Story time! I was doing who knows what and, since I wanted something to do, I decided to go onto Google Play Games and play some solitaire. It had been a while since I played the game, but I remembered it was fun, so I was quite excited to start. I'm not sure how to describe the game, so here's the best I can think of for a description: Solitaire is a card game where your goal is to try and stack all of the same color and symbol cards together, from ace to king. In order to do that from a shuffled deck, however, you have to lay opposing colors (red over black, black over red) to find the colors and numbers you need. I think it's a really fun game once you get the hang of it. Bianca, on the other hand, thinks it's stressful. Back to the story! I picked it back up and I was having a really fun time! Or as I would like to think of it, too much of a fun time. At any given moment of free time, I would go onto Google Play Games and just zone out. And then I got addicted. So to fuel my addiction I remembered the cute solitaire game that I had wanted a while back. It was created by Devsisters, the lovely South Korean game developers who made Cookie Run (another game I'm obsessed with)! It starts off as the traditional solitaire game, but then, as you continue playing, you collect coins. Those coins can be used to open crates to get themes! And, as someone who loves any and all kinds of customization, I was in love with this. Best of all? It's also an offline game! So I can continue these fun times on the road, in a random location with no internet, literally anywhere I want. The game has no ads, even when you're on internet. Anyways, that's what's been going on over here on my end. I might go back to social media because I miss my friends and I have some work to do over there. It's been very refreshing to just take a step back and breathe, but I've got to get back into the swing of things! Hope you're all safe, Twisters, and catch ya later! Charisma
0 Comments
Hello Twisters!Bianca here. Today I wanted to talk about my book. This should probably go in 'The Smol Scribble' (my writing section of the blog) but I think what I have to say will interest and benefit everyone. First, this process has been extremely challenging. The first draft of my book was a short story for school. It was meant for a fun, light read for kids. It was short, simple, and educational. But I recognized that I wanted to traditionally publish it (as that was my dream) and that started a battle. So many battles. Battle 1 - Lengthening The BookMy book at the beginning was around 3K words, I think. But I hadn't touched it since 9th grade (it might have been 10th grade, I need to double check), so it needed some major editing, fine-tuning, and developmental edits. It was difficult conveying to my family that I needed to do this step and why I couldn't do a regular edit (proofread = regular edit). It needed much more. The story was off, I discussed with some of the kids that I worked with what they wanted to see in book 2 and 3 and so I needed to add some foreshadowing and plot to help span into the next two books. And a simple edit just wasn't going to do that. But how was I going to edit it? I strongly disliked the editing phase because 1) I didn't know what I was doing, 2) so many people were sharing with me their opinions that I couldn't hear my own, 3) I had an expectation to fulfill and that already creates an unhealthy mindset when you begin a project for fun, and 4) everyone's advice on children books (as my story is for elementary and middle schoolers) are so conflicting. Battle 1 - SolutionSo what could I do to fix this mess I put on myself? I had already messed up but completed somehow a couple of drafts that I was semi-proud of but all of them felt lacking. I was trying to work on a version of the story that would be around 30K words, so a traditional publisher would even take a look at it (30K words is the industry standard for middle grade books). I learned that, as an author, I can't have two audiences, its either elementary schoolers (ages seven to ten) with the word count being either 10K to 12K or middle schoolers (ages twelve and up), with the word count being over 30K to 50K. There was no home for my 3K little book that both elementary and middle schoolers loved. Then my mother said something that made sense, "Why not work on a version of the book for young kids and then later on make one for the older kids?" That struck a chord with me. It was a great idea. But I took it a step further. Why not just combine the appeal to both? I know it sounds like the same idea before, but what if I make a story that is short that resonates with the younger kids, but is long enough and cool enough for the older kids. I still kept the premise of the appeal the same, I just changed my mindset. And after I created the mindset to run, I closed everyone out and I wrote. Because I could not afford to look or think about other things that would get me distracted. I needed to work. In short, I changed my mindset and I stayed focused. How To Apply The SolutionBut everything is easier said than done. So what if you find yourself in the situation, what should you do? Changing your mindset is hard. I tried to work on it for a month and a half (that's how long I was stuck on the 30K draft before scraping it altogether) and it was agonizing. I didn't like working on it, it was actual work, and it wasn't fun anymore. So I walked away from it. Not forever, no, that's no what you do. I walked away with it in mind. Since I couldn't see clearly where I needed to go, I decided to change the view. Ask people you trust about the situation. But don't blatantly ask them, "I'm stuck at this one part of my story and I don't know where to move, what do I do?" Depending on who you ask, you will get the help/answer you need or you won't. And sometimes, you don't want someone's opinion on your story (especially if you are still editing it, you want people's opinions after you edit), rather you want to know what they would do in your situation. (Or, at least, that's what I wanted to know.) So what I did was create a scenario for them with something they can understand and relate to. That way they could give me a response on what they would do and how they would do it. For me, the hard part came with their response and my response to theirs. What was I hiding from? What are you hiding from? Are you hiding behind favoritism and fear? (I was.) Are you telling people no to their ideas because it didn't fit in your own? (I did.) Are you stopping people in the middle of their sentences stating why that wouldn't work? (I did that too.) But that isn't going to help you at all. I hid behind fear and favoritism for my book because I loved how my book was already, even though I knew it wasn't perfect and ready for publication. However, since I loved it too much, I wasn't willing to hear anyone's critiques on how it could be improved. Other people's ideas are exactly what you want to hear when you're in a rut. You can't tell people 'no that's not going to work' because you don't like the idea. Half of all my good ideas comes from when me and another person expand of those ideas that presumably 'weren't going to work'. And since I felt I knew the industry and my book inside out, I refused to listen to anyone who even shared their opinion about it. Because I believed, that since I spent several hours every day for the past year looking at information, that I knew more than them and that I knew everything that I could know about the industry. In reality, I don't know enough about the industry and I was so scared of people telling me that I was doing it wrong that I became so focused on telling people they were wrong instead of listening to them. What I'm trying to say is, know who you are, where you want to go with your book, and recognize and listen to people. But only for a moment. You need to know and figure out when someone is helping and when someone is hurting you. I'm afraid I'm still working on that part. To Be Continued... Battle 2 - The IndustrySince this post is already so very, very long. I'm going to be splitting this series into sections. Battle 2 is going to be about the industry (and why I dislike it so much), Battle 3 is all about self-publishing (which I may or may not split into two parts), and Battle 4 is about Kickstarter. Looking back on all of this, I recognize how far I am in the process, because right now, I'm on battle 4. There will always be an easy way to do things, but trust me, not all easy ways are the right way. Listen to your heart and if you don't like your options, make a new one. Stay Safe, Stay Home and Until Next Time My Friends... Adieu I'm sorry this blog post is out a day late, but it's for good reason. I wanted to be able to accurately articulate and express this topic as best as I could. There's a lot to unpack on this situation, so let's begin! To start, what happened to George Floyd is absolutely sickening. When this had all started, all I knew was that he had died of police brutality. Still bad, but what really happened was worse than I could ever imagine. Bianca told me what actually happened and I was in shock. To be pinned down and kneed in the neck to the point of suffocation is absolutely appalling. I saw one of the pictures or a snip of the video, I don't quite remember, but I had had enough. To know that this kind of treatment to black people is terrifying, but to see it happen. To see it happen to your own people is one of the scariest things that you have to face. As an optimist, I had thought that we were finished with all this major racism and discrimination. Sure, I knew there were momentary flare ups where people would think that racism didn't exist or where someone was blatantly discriminating another, but I truly had thought that we had passed the need to go out and protest. Protest for our rights. Protest for our worthiness to live. It frustrates me that something this basic is apparently so hard for others to grasp and wrap their heads around. It's not some complex, Aristotle idea. It's not some new thing. Because of these protests and movements, we are recognizing the need to do these things. The need to have our voices heard and our rights protected. I hate that all of these people had to die gruesome, brutal deaths. I hate that this is even a problem to begin with. But the thing I glad about? I'm glad that we're turning this horrific thing as an opportunity to be united for a cause. A cause that will better not only us, but those around us. We are speaking up and speaking out to let change happen. Let's continue to do this peacefully. Let's continue to stand together. Bianca and I will mostly be off of social media, because as much as staying updated is very informative, it's greatly affecting our mental health. For everyone, please stay safe and please be peaceful! Actions speak louder than words, and what gets ricocheted even louder than harmful actions is peaceful ones. Catch ya later, Twisters. CharismaHello Twisters!Today is all about movies and shows! As I haven't been working these past couple months, I've been cleaning, writing, working on my video game (the outlining parts), and watching YouTube and movies/shows on Netflix and Tubi. Charisma found Tube first, I just joined the bandwagon, but I've got to say, it's pretty awesome. There's a lot of old shows and movies that are on it for free and there are hardly any ads. I like to watch crazy and not widely known romance movies and they are absolutely crazy. Like. I wish I was kidding. Tubi has those movies that no one wanted to watch but needed a platform and I love them. Some are absolute gems that have horrible covers (I watched a pretty good Christmas Prince one that I have to say is 10/10) and some movies are absolutely awful that they bring me such amusement. :') The good stuff. Have you watched any good movies or shows recently? Let me know down in the comments! I've heard that 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' is finally back on Netflix, so if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Stay Safe, Stay Home and Until Next Time My Friends... Adieu
