Happy Sunday!

I welcome you to the hardest post I have ever written. This is at least the fourth draft of my The Flash post that I've written today. It's very irritating.

So today I'm just going to ramble and rant a little bit about the mistakes The Flash made - in particular, two very big errors that the writers keep making.

And of course, this will be topped with a healthy dose of Cisco GIFs. Because why not.


Now, I'm not going to tell you to avoid this TV show. The Flash is actually a very enjoyable show with some interesting plot twists and fascinating characters.

But I will give you the brief rundown of what happens in seasons one, two, and three, because the plot twists and spoilers are essential to this post. So, if you wish to avoid spoilers, stop reading this post and watch this show.

okay this is funny in context

Ready? Okay, let's go.


In season 1, we meet Barry Allen, a kind-hearted forensic scientist who is bent on solving his mother's mysterious murder. After a freak explosion ripples through the city, he receives superhuman speed and becomes The Flash, protector of Central City. He meets Cisco and Caitlin, two scientists who help him fight crime from their laboratory. They share a common mentor: Harrison Wells, a brilliant scientist who caused the accident, but says he regrets it.

However, before long, Barry learns that Wells was the one who killed his mother. Wells also has super-speed, comes from the future, and calls himself the Reverse-Flash. In a climactic turn of events, Barry tries to send Wells back to his time, but fails. Barry also goes back in time and attempts to save his mother, but at the last minute, he stops.

Season 2 deals with Barry's guilt over not being able to save everyone - namely, his mother and, more recently, Caitlin's husband Ronnie. Cisco learns that he has cool mind-reading powers from the explosion, but that Wells also wanted him to have those powers. (This leads to one of the best self-doubt episodes ever.) A multiverse is also discovered, and from that multiverse comes another speedster villain, named Zoom. 


Barry is able to defeat Zoom (barely), but he also goes back in time and finally decides to save his mother - much to the annoyance of literally EVERYONE. Why?

Because Barry knew that if he saved his mother, he would completely throw off time and create another timeline - and he did it anyways. Season 3 explores this concept in more detail. Suffice it to say that Barry fixed his mistake, but changed things in his original timeline, like having Cisco's brother die in a car accident. (Oof.)

There's also another speedster villain (Savitar) and a new coworker with a suspicious past (Julian <3) but I don't think we'll need to dwell on that too much.

Now. Into the issues.


Barry, for the most part, has very low self-confidence. In fact, he was the very first character that I have ever seen have self-doubt issues. I very much appreciated that.

However.

Whenever Barry gets down about the slightest thing, someone always goes and has a pep talk with him. And this pep talk always works amazingly well, and he's able to defeat the bad guy.

Every. Single. Episode. Without fail.

Pep talks don't work like that. I'm sorry, but if the only way you can get your characters motivated is for another character to tell them, "You can do it," . . . well, you need to be more creative, because that's just lazy. I'm sorry.

(also the pep talks usually begin with "Hey" and now my family makes fun of it all the time)

probably the writers looking back on these seasons

What can we learn from this?

It takes more than a pep talk to change a character. Instead of having side characters encourage your main character all the time, maybe throw a short scene in where action prompts the main character to change his mind.

Your character's motivation needs to be strong. Whatever your character's goal is, he needs to want it enough to face his fears. If he doesn't care enough to do that, you have bigger issues.


The other major issue of The Flash is that characters do not learn ANYTHING. They repeat the same mistakes over and over and over and over.

For example, throughout all three seasons, the characters hide secrets from each other. Some of them are somewhat warranted, like Barry hiding his identity from Iris, his girlfriend. However, why on Earth would Wally, Iris's brother, hide the fact that he's been seeing the main villain EVERYWHERE?????? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT??????

Ahem. Sorry.

Even though in season 3, the characters make a pact to not hide anything from each other, they STILL DO. These secrets nearly get everyone killed at one point or another, yet still they do not learn.

If you don't let your characters learn from mistakes in your writing, not only will your audience roll their eyes in frustration, but it will also stunt character development.

