I know I posted an AMA about a month ago, but I got re-injured at work and things have been rough. (Same hand, same injury, but different area.) I'm still not 100% but I really miss writing, so I'm going to write this anyway lol. I'm also going to power through a commission I owe, because I feel really bad about it. Then I'll hopefully let myself rest.

1. What does your writing process look like?

I'm what some people call a "maladaptive daydreamer", so I usually already have scenarios thought out when I start. Then, what I've found helps is starting the story at a part you're passionate about - not just where you "think" it should start. You can always go back and add parts, but the writing comes out best when I'm at a part I'm really excited about. (At least that's my experience, maybe that doesn't work for everyone.) Once I get that part down, I can go back to parts I may have skipped over, and fill in information.

2. Do you get inspired by a scenario and work your way out, or do these things just come and go when you ask yourself what if?

I actually don't get inspired by random scenarios, weirdly enough. (I know tons of people enjoy "writing prompts".) But I find I just can't get into writing something based on a small blurb. I don't know why. I tend to get more excited about things I come up with myself. OR, rarely, I've been inspired by a weird dream or thought I can't get out of my head. Both of which I'd still consider things I came up with myself.
So, I guess maybe there's a bit more "what if?" in the scenarios. Although there's definitely more of just "this would be really cool" in there too.

3. How do you deal with 'art block'? What do you do when the story simply does not want to connect, no matter what you try?

Like I said previously, I've usually daydreamed my way through at least most of the story by the time I've started writing. I guess another thing I'll do, is if I'm undecided about what direction I want to take a story, I'll write it both ways, and then decide which one I like better. (Or more often than not, I'll find a way to combine my favorite parts from each one.) Sometimes I actually get worried that I'll end up with the same line/paragraph/etc in the same section twice, so a lot of proofreading happens in between writing it and posting it. I think it actually happened once, so I try to be careful.

4. What do you dislike seeing in other works of fiction? Affecting either general fiction or specific fiction dealing with a fetish.

One of my pet peeves is seeing an interesting scene rushed, and it's clear the author really wanted to get to something else and/or the end of the story faster. (In fetish, they enjoy the "final result" more than the actual story, and you can tell.) Another one is when people spend a whole lot of time describing absolutely nothing. There's a real name for it, "purple prose". Some new writers have trouble figuring out what information the readers actually want to hear about. When I find myself over-describing stuff, I cut it down to more relevant details. Sometimes when I'm reading fiction and there's a ton of it, I just want to say Get to the point!

5. What compelled you to start writing in the first place? To start posting said stories on this website?

I don't know if this sounds lame. Or alternatively, really interesting: It was a dare from my roommate, during quarantine. I already really enjoyed writing, but that's when I began posting for the first time. Maybe that's not a "cool" reason, but probably an unusual answer nonetheless!


Thanks to everyone who's wished me well during the past months while I've recovered. I appreciate the patience and the support, y'all are awesome.

I injured my hand in a work accident a while back and I'm experimenting with dexterity in writing on something other than my phone. Thought it would be fun for people to ask me stuff. Including stuff about how I write. (People have DM'd questions in the past that I've been happy to reply.) I did a series of Writing Tips a while back, but anything more specific is fine.

One exception is I don't want to give away spoilers for future projects, if people have questions about those. It would ruin it for everyone else. Anything else is fair game.

I'm re-opening commissions.

Stuff is expensive lately.


My commission prices haven't changed, $10 per every 1000 words.

I can do fan characters, as long as they're researchable if I'm not familiar.
Popular fandoms I'm already familiar with include Pokemon (a popular request.) I am well-versed in that category. Others, you can just ask me about. :)

Just curious, of all my characters, what are peoples' favorites in short stories?

1. Rangavar + Arro
2. Zag
3. Arge
4. Other characters that maybe only appeared in a story or two

Is there more of any particular character that people want to see? Just wondering if I should brainstorm for any characters I've been neglecting lately

Heyo! It’s been a while. I just uploaded a short story hoping to get my motivation rolling, and I just feel like there should be some sort of journal to go with it, since it’s been so long. I need to add obligatory sentences like “I’m planning to put out more stories soon” and stuff, too. Not gonna lie, it’s been a rough couple of months for me, so I’ve barely written, other than commissions (Which I haven’t finished or worked on anytime lately; I think I got ghosted from lack of communication.) Considering how inconsistently I’ve had access to a computer, I don’t really blame them.

I’ll talk a little about what I’ve been up to, but I’m worried it’ll turn into a vent, so feel free to stop reading here if you’re not into that. I don’t have any other important “updates” to add past this point.





Several months ago (Around early April, maybe?) my original flashdrive, that had the most current copies of all my stories, spontaneously corrupted. There was no real sign that anything was wrong with it, I just went to open a document one day and it said the file no longer existed. I lost almost everything. There was an entire new story I’d made seven chapters of—Gone. The sequel I was writing to Hive Mind, that a lot of people have been waiting for? Gone. Unfinished stories like Under Ice? Gone. There were also so many small stories that didn’t make it, I couldn’t keep track of how many disappeared until I went to check my backup files. (I’d last backed up my stuff months and months before.) Most of the stuff that I’d written afterwards though, that wasn’t backed up anywhere, was just suddenly, permanently gone.

I won’t sugarcoat it, I was deeply depressed and felt like writing was pointless.

So, I was mourning that for about a week, when the worst possible thing happened, and a teenager at my school suddenly passed away. I was not prepared for the emotional distress of waking up to a work email that one of my students had died. Everyone was in shock. I was in shock. The school actually closed for the day of his funeral.

About one week later, one of my friends went into the ICU. He’d just suddenly lost consciousness and stopped breathing. The doctors said that the damage to his brain was so great that he was essentially gone, and they had a machine breathing for him, but his mom wouldn’t let him go for several more weeks because “He’s a spiritual person, so God will save him.” Spoiler alert: He didn’t.

I’d barely recovered from the last funeral, so that was rough.

Immediately after (I think only a day or so later) my partner got kicked out of their house for coming out to their parents. (It’s slightly more nuanced than that, but that’s kind of the stereotype everyone recognizes.) They ended up moving in with me for two weeks while dealing with that. My apartment is just a very small room, with a twin size bed, so they were basically just sleeping on the floor in a little camp of blankets and stuff, and it was emotionally taxing to have to take care of them while still trying to take care of myself.

They eventually found an apartment. And it was a good thing for them, too, because after that, my apartment flooded.

I was okay. My cats were fine (very upset, but fine.) Not gonna lie though, it was scary. When I came home and saw what was going on, I found one of my power strips (with all my stuff plugged in) literally lying in a pool of water. By some miracle, it was turned upward, so the water hadn’t gotten into the sockets yet. I just immediately started unplugging things and getting stuff to higher ground while I could. (My bed is high up, and I have some desks and tables.) It wasn’t even “a lot” of water, but most things touching the floor were waterlogged and had to be thrown out (including furniture.)

My landlord has been really dragging his feet on doing anything about it over the past 1-2 months I’ve been dealing with the aftermath. I finally mentioned being worried about a possible black mold infestation, which would probably be more expensive for him to fix, for him to realize he should get around to fixing anything. I’ve basically been trying to live anywhere other than my apartment while I wait for him to replace the carpeting, as it’s so distressing to see all my belongings in boxes while the maintenance people break my stuff (They literally broke the back off a TV stand, shattered a lamp, and some other things they were “just moving”,) not to mention staying away from breathing in damp carpet mold. (Meanwhile, my landlord expects me to pay full rent, of course.) I ended up coming back a week ago, but I’m starting to feel like I might need to wear some kind of spore mask in my own home so I don’t get sick. I’m currently sitting about five feet away from one of the wet, black patches on the carpet, as it is. I have some black spots covered with towels, which isn’t helping them dry, but I’m more worried about spores becoming airborne. Now one of my cats has been sneezing lately. My other cat, dumb as a rock, is sitting on one of the towel spots watching me write this. Bless her heart, and the singular brain cell that keeps her alive.

Basically, there’s been a lot packed into 3.5 months, and it isn’t over yet. (I won’t consider that stuff over until I’m at least safe.) I could also go into problems at work, and health insurance suddenly ending my medical care, and how I’m going through a breakup with my partner, etc etc etc. But I feel like it’s just complaining at this point. No one really asked for a sob story lol. Like I said, everything has just been… a lot.
I guess some of what I’m trying to say with all this, is that I’m sorry I haven’t been around lately. I’m just surviving.

Fun writing tip I like to keep in mind:


If you’re bored, so are your readers.

Self-explanatory, but something some people might not think about. If you are writing a huge section of story that seems tedious and tiring, take a moment to wonder if maybe the subject matter just isn’t interesting. If you, the actual writer telling the story, are literally bored to tears by whatever you’re writing about, then ask yourself why your readers would bother trudging through it? Unlike you, they have the option to just skip it or find a better story.

Don’t do that to them. Move on to something more interesting. Maybe just put that section in a “for later” pile. Write a part of the story burning at the back of your mind, something you’re excited for. It’s easier to write a scene you’re enjoying, and will probably come out better anyway because you are 100% focused on writing instead of yawning.

If this is also supposed to be the beginning of a story, then starting it in the middle of something exciting is probably better than where you “think” the story should have started, if the beginning is boring af (that’s the technical term)

Basically, try out writing parts of the story you're really excited to write about, and maybe you'll find an even better start, or a better way to describe something because you wrote about it while really in the moment :3 That is all

---

Small update? I have a new full-time job, been kinda tired, working on a new project, and also a commission that'll be done as soon as the commissioner gets back to me with more information :P I haven't posted a story in a couple months so I'm excited. I think now that I'm getting a new (better) job, I'll have more time for writing than with my other 3 day jobs lol. I do write in my free time, but the going was slow and I haven't finished anything "significant" in a while. I can post more small stories if people are interested in that :3 But yeah I think with a steady schedule I can work on more stuff (Although I don't want to jinx myself, so we'll see!)



_{Random, extra, unrelated thing:
This isn't a call-out by any means, but someone keeps "trying" to get in touch with me, but has me blocked. I don't know if maybe they just don't realize I'm blocked? So if you're the person who last messaged me 12/23/22, and recently sent a friend request, I literally cannot accept it because discord won't let me. It's nothing personal. When I try, I get the "Double check that the capitalization, spelling, any spaces, and numbers are correct" which they are because the request came directly from your account lol. So if you're the person, I'm not being an asshole, I think I just need to be unblocked first. Not sure this person reads my FA journals or anything, but they've had a conversation with me before so I'm assuming they've been here at least once.
And if you do have me blocked on purpose, then just... I'm not really sure why you're contacting me lol.}

More fun things to keep in mind when writing! :P Hopefully these have been helpful to some of y'all (or at least interesting!)

A lot of new writers like to write out every single step of a story. Because that’s logical and makes sense.

Is it necessary? In my opinion, not really.

Ex:
“After leaving, Character wanted to get burgers on his way home. He went inside the burger place. “I want burgers please.”
“Order your burgers,” the cashier said.
“I want burgers this size with this stuff on it,” Character told him.
The cashier told Character the amount, and Character handed him the money. Character waited for the burgers, then the cashier handed him a bag, and told him to have a nice day. Then, Character walked home, to continue the plot, which is about eating burgers.”


If the process mattered: Good job!
If the process had nothing to do with the story, what I try to write:


“Character walked home, picking up some burgers on the way. He needed them for the plot, which isn’t about ordering burgers, it is about eating them.”

It’s much shorter.

Another writing tip! Now that I'm not doing 11-hour days at my irl job, I want to start putting out more content on FA :3


So, while writing, I don’t put down details or background that isn’t relevant. Doing that bombards the reader with information, and trying to suddenly memorize a huge amount of info is overwhelming and unpleasant.

Example:

“We need to stop the bad guys,” said Character, thinking back to everything he’d ever been through. He remembered that time he first met the bad guys, and all their secrets that were already dealt with and taken care of in another story that will never come up ever again. While thinking about it, he reviewed all of his memories and thoughts on the matter, making sure anyone listening would get pulled out of the current story before getting to the point.”


In addition, I find it can create false foreshadowing, since the readers are trying to parse the info for things to remember. If you go out of your way to mention something very specific, it can stand out as something that might be important enough to come up again. It becomes a red herring for the story that the reader is looking out for, and then leaves the end feeling incomplete.


An alternate idea:

“We need to stop the bad guys,” said Character, thinking about what happened that caused this. Then he thought about what he was going to do next, based on what he knew to expect, briefly explaining how he knew the thing.”


Sample Text with how I'd write it:

“We need to stop the Glitarians,” said Rangavar. The last time they’d gotten away, they’d been impossible to find. They were a race of dragons that could disappear without a trace, so they needed to be stopped before escaping again.


It's a few sentences that give an exact explanation and why it's relevant, without removing the reader from the story to go on and on.

My first writing tip couldn't be my first if there's only 1 total. So I have made another! This one is about something I see go around a lot.

Dialog doesn’t always need a descriptor.
Biggest offender:
“Said”

“Some words,” he said.
“More words,” she said.
“Example dialog,” he said.
“That example dialog is terrible,” she said.
Then he said, “Let’s put the word at the other side of the sentence.”
She said, “I’m getting really sick of seeing the word ‘said’ at either side of the sentence, really.”
He said, “It’s only for the example.”
She said, “Let’s end the example then.”


Stop that

There are a million other words at your disposal. Use them.
Although personally, I would say that overusing them is also a crime:

“Let’s use other words,” she suggested.
“That’s a great idea,” he exclaimed.
“Can I ask questions in this example?” she blurted.
“Go ahead,” he yelled.
“How annoying will it get?” she chortled.
“Probably a lot,” he screamed.
“Maybe we should end the example then,” she cried.
“That’s a good idea,” he roared.


:/


Here’s an idea:

Actions!
They can be both the building blocks of the scene, and designate who is speaking.

“Is this example better?” she asked.
He turned to her and shrugged. “I’m not sure yet.”
“When will we find out?”
He looked away, thinking. “Soon enough, I suppose.”
She looked down at her watch. “I hope so, because we’ve been at this a while now and it’s getting late.”


Use this knowledge wisely.

Tl;dr: Do Libreoffice files convert to MSword files? Or will the program give me a hard time? I know that Furaffinity gives me a hard time converting MSword files to Libreoffice, and then uploading them for some reason (even though they're supposedly the same (docx.) files.)

To make a long story short, my computer mouse stopped working, and the replacement won't arrive until Aug 5th. Now, fortunately, a much younger, aspiring-artist me had a 2012 Bamboo drawing tablet, which is great for moving a cursor around the screen and clicking on stuff. But it's not so great for actually getting anything done. Unless that "anything" happens to involve highlighting text I don't want to highlight, or refusing to drag and drop files, pages, the damn volume button, etc.

My old laptop, which is packed away, has a touchpad/doesn't need a mouse. It also has MS word. It's where I used to write before getting a new computer. When I moved all of my stories to my new computer, Libreoffice was like Welcome! :D New friends!
Meanwhile, the same docx. files, when being opened by other sites, were like What??? Is this??? Libreoffice??????? Get this trash out of here and come back with MS word files!!!! (Even though they're still docx. files.)

If I get my laptop out of storage, will MS word open all of my files, or will it give me a hard time? :/ I don't know if it's worth all the effort to try, and then have it refuse to work.

I guess if that happens, I technically get a "week off" from writing. Like a small vacation.
On the other hand, I have a commission to finish and I don't want to put it off a week just because the laser on the bottom of my computer mouse was just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Okay, I've decided to do the thing. This is my first try at writing a writing tip! Hopefully I explain it well and it’s something interesting for everyone. Someone also suggested that I should base them around the way that I write for my own stories, so I’m going to make a mix of general ones and personal ones.

In my personal style, I start stories with literally anything other than descriptive settings. I prefer character’s perspective, not narrator’s perspective.

"Narrator":

“It was a bright and sunny day, and Character was walking on the beach. The sky was blue, the sand yellow, and the temperature a number. Today, it was his birthday.”

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, I just don’t like it. When I write, I start the story with actions, observations, thoughts, literally anything else!

Example: “Character wasn’t used to being at the beach on his birthday. He looked at the sand, wishing there wasn’t sand there.”

Example: “The sun beat down on the sandy beach. Character squinted at the water’s reflection, wavering in the heat. It sure was a warm ass day.”

Example: “Character looked up at the sky. Man, that’s weather, he thought to himself.”


It just helps me feel more like I'm in the character's shoes, and hopefully the reader feels the same way :P

Hello!

tl;dr at the bottom

First, I want to say that I DO have things I've been working on. But also, a few people have asked about commissioning me, and I'm waiting to see who gets back to me (I do them on a first-come basis.)

That being said, the things I've been working on my own aren't ready to be posted yet. In the meantime, I had this idea, if maybe it would be fun to post writing tips every now and then? Just something engaging/possibly interesting or informative to read for people who watch me. Maybe it would be fun to see some insight into how my process goes, in case anyone new to writing needs an idea or two to get started. I admit, I looked up quite a few writing tips myself while learning, although I had to pull them from all different sources on the web. Maybe it would be helpful to get a few that I've collected.

I guess I'm also just wondering if that would be fun, or if it would actually be kind of annoying? Like if someone doesn't log on for a week or two, then returns only to find their notifications clogged with journal entries lol. In that case, sound off in the comments if you definitely don't want me to post anything. If anyone says no, I won't do it. No explanation or anything required if you don't have one, just the word "no" would be fine.

So, tl;dr:

Writing tips, yes?
Or, writing tips, no?

**Editing to add: I mean posting little journals, not entire submissions. In case that was confusing or unclear.

I'm not dead!

That's the fun fact.

I've been super fatigued for a few months, and not really getting much done. I keep coming up negative for Covid, fortunately. I think it's either allergies, or that Seasonal Depression™ exhausting me lately. I finished the second half of a previous commission though, which I will be uploading in two parts very shortly. It was way too long in coming, but hopefully I can get back on track with all the writing I've wanted to do, but haven't been able.

So, that's all. I'll be around more often now, if all goes well :3

tl;dr: I have decided to put Under Ice on hold indefinitely

-Yes, I will leave up the chapters I have posted so far.
-Yes, chapter 11 is done.
-No, I will not be posting chapter 11.


I've recently gotten really gross comments about some of the characters. I think it might be best to sort of take a break.
-Rift is a character that pertains mainly to Under Ice, so there probably won't be more stories that include him(by nature of discontinuing the story).
-There is also a short story about Zag and Arge as my featured submission, that I may remove from my front page (It is based on Under Ice.)
-I might also refrain from writing about Arge in any other short stories at the moment. I know that seems unrelated, but... there was a comment about him that makes my skin crawl.

-No, NONE of the comments were on Furaffinity. Y'all are fine.

I think I maybe bit off more than I can chew (heh) with this story. I'm proud of the work I did, but as someone who's been writing for 1 year, maybe I don't have the skills it takes to portray the characters accurately. Or to brush off disturbing comments, for that matter. It's not that any of it surprises me, on this man-made monstrosity we call The Internet, but some comments related to this story make me wish that I could wash my brain with soap and water.
I have a ton of commissions coming up, and definitely some other short stories, so you can definitely look forward to those! I'm also hoping to pick Under Ice back up when I have a bit more writing experience and the skills to do it right. Just, for now, I'm going to focus on things that are more my writing-level, and work my way up a bit. Didn't I mention, my goal on this site is to just get better at writing, endlessly, forever? :P

Well, that's all the news I have for now!

Hello! I'm still alive!
My uploads have slowed down as I've been working hard on commissions - I am finishing Part 1 of the current one, then moving on to Part 2, and then someone else is in wait after that. It is taking up a lot of time for me because I put a lot of effort into my work :P

As for Under Ice, though, it's true I've still been working on it on the side. However, it doesn't have priority over commissions, so it truly is on the back burner for just whenever I take a breather. Although... I'm going to be honest, it's not going to go the way I'd originally planned, so the going is going to be slow. There is one character I've portrayed very poorly - I've been told that the elderly recluse character gives off "edgy teenager" vibes, so something has clearly gone horribly wrong xD Also, it's been suggested by several people - including some on this site - that he's also somehow a thirst trap??? Scrawny, elderly thirst trap...
Anyway, I guess the tl;dr version of that is that Mr Thirst Trap is going to be in Thirst Jail because I accidentally made him too likeable :v

In summary:
1. Commissions
2. Under Ice
3. ???
4. Thirst Jail

I'll keep y'all posted

Oh man, I feel like I should write a journal to commemorate my first full year on FA, but don't really know what to say lol. It's not really a "big deal" I guess. It's sort of a meaningless achievement, like, "Oh you exist, whatever, good for you," but going back through my old works, I think I've improved at writing a lot, and I'm kind of proud of that. I genuinely like writing, even if I'm still kind of new at it (I know 1 year isn't a long time lol.) It's definitely become one of my favorite hobbies, though, even more than just for commissions or requests.

I have some more commissions coming up, and will write Under Ice on the side, so everyone gets to look forward to that. I think writing chapters is particularly good for practice. My plans are to just keep improving, endlessly, forever xD

I hope everyone is having a good night~

Shoutout to  Aaron Aerin and Eryn for the cute icon

I've already gotten a few questions about what happens now that Hive Mind is over, both from friends and some of y'all, so I'll write my thoughts here. Anyone is welcome to comment their input too, since I'm undecided~

I want to create a follow up to Hive Mind but don't have enough info to go on yet. I know what the title would be, and an idea of what direction the story would follow, but nothing else that actually makes up a story. That's on hold indefinitely (not forever, but not anytime soon.)

I haven't yet finished "The Curse that Ruined Everything," not because it's over, but because no one seemed very interested. I plan to finish it at some point.

As far as other projects go, I've started writing a story about how Rangavar and Zag became friends. Zag is one of my favorite chonky bois but the story wouldn't really include romance. It also takes place before the events of the other multi-chaptered stories I've posted. I wouldn't be opposed to putting more effort into this one and posting chapters.

I also started writing a story about two other characters I've had a while, the plot of which would also take place before any of the above. Rangavar would be in it, but it would focus on an adventure the other two characters must complete. This probably sounds more vague than the others I've listed so far, but I wouldn't be opposed to beginning to post this either.


I consider all of my stories related/within the same "universe", with connected character relationships and plotlines. So none of them would particularly be like "Well, time to abandon the entire setting!" Everything is interlocked so I could really go anywhere from here. Ideas are also welcome~

_{You can probably already tell that they're all connected by small easter eggs I shove into the stories sometimes. No, you're not imagining them.}

The collab that  Choice_D and I wrote together has finally reached its conclusion! It features his character Denya, with my characters Rangavar and Arro, in an epic weight gain story. He's an amazing writer and you need to go look at his page immediately if you haven't already.

If you're looking to read our collab, Big Changes, here is a list of chapters:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 8.5

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 13.5

Chapter 14 (Final)

I wrote a collab with the amazing writer  Choice_D
It's a WG story that features their sona, Denya, and also Arro and Rangavar. It focuses on Denya and Arro getting to know each other... and also getting really, really fat lol

Please check it out

Story Includes:
Gradual WG
Overeating/Binging
Outgrowing Clothes
Stuckage

It's multi-chapter, so there is more to come~

Are the individual chapters of Hive Mind too long? Wondering if I should split them up. Maybe they'd be easier to read in smaller sections.

That's the whole question. That is all.

Hello friends

Tl;dr:
Tell me what y'all want to see after I finish Kill, Marry, Fuck :U

I just want to toss ideas around (and maybe get feedback?) on what to do after Kill, Marry, Fuck after it draws to a close. It's looking like it'll round out to an even number of chapters, actually, which is aesthetically pleasing to me, and also ironic because it was supposed to be short, like, maybe 15 chapters, and now it's gonna be twice that. Funny how the story kind of took over itself as I wrote it.

Anyway, that's not really the topic. I want to open up the chance to people to tell me what sorts of things they want to see after the story ends. I have two requests I haven't finished/posted, also empty slots for more. There's also the little shop of Darkest Desires available.

HOWEVER I've also gotten suggestions for more stuff to do with Rangavar and Arro, and one thing I'll say is that I actually create small, short thought experiments in my head pretty much all of the time, and sometimes those turn into (non-cannon) stories. I can post a few if people are interested in those. A lot of people are asking for Rangavar WG for example, and I've dabbled in that more than once in my "free time" (Time that I'm not working on Kill, Marry, Fuck.) Stuff like that takes place outside the story, but I'm wondering if people would be interested anyway.

When Kill, Marry, Fuck ends, I also think I might start up a prequel instead of jumping into a sequel right away (although there will have to be one of those at some point, or else it would be very unfair.) Feel free to give me some input on that though

I set up the system for shinies :) Anything is appreciated!