to Return to Your Manuscript

The Acknowledgements Page

Staring at Blank Pages

What to Do When You Can’t Write

Motivational Writing Posters

Publishing

Writing the Perfect Query Letter

How to Write a Synopsis 

How to Pitch Your Novel in Under a Minute

A Glossary of Publishing Terms: Vol 1

Writing Tools

Why You Should Give Scrivener a Try

Outlining, Brainstorming, and Researching with Scrivener

Drafting with Scrivener

Editing with Scrivener 

CTRL+F

The Forest Productivity App

Editsaurus 

NaNoWriMo

Why Try NaNoWriMo

October Prep 

Why Listen to Writing Podcasts

Pick a New Daily Word Count Goal 

How to Write 2000 Words a Day

How to Plan a Novel without a Story

Pacemaker: Custom Daily Word Count Website

NaNoWriMo Master Post

Other

How to Read an Absurd Number of Books

Writing Workshops: An Introduction

Writing Groups

Different Types of Fantasy Novels

Ambient Soundscapes Based on Famous Writers

Ko-Fi & Other Support

If you enjoy my posts and can afford it, I would greatly appreciate it if you donated to my new ko-fi page! Each of these posts represents multiple hours of unpaid labor. I love writing for this blog, but I’m also an underpaid 20-something trying to stay afloat. I’ve made this master post of every essay I’ve written for this blog as a way to show my appreciation in advance of any support. If you donate, to further show my gratitude and appreciation, I’ll take requests for essay topics in the ‘messages of support.’ 

If you can’t afford to donate via ko-fi, another great way to show your support is simply by reblogging posts that you find useful and helping my blog reach new writers. 

Thanks so much! 

wear a different perfume when you commit murder fuckin amateurs 

these are coming along

learning to love your(ethnic)self

because we are often taught not to

noses

how i am coming to terms with my hooked nose

how i learned to love my big, ‘jewish’ nose — and, by extension, my religion: white

how i learned to love my big nose and lips

i’m proof you can learn to love a big nose

how i learned to love my face- nose and all

a journey of loathing and embracing big noses

love your big nose, because it connects you to your african roots

how i love my distinct (east) asian features

i used to be embarassed by my (east) asian features

how radhika sanghani learned to stop worrying and love her nose

bonus: the beauty of monolids, as told by 5 beauty bloggers

body hair

learning to love my body hair

a guide to loving your natural hair

coming to terms with my indian body hair in quarantine

leave my hairy arms alone

why it took me 19 years to embrace my brown skin and body hair

lebanese artist rallies againsts arab beauty standards (hair + nose)

embracing my body hair (.... kind of)

to those who feel left out by the body hair revolution: i see you

the black girls’ guide to shaving

skin

how i learned to love my skin color (tw: lightening/bleaching)

how i overcame colorism and learned to love my dark skin

my journey in loving my morena skin

why i love my brown skin (poem!)

how i learned to love my morena skin

how i learned to finally love my brown skin (tw: skin whitening)

how i learned to love my black skin

unfair and lovely (tw: skin whitening/bleaching)

learning to love my brown skin (brief mention of skin whitening)

how i learned to love the color of my skin

loving my brown skin: poem

here’s how i learned to fully embrace that my black is beautiful

hair

how “quarantine curls” reignited the natural hair movement.: black

real women share their kinky-curly hair stories

after 15 years, i’m finally starting to embrace my natural hair: black

how i learned to embrace my natural 4c hair pattern

embracing my naturally curly hair: nb

embracing (multiple types) of asian hair in all its glory

what it’s like wearing naturally curly hair as an arab american woman

india and curls

why you need to embrace your curly hair: arab

culture

i love my culture!: dominican

what does it mean to be african?

the love for my culture (poem/song)

how i came to embrace my culture: vietnamese

how i learned to embrace my culture: indian

my lunchbox moment: learning to embrace my culture: indian

embrace your unique latinx indentity

why is it important to embrace your culture and heritage with love?: nyonya

learning to embrace my heritage: AAPI (tw: cambodian genocide)

opinion: in our nation of immigrants, embrace cultural heritage: vietnamese (tw: violence against native americans)

how embracing my chinese heritage taught me how to respect myself and find the courage to become an entrepreneur.

embracing my family heritage: persian

embracing the african in african-american

how i learned to embrace my middle eastern self

embracing latinx culture

it’s never too late to get in touch with your cultural background: chinese-american

some ideas on how to start reconnecting!

how i embraced my cultural heritage: turkish

reconnecting: native

This is by no means an effort to mass-educate, or make an “all-inclusive” list (that doesn’t exist, btw). It’s me sharing with other nonwhite teens things that have helped me understand myself and show that you are able to reconnect with and embrace yourself. In summary, this is a list of stories by POC who have learned to love themselves and their backgrounds.

Please do your research! There is so much misinformation out there and a lot of lies.

Everyone should know the truth so please try to know as much as you can so you can spread awareness and help!