Let me explain.

Season One Barry:

a guy still grieving over his mother's murder --> a guy who, although still sad, has begun to accept that she is gone for good, and even going back in time will never truly make it right.

I thought that this character development was spot-on.

Season Two Barry:

a guy trying to accept his choice to keep the past intact --> a guy not able to accept his choice and changes it

I mean, it was decent development, I guess, although it did cause all the fans to yell at him.

Season Three Barry:

a guy still trying to accept his choice to change the past --> a guy not able to accept his choice and changes it

Are you seeing a pattern?

Barry goes through the exact same character arc in seasons two and three. He doesn't feel like he has changed at all in those seasons. And I understand that his personality involves a lot of self-doubt. However, he does not learn from his mistakes, and he does not listen to his friends. This leads to a LOT of facepalm moments.

(Obviously, this is very dumbed-down. A lot of other stuff happened to cause this. But at his root, Barry doesn't really change, and it's a result of the writers not letting him learn from his mistakes.)

this GIF worked better in my head to be honest

What can we learn from this?

Even if you don't have your characters learn from all their mistakes, at least have them learn from some. Don't have your characters keep making the same stupid mistakes over and over again. It's very eyeroll-inducing.

Obviously, we're human - we don't always learn immediately, and your characters should be the same. But PLEASE, LET THEM LEARN SOMETHING.

Let your characters change. It's true - some characters will stay stubbornly stuck in their misbeliefs and fears. If that is the point of your story, then that's fine.

...

Wait, what's that I hear?

BONUS ROUND?

totally haven't been watching many TwoSet Charades videos, nope, why would you think that

I'm going to stop bashing on The Flash and instead focus on one character that they actually did CORRECTLY: the one and only Cisco.

(#CiscoRamon4Life fan club, here is our moment. I'm looking at you, Isabel and Sarah.)

Cisco doesn't really have a character arc in season one - which is actually okay. There's way too much other stuff going on during season one for him to become a main focus. We do learn a little bit about his motivations and fears. For instance:

I relate way too much to this statement

At the very end of season one, though, we begin to see the start of his character arc: namely, when he begins to show signs of a superpower. When he tells his evil mentor about it, Cisco is told that he will do great things.

Seeing as that came from Mr. Bad Guy, though, he begins to have serious doubts.

Over the course of season two, we see Cisco get slightly more serious. (Note: slightly. Does he completely sober up? Of course not.) He battles doubts about turning evil, as he meets his doppelgänger from another Earth, who is evil. EPIC scene, by the way.

simultaneously the greatest reference and saddest line ever <333

By the end of the season, Cisco has gone from being uncomfortable in his own skin to owning his ability.

(of course, then season three comes around and kicks his life upside-down again, but you get the point)

*screaming*

Anyways, if you get nothing else out of this post: please, please, please do not have pep talks solve all your problems. It's annoying and I might just chuck your book across the room. XD Just saying.

Also, this is a random question, but how do I make the section that has the search bar up above unsticky? I've been messing around, trying to figure out how to make my navigation bar unsticky. I got my menu underneath the Header, which I wanted, and I made the sticky area transparent somehow, but I don't know how to get it to stay about the header image, and Google isn't helping. XD

I will see you guys in about two weeks! I'm not sure which TV show I'm going to do yet, so it'll be a surprise to both of us! ;)

-Nicole

Happy Sunday!

Today kicks off TV Shows September! yes, I'm back with my bad naming skills, you can boo me later

And what better way to start things than with one of the Best TV Shows of All Time (TM). That's right, today we're talking about Avatar: The Last Airbender!

via GIPHY - my thoughts while writing this

Recently, the amazing Faith posted a list of overused tropes in YA fantasy novels. And, while I agree with everything she said, I also think that these tropes can be done correctly. It just so happens that many of the tropes she listed are featured in Avatar (which I will now henceforth call ATLA), and I believe that they were done practically perfectly. In particular, I'd like to focus in on her second point, which discussed the morally-grey son characters and their perfectly evil fathers.