Hello Twisters! Sorry for not posting last week. I work on Mondays (Thursdays and Saturdays) and I get really tired when I get back home. As a result, I almost immediately take a nap, then take it chill for the rest of the day. Also! Last week was a complete mesh of days. I had to constantly ask what day it was because time?? And dates?? What's that? Anyways! I'm writing this at midnight to ensure that it gets out on time. :) You're welcome. But during this pandemic, a lot of people are at home and some struggle to think of things to do other than binge Netflix (or any other video service), sleep or just vibe. Now, to be fair, this is what I do for the majority of the time, BUT!! I do a few other things as well! First off! As I like to draw, I've been trying to play around with my art skills. If you're interested in drawing, give it a shot! You've got a lot of time in the day right now. There are a lot of online workshops and videos that you can use to start your art journey! Next, you could start a YouTube channel! Lots of people are on there and it's a great way to show your hobby or work off to the world! You could play games, sit down and talk, do a craft, make a skit, etc.! There's so much that you can do for a YouTube video, it's honestly wild. Another thing you can do is to clean and switch up your room. Sure, that doesn't always sound like the best option right off the top, but hear me out. Cleaning and switching up your room is such a refreshing and satisfying task that it makes you feel super accomplished with your life when it's done. I don't know how, it just days. Not complaining though! Cook! Bake! Experiment in the kitchen! Follow some recipes! Learn how to not burn the house down when boiling water! It's really fun, but only fully works if you make something small and simple, then work your way up. Trust me, from personal experience, it gets really discouraging when you try for the really complicated one first go without previous experience. I tried to make a different version of hash browns. It did not work. But that's besides the point! You've got an imagination! You have some kind of tool/medium: a notebook, computer, your phone. Write! You don't have to go full out, "Let's write a novel!", but there's definitely time in the day to at least pump out 100 - 1000 words a day. If you're like me, you're lucky enough to get 500 words a day, but eh. Again, not the point. (If you need a support group to help you write, then I suggest popping over to NaNoWriMo! They've got a ton to offer when it comes to writing!) And the last one, but is SO SUPER IMPORTANT! Take this time to do as much self care as needed. I know this time is hard, so take this time to take a bath. Do some face masks. Body scrub. Paint your nails. Cut your hair. Refresh your closet. Do the things that make you happy. Do the things that allow you to breathe in a deep breath like you've just inhaled some nice filtered air. Yes, I do like that. And yes, it smells nice. Okay! That's all I've got for you all today. Or tonight. Whichever it is, I suppose. I'm off to bed now, to sleep. Because, as I said earlier, I work on Mondays, so I work in a few hours. Catch ya later, Twisters! P.S. The shop is coming along nicely! It isn't without a few bumps, but that's to be expected. I'll probably give a more in-depth update in my next blog post! CharismaHello Twisters~Bianca here. Remember how two weeks ago my focus hasn't been top notch? Yeah, it definitely has seemed to be in a standstill. When I'm watching a show? 10 out of 10, it seems that I've got 20/20 vision with that stuff. My brain is on POINT. But with regular and important stuff? My brain skipped a heartbeat and a town because it apparently isn't working. So as I was looking at previous (and unpublished) blog posts that have never seen the light of day, I laughed with tears. I had a Miraculous Ladybug blog post where I was going to scream about Hawk Moth (probably still will). Charisma even did a full-blown post about 90's anime that she hasn't posted (but it's been in the works since 2018 ... I'm going to ask her to publish that one). Another one is about Japanese Sign Language, which I absolutely love and I will definitely talk about that in the future. But that's been about it. Life has been a roller coaster (of enjoyment, I have been thoroughly enjoying my time) and I have been able to do a lot more than I thought I could (like crochet), so I'm really grateful for that. And that's all about me :) Anything new happening with you? Stay Safe, Stay Home and Until Next Time My Friends... AdieuHey Twisters! Charisma here. First, I'd like to apologize for the day late post! I started work yesterday (a conversation for another post) and, after eating, almost fell instantly to sleep! But I'm here now! In my last post, I told you all that I would be opening up an art shop soon and it's still true! I'm going to be opening up the shop with a few stickers. Two of them are going to be my OCs, Jonah and Eriol! I'm quite excited, since I think it looks great, but that's creator's/artist's bias. For the third sticker, I'm going to be holding a series of polls on my Instagram that'll determine its design. Hopefully you all can participate in it! I'll hold it Wednesday, April 29th, at 1:30 p.m. EST. I'm really excited to see the results! I'm not even sure what to expect, I'm just going to gun-ho it and be surprised. Anyways, that's all I have for an update. I'm getting a tripod soon, so there will be YouTube updates soon. Catch ya later, Twisters! CharismaNo FocusHello Twisters! Today has been so interesting. I have not been able to focus on anything for long periods of time. I drew, wrote, drew some more, took a nap (twice), watched a tv (twice again), and then I hung out with family. I've even searched Google three times just while writing this post. :') Life. Well, that's pretty much what's up with me. Editing my story, drawing stuff (it's all been random), working on my business (I'll do a separate blog post about that), and watching shows. Stay Safe, Stay Home and Until Next Time My Friends... Adieu Hello Twisters! We're back at it again with our weekly schedule. Bianca now has a computer, so we each have a device to blog on! (We've both independently tried the Weebly app and we both gave up on trying to figure out how on EARTH it works.) So, now that we have this extra time on our hands because of the virus, Bianca and I have been trying our best to get as much as we want accomplished as we possibly can. For me personally, I'm going to open up my art shop soon! Trying to find suppliers and where I should get things sourced is definitely an interesting time, but it's going fairly well. I've also been trying to get further in all of the other, previously planned, items that we were working on. We're still chipping away at that comic (a lot has been happening on that end) and hopefully we can "open up" the rest of our blog in the next coming months. At least, that's my hope. I don't really have much to offer in terms of an update than that! Bianca and I are both trying to start up a YouTube channel, hers is on studying and mine will be on all things art related! Mostly an artist trying to get a shop up and running. Anyways, thanks so much for being with us on this journey! I hope everyone is well and safe! Catch ya later, Twisters! CharismaWelcome back, Twisters! It’s been a while since I last did a blog post (a while is an understatement) but I’m back and I’m back with a bang! This is all about The Obligatory Family Friend. This is the friend, more like an acquaintance for me, that I actually despise. Like. I hate this. This is where some random kid walks in and then your entire family loves them except you. Let me explain. When you have a guy that’s friends with everyone but you, you are under an unspoken family obligation to befriend this individual. And since I was a fun, happy, naive young child, I was all for it. Because why not? If everyone is friends with him, then why can’t I be friends with him? And it’s perfectly fine for you to be friends with this individual. However, you never should befriend a guy under family obligation if he is shy, clingy, and sheltered. I befriended this guy and he was fine at first. He was shy so we didn’t really talk a lot. I would say ‘hello’, he would say ‘hello’, and that would basically be the extent of our interactions. But, my family liked him so much he would come over here and there throughout the week. Yet, the only person who would entertain him was either me and/or Charisma. And I cannot express how much that aggravated me. My family was friends with him first, yet they couldn’t spend time with him and I had to take their place in being his friend, that just made me feel a little weird. Because they were always busy, I had to talk to this guy in place of them. Since he didn't really have any conversations with me, he basically became a One Topic Friend, which I didn't need a repeat of. Every other day this Obligatory Family Friend would come over and Every. Single. Time. I had to host. I didn’t want that. I didn’t like that. I didn’t appreciate it. Whenever we went to an activity, he would come and stay around us. Whenever we went to a church event, he would stay with us. Whenever we were at work, he would spend his free time with us. The only time I was free was at school, but since school was at home, all he had to do was ask my mother to come over and, since she thought he was a good kid, she always. Said. Yes. I can’t even express how much this aggravates me. It’s not even the person that aggravates me. It’s what he did. The clinginess is what got to me. I couldn’t stand him always coming to me and just existing around me and not putting any effort into making conversation with me. It made me feel anxious and extremely uncomfortable. I remember telling this to him and, because I expressed my feelings, I was scolded. So, not only could I not share my feelings on how I felt with him, I needed to keep it to myself and proceed to be his friend. It was, overall, very frustrating. But let’s talk about facts. The Obligatory Family Friend | Statistics The Obligatory Family Friend can either go two ways—they can be really good or, just, ‘nope’. But it’s their personality and their relationship with each of your family that really ices the cake. The thing that I should have done with this individual would have opened myself partway, find some common ground (enough to create a better conversation), then shared more of myself and, overall, we would have a better friendship. The Obligatory Family Friend | The Tricky Part The further we go into any of these relationships, know that the more involved you are with the individual, the more your efforts reflect the result of the relationship. I didn't know that when I was younger and I wish I had. But that's what life is! A learning experience. So my advice for you is to always take an Obligatory Family Friend slowly, much more slowly than normal friends. Just to be safe. Obviously, this isn't the end of my amazing adventures with males, so I'll keep you all updated in part 3! Until Next Time, My Friends.... Adieu |
Who We Are We are twin sisters who like to do almost anything! Inspiring people to get out their creativity is our forte and we strive to travel on magnificent journey through words on a page. Exploration is the doorway to opportunity and the endless possibilities of helping and reaching out to others is something that we endeavor to create. This crazy blog of ours is one of the many ways we hope to achieve that goal.
|