meridian_rose

Five things make a post, I've seen others say. And while I have photos to share at a later time, I'll make a quick personal post here and now.

1. Still working on my unconventional courtship fic. The first draft is technically finished but there's a fair amount of detail I need to add during the first edit. Fandom is Ghost Whisperer

2. Found a bargain second hand red dress for next month; my church encourages everyone to wear red for Pentecost and takes a group photo. Plus my sister and younger nephew are getting baptised so it's a big day and I wanted something special to wear.
I'll try and get a photo when I wear it as it doesn't look so great just on a hangar. Also, I just googled the brand (Phase Eight) and I would never be able to afford a new one of these, prices being in the three figure bracket. The two most similar currently on their website are £150.
It was reduced to £6 at the charity store and then on the sale rail for the grand total of £2.

Last year I got a bargain for my baptism dress at a different charity store, a dark blue FCUK dress which again, retails for £100-200 and which I got for £15. Both of these I put on and they felt 'right', comfortable, which doesn't always happen with dresses especially as I'm petite so shorter in the body than some dresses are designed for. When you have that comfort and they look good, it gives a little confidence boost.

3. Also, please forgive another mention of church but our minister, Reverend Mandy finally got installed at 2 local churches, so made official vicar for them after a long period of being in the post on an interim measure. The evening service was lovely, overseen by our new Birmingham Bishop Michael, and attended by the Solihull mayor (the ceremonial mayor not the West Midlands mayor).
Mandy asked me to a reading and I didn't realise I was the only one doing a reading. (Mandy wisely didn't tell me, knowing I'd probably not have done it!) I got to wear the aforementioned blue dress again too.
She sent me the passage (Colossians 3:12-17) and I read it a few times and aloud once before the service, and I focussed on the words in front of me not the congregation in front nor the amassed clergy behind me at the lectern.
Afterwards people gave me a lot of praise which was nice, because I'm not a public speaker and again, this wasn't something I ever saw myself doing!

4. Nephews were both part of the scout parade for St George's Day in Dorridge. Big turn out from many local scout groups and people coming out to enjoy the band and the parade. Will try and add photos later. We were blessed with sunny weather - next day, Monday, was rain almost the entire day!

5. I'm trying to catch up on DW posts and my inbox (55 notifications!)

There was one DW notification in the posts and comments section I've never seen before, "you are not authorized to view this comment"
My inner critic prone to paranoia said maybe it was something someone had commented and then blocked me from a journal/community. It's probably more likely that it's a comment at something like the Snowflake Mods where I had temporary access prior to this year's challenge to post the pre-post and poll, but access was revoked during end of challenge housekeeping.

Still, weird.

First of all: Potatoes!


I planted them in an old hessian shopping bag last year. There didn't seem to be many flowers on the impressive stalks and when I pulled the stalks at the end of the season I found only the tiniest pea sized potatoes. But then last Friday I found what I thought was a stone on the path - it was a potato spilled from the bag which had split open! I dug all through the bag and found the pictured beauties. We had them roasted with Sunday lunch and and chipped and fried as home made chips on Tuesday. Lovely!

I'll be away next week. I hope to come back inspired. Need to schedule as many of the writing blogs as I can for Wednesday. I'm reusing an old poem for the 4th. This month I wrote 3 sentence fics; "Monsters" was my favourite.
Being kind to myself has been a battle of "Look I wrote a fic for the writing blog and kept on top of my work stuff" versus "so what that's nothing, ugh" versus me doubling on "I did the important things and I'm proud of myself." I never realised tackling negative self-talk was so difficult, though so very worthwhile. It hasn't necessarily helped me feel the most productive but at least I'm not feeling miserable.
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I've been seeing some lovely icons around and nabbed a Good Omens one by tinyumbrella at their graphics comm oh_crime.
The icon, which should be currently showing up and here for posterity:

I've decided since I spend more time talking about Good Omens one way or another, than MacGyver, to replace my Mac icon with a Good Omens one.
(1) sorry, Mac/Lucas Till, it's not I no longer love you it's just not the right time at the moment
(2) watch me write another Macgyver fic now ;P

I used to have this Discworld icon at LJ, made by dramaqueen_clo a text icon that reads "Real children do not go hoppity skip unless they are on drugs" a Susan Sto Helit quote from "Hogfather"

So I figured a Good Omens icon would double up as a Pratchett icon too :)


I also updated the icon at LJ and I've been thinking more about the import tag issue. I could turn off comments at LJ, redirecting people to the DW version. I don't get loads of comments at LJ on personal (as opposed to community) entries, and most people do have a DW now if they're committed to journaling. I haven't made a firm decision yet.
(If you're reading the LJ version of this crosspost, please let me know your thoughts)

As the anti and purity culture took hold on Tumblr there were pro-shipping and anti-anti blogs stepping up to provide alternative views, support for shippers and creators, defend against ageism and harassment, and providing information about fiction, fandom history, and more.