Free Palestine🇵🇸✌️

video essays i love and think about a lot (mainly in relation to pop culture):

aaliyah, britney & the apathy of lifetime “biopics”

baby phat enterprise:  how kimora lee simmons pioneered 2000’s fashion

whiplash vs. black swan — the anatomy of the obsessed artist

born sexy yesterday

parasite — the power of symbols

hilary duff, lizzie mcguire, and the teen idol pigonhole

why this font is everywhere

it’s time to talk about the r@cism in dan schneider’s shows

a legally blonde fashion analysis

ghost singing: jennifer lopez’s stolen vocals and songs

the late capitalism of kpop

jennifer’s body and the horror of bad marketing

let’s get sad: a last of us video essay

video vixens got paid like rappers

how midsommar brainwashes you

beyonce’s voice is changing (part one, part two, part three)

explained: smoking and the voice

here’s what we missed on glee

how one netflix movie broke the entire internet

naughty dog’s game design is outdated

jeffree star faked everything about… well, everything

how we failed megan fox

mariah carey’s voice

token black girl: how tyra banks vs. naomi campbell was orchestrated by the industry

colorism in your favorite black sitcoms

that 80s show and the limits of nostalgia

‘us’ and the american dream: what it means

unraveling the madness of kanye west

life is strange: the worst best friend

“You’re my best friend” were Dick’s words. He could never decide if he took comfort in them or not, unsure of the context in which his soulmate would say them. As he got older, he learned to love them. The words stretched up his right leg, and his mom had told him it meant his soulmate was a runner. In his teenage years he found Wally west who said his exact words just minutes before Dick had said his own “I would do anything for you. Anything.” Which were written right over Wally’s heart.

“You are the coolest person I’ve ever met” were Cass’s words, written on her chest. She didn’t know what they meant for the majority of her life, only learning what they meant and what they were when she was deep in her teenage years. She carried the secret silent fear that her soulmate had already said her words, and she would never know. That was, until Stephanie said them one night in the Clocktower. She had said Steph’s words a month before without knowing it, and Steph was delighted to show her the words “my Batgril” written on the back of her hand.

“I hate you so much” were Jason’s words. He never understood them. If these were supposed to be the words his soulmate said when they fell in love with him, why did they express just the opposite? His father had used the words against him. Had told him even his soulmate would hate him. All the pain the words on his bicep had caused him, he was more than shocked when they were said by Roy on a night of hanging out as a joke, and even more shocked when Roy had shown him the words Jason had said to him two years before on his inner thigh reading “You’re Roy Fucking Harper, you are so much stronger than this. I know you can beat it.”

“You know you want me” were Tim’s words. They went along the under side of his jaw, into his hairline, and he hated them for so long. His soulmate was clearly arrogant and not worth his time if those were really the first words they would say to him after falling in love. Or that’s what he thought, until Kon said them, and Tim knew he was only saying them because he wanted a Tim to want him. Kon’s words delicately written spiraling down his arm, around his wrist, and to his hand was Tim’s immediate response of “you’d be an idiot if you thought I didn’t.”

“Gotham doesn’t deserve a light like you” were Duke’s words. Duke had ignored the words on his bicep for most of his life, knowing he had no interest in finding a romantic partner. Jason had once commented that his soulmate might be an archer like his, but he had begged thought about it farther than that. Then Connor had whispered his words while they were lying awake on the floor, their teammates snoring around them, and he wondered what he was supposed to do. A few years later, after Duke had found proper closure for his parents and fully settled into his new life, he finally said the words that stretched vertically down Connor’s back. “I’m ready now. I hope you still are too.”

“I believe in you, please just believe in me” were Damian’s words. He hadn’t known what to think of them for a very long time. They were not bad by any means, but knowing the line of work he would be in, they were not good either. In reverse to Tim’s, Damian’s words written on him chest were actually the response to the words he would say to Jon when he was fifteen, after Jon had finally gotten back to the right age and come back to him. “I can’t lose you again,” was written across Jon’s collarbones.

“If you think I’m ever letting you go you’re insane” were Barbara’s words. They were written so they circled her stomach, the end and beginning meeting at a point above her spine on her back. She had been devastated when woke up in the hospital, sure the bullet had ruined her words as well as her legs. The only relife in the hospital that day was when she realized her words had been perfectly spaced so the bullet didn’t touch them. Dinah said the words to her in response to Babs’s words that wrapped around her throat saying “please save yourself. I’ll be okay.”

“I love you and I hate it more than anything” were Bruce’s words. They started on his ring finger and made their way down to spiral around his wrist. The words had brought his family pain for a long time, but he had learned to become indifferent to them by the tenth anniversary of his parents’ deaths. When Jason trustee him enough to show his words, Bruce hand pulled off his glove and done the same him hopes to bring his new son comfort. He knew who his soulmate was, had for five years by that point. While he had been toweling off after a shower on Watchtower, he had seen Hal’s bare back and knew. The words “you’re Hal Jordan. If you can’t do this, then do no one can. I believe in you” were written in a way that almost formed wings on his back. Bruce remembered very clearly when he had said those words to him on the mission earlier that day. Hal didn’t say his words until a couple years into Tim being Robin.

Dick Grayson in Young Justice: Outsiders

Young Justice as Troubled Birds

Kaldur:

Dick:

Wally:

Conner:

M'gann:

Artemis:

And finally, everyone: