Things and Stuff (and an Announcement of Sorts)

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It’s halfway through January now (yikes) and I’ve got so much going on:

  • Writing for the Just You and Me, Baby fanzine
  • Lots and lots of day job stuff
  • Getting back into original fiction writing
  • Waiting to hear back from two other fanzine applications
  • Figuring out what new product to make first this year (it’s down to two options right now)
  • Planning my second tattoo
  • Working on getting more marketing together for my co-written series
  • Trying to get back into the swing of things spiritually
  • Staring blankly at a newsletter template instead of coming up with an actual newsletter to send out
  • Playing entirely too much Breath of the Wild
  • Organizing a new ita bag because I keep buying charms and pins and I can’t bring myself to just pile them all into one bag where you can’t see any of them
  • Organizing a Patreon page

The last bullet on that list is currently the biggest and scariest thing I’m up to right now. Which is saying a lot, when compared to designing something that’ll be on my skin forever and narrowing down creative ideas.

But, yes, I finally decided to take the leap and create a Patreon page for my fiction, poetry, and nonfiction resources. I’m still tweaking stuff and getting feedback from friends before an official launch, but it will be going live sometime soon. And now that I’ve published that in a blog, I’m actually going to have to follow through for once; oh, shit.

So keep your eyes open, I guess? And, in the meantime, let me know in the comments if you’d prefer to see a Kickass Outcast planner or a Final Fantasy XV fanzine first.

-Nonir

Fandom and Pop Culture Paganism

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This past weekend, I attended Fandom PDX cosplaying as The Strategist. This isn’t the first time I’ve cosplayed one of the pop culture spirits I work with, and it certainly won’t be the last. But thinking on it now, it’s a very interesting experience to be a pop culture pagan actively engaging in your source fandom.

First of all, you have to deal with the shipping and objectification of the spirits/characters you work with. For me, that’s generally tolerable, but occasionally gets to be entirely too much. Like when I come across a ship of one of my spirits with the antagonist, I just cringe inside. (But, as per being a good fandom participant, I just move on and don’t say anything; because trashing someone else’s ship when they’re just having a good time is a really shitty thing to do.)

On the flipside, you can get some really awesome merchandise pretty easily to make shrines/altars, or just remind yourself of your spirits and practices. I don’t have two dakimakuras, six acrylic standees, a display board of prints and charms, two ita bags, and four prints I haven’t hung up, what are you talking about? Hush.

For me, cosplaying as The Strategist or The Shield (and eventually The Sharpshooter) helps me feel more connected to them, gives them a laugh, and brings together the fandom and spiritual for me. Of course, no one else knows that (until now, I guess). Putting together the costume and finding the right pieces is something we can do together, and they coach me a little during cons when I want to get in character. Though, I will say The Strategist was mildly displeased with my song choice for the lip sync battle, even though everyone else was amused af.

I guess the point of this post, besides rambling incoherently, is that fandom and pop culture paganism aren’t incompatible–it’s just a balancing act you’ll have to figure out for yourself if you go down this road. What parts of fandom are helpful for you and your practice? What parts make you second-guess your experiences or make you generally uncomfortable?

All spiritual paths are incredibly personal, but pop culture paganism is a whole other level. After all, there’s generally no one else to refer to–you’re creating your own road as you go along.

-Nonir

2018 Recap

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Holy shitballs, it’s 2019. Is anyone else struggling with this fact? Like, 2018 was simultaneously the longest an shortest year of my life. And, because I can, I’m going to start this year with some musing on the roller coaster of a last one.

In 2018, I:

  • Started medication for my depression and anxiety that has helped a lot
  • Vended my first events with my business
  • Wrote and published a Lokean devotional
  • Published two co-written hopepunk novels and an associated novella
  • Got my first tattoo and scheduled my second one for later this month
  • Participated in a fan zine for the first time and got accepted into another one
  • Finished a Kingdom Hearts playthrough for the first time
  • Went to my first out-of-state convention, thanks to an awesome friend from college
  • Bought tickets for KupoCon NJ (yeeeeee!)
  • Joined an amazing organization dedicated to creating more inclusive spaces and practices in the Heathen community
  • Started playing Pokémon Go and caught several shiny pokémon
  • Started playing Breath of the Wild and holy crap is it pretty
  • Threw myself fully into my pop culture paganism practice (wow, that’s going on two years in the spring O.o )
  • Survived multiple breakdowns and mental struggles
  • Totally fell off the whole “marketing your own business” bandwagon for a while
  • Didn’t totally implode from all the bad news in the world
  • Taught two writing workshops at a professional conference
  • Interviewed Ray Chase (omg Noctis) for the podcast I’ve since left
  • Left said podcast, even though it was a difficult choice
  • Changed D&D groups and created a ridiculous chaotic rouge character I adore
  • Survived the Tumblr purge (I think? Then again, I’m here not there, so who knows)
  • Remembered what it feels like to actually be happy and content

Those are just the things I remember as of writing this. Obviously, a lot more happened–both good and bad. But the list is already pretty long and my brain hurts. So there.