The post "How Web 2.0 (and especially tumblr) is ruining fandom" is especially enlightening. The post is at :
https://freedom-of-fanfic.tumblr.com/post/169347159994/how-web-20-and-especially-tumblr-is-ruining
If it ever gets deleted, as many pro-shipping blogs have been shut down, I have an Evernote capture: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s260/sh/56204b96-5961-44fa-b86a-1ed2e1eb6e24/6541240b7bc13f651c80b445afe3d079

The post describes the "Web 2.0: web model where dotcoms create a free space for users to generate their own content, depending on advertisers for their income"; so Tumblr and Twitter, but not Dreamwidth and not AO3 who do not have advertising.

Some of the key points, expanded on in the post include:
• following people instead of joining communities based on interests has negative emotional and social implications
• social media sites benefit from knocking down privacy walls
• social media sites benefit from eroding online anonymity.
• social media sites benefit from conflict.
• social media sites are therefore deincentivized to address abuse reports, increase moderation, improve blacklisting tools, or offer privacy options.
• moderated communities were replaced by following unmoderated tags, directly leading to and encouraging the creation of hate spaces
• reacting to content that enrages you increases the chances of encountering it again because algorithms
• It’s easy to spread misinformation (and hard to correct it)*
• information fatigue caused by web 2.0 makes black & white thinking look attractive
• everyone is only 2 seconds away from being doxxed

* There's an awful anti-rape post that when I see it, I reblog with the Snopes debunking because telling women they need to cut their hair or risk getting raped is not something you should have to be seeing in this day and age.
Also a post that says you've abused your child's trust the first time they lie to you, as if learning to lie isn't part of expected development from two – three and half years old.

Furthermore
“Discussion on tumblr is like two people trying to have a philosophical debate on opposite sides of a crowded room by megaphone” - exactly this. and bystanders pressure - knowing that your responses are visible to everyone - adds so much pressure to the debaters to be decisive and firm [ie lack of nuance and reasonable discussion]
– the loss of semi-private spaces where we can be certain that our audience will share our contextual basis and we can be sure the content won’t spread beyond where we want it to makes us lonely. We always have to have our business faces on: every time we slip we risk destruction by shame culture.

Which is why privacy controls like we have at DW and even LJ, are so important. Friends/Circle vs public. Specific people you choose for a filter. Posting content in your own space.

Day 14 - In your own space, talk about what you think the future holds for fandom. What are your hopes and dreams for fandom?

You could probably have a made that said something like "After the increasing toxicity and low interaction values of Tumblr, a return to more thoughtful and positive interaction at DW" and most of those doing today's challenge would co-sign as a hope for the future, and point to the recent uptick in activity as a hopeful sign.
So that's me, and most of the other posts I've read so far. Love your DW. Love interacting with people. Love the privacy settings. Love that everything doesn't have to be "Safe for Work" and/or "unproblematic". Love that people aren't reblogging your fic posts with hateful rhetoric about how This Ship Is Bad and adding threats/harassment to it. Love seeing content people share. Love meeting new friends and finding out about their lives and their pets and their crafts and hobbies. Love coming away feeling connected rather than more distant.

I've done a lot of posting and linking to my previous 'dreamwidth' tagged posts here (I'll tag this post with it to make it easier to find) and at Tumblr to try and encourage people here/back here. I know I let things slide because lack of audience got disheartening and last year was hard, but I've always been here even if not posting so much, and I'm going to do better this year. Post more. Comment more. Signal boost more.

I never posted much to Tumblr alone aside from a few quiz/meme things, fic etc being posted/promoted here. There are a few things however and I'll try to decided which I want to bring here. Sometimes it's more reblogs with my thoughts/comments, sometimes a graphic. Even my meridianrosewrites side tumblr, solely for promoting work I've posted to AO3 along with any art for it, has its index pages for tags and links here at meridianrosewrites because DW is 100% easier to edit regularly with new links than Tumblr's interface.

So for me, I want DW to be my major hub again, and I'd love that to be true for more people!

Dreamywritingdragon made a fic banner for my Black Sails/Da Vinci's Demons crossover Travelling Companions: https://meridianrosewrites.tumblr.com/post/173166557432/dreamywritingdragon-travelling-companions-by

I wrote about watching Will (TNT), falling for Kit, and overcoming writer's block, posted to my Will sideblog at Tumblr:
http://kit-is-my-main-concern.tumblr.com/post/173320029824

And made a Jamie Campbell Bower as Lestat graphic: http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/post/171595105116/evil-is-a-point-of-view-god-kills
(see also the previous Vlahos as Louis from Interview with the Vampire: http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/post/146319986236)

POTC 5: Legend of the Seeker's Bruce Spence: http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/post/171516405041/unexpected-bonus-of-potc-5-mayor-dix-played-by

I made some pagan info/aesthetic/devotional posts
Achall http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/post/172787534866/achall-daughter-of-cairbre-nia-fer-king-of-tara
Arawn http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/post/170583824706/arawn
Brigid http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/post/170621256741/brigid
Dionysus http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/post/170581970896/dionysus
Isis http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/post/170583435796/isis
(see also: http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/post/172787570861/celtic-witch-facebook)
Lugh http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/post/170584367066/lugh
Witchcraft http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/post/172598165936/never-piss-off-a-witch-witchcraft


Blogs
I have a meridianrosewrites tumblr blog where I post promos for my fanfic and fic art; I actually store the tags page and the list "of all promo posts sorted by fandom" on my meridianrosewrites dreamwidth blog because DW is far easier to update regularly with links.

I've got the aforementioned Will (TNT/Jamie Campbell Bower sideblog: https://kit-is-my-main-concern.tumblr.com/

I've got a Texts From Last Blog where I post and reblog TFLN+fandom graphics: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tflnvariousfandoms
(My Midnight Texas tfln, Texts From Midnight are all at this tag: http://meridianrose.tumblr.com/tagged/textsfrommidnight)

My Black Sails blog is: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/voilesnoir

While I'm here, my Borgias sideblog is still running: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/knifecesarehappeneding
As is my Da Vinci's Demons sideblog: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/leonardo-artista

And remember I have my original fic blog on DW (lmdee) (fic/poetry only), tumblr (fic and other things I've made such as prompts/photos, reblogs about writing and themes I write about), wordpress (fic/poetry and other things I've made including prompts/photos, occasional reviews), and I also have a Twitter (links to my wordpress posts, occasional retweets), Facebook page, and Pinterest account.

This entry: http://a-ra-shi.livejournal.com/3018526.html talks about journals that are being summarily deleted for linking to sites outside LJ.
If true, and if this becomes more widespread, it could theoretically include linking to AO3 or Dreamwidth?! Links to Youtube? What about images hosted elsewhere? LJ is being silent about this but some comm owners are now backing up to DW in case of deletion.
As always I urge you to do the same. DW is an LJ clone so works exactly like LJ used to a few years ago - you can even make your journals look similar and read your f-list in exactly the same way, post exactly as you would to LJ (LJ specific html works at DW), comment in the same way, but unlike current LJ, DW's management team is approachable and upfront about any issues that occur.

The sky is falling again at LU but I'm not concerned about my data because I use DW primarily, keep my journal as "contains adult content", and if things got more dicey I'd post to DW and just have a links to my DW post once a month at LJ so I wouldn't be hosting anything "questionable".

In fact I rarely make an entry at LJ these days unless it's to a community, this being an exception because at DW I'm preaching to the converted. My personal DW journal is my default and I crosspost from there. I got a DW after a major DDOS attack on LJ a few years back and while I didn't immediately default to it, I got to know and appreciate the DW culture (the staff are committed and approachable, users are listened to, equality and accessibility are built into the site values).

Many comms I belong to host at both sites now and others seem to be considering dual hosting or moving. If the same people and communities are available at DW there is no difference between DW and LJ in terms of use. I'm sad that people would rather delete and give up journalling than make the easy switch and import their entries. If a coffee shop you liked was under new management and sucked would you give up going out for coffee with your friends or would you try out the shop next door which looks pretty much the same and will expand the menu if more people come along?

A few useful links
How To Move To Dreamwidth and Like It
https://promethia-tenk.dreamwidth.org/33951.html

Brief Tutorial on Crossposting
https://evilawyer.dreamwidth.org/198592.html

Getting Started
https://getting-started.dreamwidth.org/

Community Promo (for finding new comms or promoting your comms)
http://dw-community-promo.dreamwidth.org/

lj-refugees (if you need help with how do you do X on DW this is the place)
http://lj-refugees.dreamwidth.org/

Style System (get your DW journal looking nice)
http://style-system.dreamwidth.org/

Dreamwidth News
https://dw-news.dreamwidth.org/

DW suggestions (suggest improvements and vote on submitted ideas)
http://dw-suggestions.dreamwidth.org/

Fandom Calendar (for finding fannish events, comms, bingo/fests/exchanges)
https://fandomcalendar.dreamwidth.org

Fandom on DW (as above)
https://fandom-on-dw.dreamwidth.org/

2017 revival (find your friends)
https://2017revival.dreamwidth.org/

As I wrote here I've decided to do Rebel NaNo. In preparation I decided to clear up some of my files so I knew what existing WiPs I have and to make my PC tidier before my planned full back-up in December. Turns out I have three huge folders of downloaded/to file items and about five folders of various WiPs/ideas, plus various specific folders for ongoing projects, and about 200 misc files in the My Documents folder that ought to be in their specific folders. For someone who likes organising things I have a lot of "to be sorted" piles of stuff.
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