I guess I’ll wrap this up with the traditional Happy New Year. Let’s hope this year is better than the last for all of us.

~ Nonir

Cute t-rex with three speech bubbles: one with a steaming cup, one with a flower, and one with r-r-r. Captioned: Say rawr--I mean hello!
Two light blue smiling clouds connected by a pastel rainbow and the words "visit the shop"

Present and Future

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I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I’ve lived a good portion of my life afraid of the future: worrying over getting homework in on time, getting into a good college with the right major, what sort of career I wanted, budgeting for rent and paying off loans, making grocery lists in my head, etc.

I knew, logically, that living in the future was a great source of anxiety. But I never quite realized until now exactly how much I was doing it. It all seemed so natural, because it had been instilled in me from a very young age. Make sure to plan, to save, to look forward.

I learned to be acutely aware of any and all potential consequences of even the smallest action. I held myself back from creating because I wondered if anyone would like it or if it would sell. I didn’t take opportunities because I was afraid of missing out on something else, or not being able to do it justice. I worried constantly of whether or not I was making the right choices to make my life what I wanted it to be–or if I even really knew what I wanted it to be.

So was it really any wonder I ended up the anxious wreck that I finally became these last few years?

They say to live in the moment, but so much of that advice also revolves around a lot of mindfulness practices and New Age stuff that just doesn’t resonate with me. But over the last couple of days, I’ve been more consciously mulling over my habit of living for the future.

I’ve decided it’s stupid. I know I won’t be able to shake it off entirely that easily, but I’m going to try somehow. Because life is too short and who knows what’s actually going to happen in the future, regardless of what steps I take. Obviously, I have to keep in mind “will I still be able to eat if I do X” sorts of things, but for the most part, I want to try and focus on what fulfills me now. Whether that’s quitting something that’s stressing me out instead of hanging on for potential future opportunities or getting a new tattoo doesn’t really matter.

What matters is that I’m learning to make myself happy again. And I can’t honestly believe how long it’s taken me to get back to that. Here’s hoping I can keep working toward it.

Promptio Zine Applications – Now Open!

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justyouandmezine:

Introducing Just you and me, baby – an FFXV Promptio Fanzine project

Are you an artist or a fic writer?

Do you love the heck out of Promptio? 

Would you like to participate in a collaborative project to celebrate this sometimes-sweet, sometimes-spicy, always-sexy ship? 

If you answered yes, then you’re in luck! Sign ups for contributors to the zine are officially OPEN from now until December 23rd, 2018. Please follow the link below to submit your application. All you need is a valid email address (so that we can contact you regarding selections) and a sample of the type of work you would like to contribute. 

> > > Apply here via Google Forms < < < 

General information

  1. Thirty contributors will be accepted for the zine. 
  2. Explicit content IS allowed. 
  3. This zine is non-profit, which means the publication will be available digitally for free. 

For more details, please check out the Rules and FAQs (also available on this blog) and follow @justyouanmezine on Tumblr and/or @Lhugy2 on Twitter for updates! 

Boosts are appreciated on any platform!

masterpost of tumblr alternatives

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twocatstailoring:

twistedcaliber:

olderglow:

this post will be updated as I find more websites to add! please check with the original before reblogging to see if there’s an updated version, and message me with more suggestions if you have them!!

for general use

  • myspace.com – yes, it still exists, i’m just as surprised as you
  • soup.io – very similar to tumblr, plus it can import your tumblr blog
  • twitter.com – allows posting both text and photos in sets, allows retweets

geared towards writers and bloggers

geared towards artists and photographers

  • deviantart.com – huge community, allows posting art + sorting into folders
  • furaffinity.net – similar to DA but for furries, easy to display commish info
  • instagram.com – photo and video posts, excellent tag search
  • piczel.tv – allows both streaming and posting art / photosets to a gallery
  • pixiv.net – huge anime art community, allows livestreaming

paid platforms

  • patreon.com – subscription-based access to many diff types of content
  • pillowfort.io – still in beta, but should function almost identically to tumblr
  • typepad.com – similar to wordpress but with reblogging and a dash

ways to save your current tumblr posts

  • use the wayback machine! you do have to archive each page of your blog individually but once you do all the content, including media, will be saved exactly as it was at the moment you archived it.

  • wordpress and soup both allow you to directly import whole tumblr blogs, and if i recall correctly it’s something both dreamwidth and pillowfort have said they are working on.

  • if you have some knowledge of computers you can try this github solution which uses a python script to download your whole blog to your computer.
    even if you don’t know anything about programming or the command line

    they give a very good beginners tutorial on how to use it so you should still give it a shot!

post version 1.0, 2018-12-03 21:33

in anticipation of reckoning day

WordPress does now ask for money to import. It’s not a huge fee, but there is a fee.

I just imported both my main blogs to WordPress (yesterday and today) using their functionality and it didn’t cost a dime.