So let's get started with this collab/response/rebuttal/series post thingy that ends up purely discussing redemption arcs.


EVIL FATHER + REDEEMED SON.

I'm not going to lie - I'm a huge sucker for this trope. My current WIP features this semi-prominently. But there's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it.

Or, shall I say, there's an honorable way to do it and a wrong way to do it.

*excuse the sound of me screaming HONOOOOOOR into the wind*

For those of you who have never seen the show, here's a quick run-down of what I'm talking about: ATLA's main character, Aang, is being hunted by the Fire Nation's cruel dictator, Fire Lord Ozai. He has sent his son, Prince Zuko, to capture the Avatar (aka Aang). Zuko is very dedicated to this cause. However, over the course of the show, he sees that he is on the wrong side and eventually ends up joining Aang's side (which the fandom affectionately calls the Gaang).

this episode was one of the best XD - not because of this particular scene

Obviously Zuko is my favorite character, so I'm going to have way too much fun with this. There is so much to analyze with his character arc and relationships, but I'll try to keep it brief and relevant.


I will go ahead and admit this right now: ATLA is definitely not completely perfect in this category. Fire Lord Ozai's main reason for world domination is "because I want to!"

However. There IS a very big reason why he is cruel to his son, and it is only known to those who read the comic continuations (aka the people like me who have no lives outside of this franchise). Long story short: Zuko's mom wished that Zuko was the son of another man she loved, and Ozai got really ticked about that. (This may be unclear, but it took about three comics to explain, so I'll leave it at that.)

okay but despite his motive being kind of pathetic THIS GUY IS SCARY

And this is a kid's TV show we're discussing here. XD ANYways. . . .

As for Zuko's why? Why does he put up with his horrible dad and keep trying to earn his respect? Simple. Zuko is loyal to the Fire Nation, and getting back in good terms with his dad will get him the HONOR from the Fire Nation he wants.

(let's start a count of how many times I yell HONOR in this post. I'm at three already)


Even if it's a petty why, like "trying to get back the electric violin his sister stole," your bad guys need a strong motivator. And just keep in mind - especially with redemption arcs, your character's motivation might change.



Look, Zuko's redemption arc literally took the entire TV show to complete. And it was absolute perfection.

A good redemption arc (if you don't want your arc to end messily) will have a satisfying ending. I'm not going to spoil the end of ATLA (because I want you guys to watch it!) but Zuko's character arc wrapped up when he confronted his father. THAT SCENE WAS GOLD.

And he struggled every step of the way. He resisted everything that told him that he was on the wrong path and stubbornly tried to keep getting his HONOR from his father. Even when he was finally forced to admit that he was in the wrong - via everyone's favorite mentor figure, Uncle Iroh - he still fought against it.

In real life, it takes a long time to change. Let it be the same way in your story.

ICONIC LINE TIME

Faith talked about this in her post, but I'm going to bring it up again because it needs to be said again. Basically, in a lot of YA fantasy, the Angsty Love Interest meets a Strong Independent Woman who he immediately moons over. Thirty minutes after meeting her, it's clear he's on the wrong side of the war. Obviously.

If this was true in ATLA everyone would be on the Fire Nation's side because of Ty Lee. Just saying.

I'm honestly not sure if this trope is accurate in real life. I know I haven't experienced anything like it. I do think that one person can dramatically affect a person's outlook on life. However, I don't think that meeting a super-pretty girl who seems independent is going to do that to a person.

Zuko had MANY factors contributing to his climactic decision to help the Avatar. His uncle Iroh gave subtle hints. He had a talk with Katara that helped him see more of the other side. He walked through the oppressed Earth Kingdom. He saw Aang's gentle spirit in action. He experienced abuse at the hands of his sister and father, the "good guys." And when he returned to his home after maturing, he saw the flaws in his country for the first time.

ASDFGHJKL THIS SCENE THOUGH

You'll note that I didn't mention a love interest in here. That's because Zuko's love interest is ACTUALLY ON THE FIRE NATION'S SIDE. *mind exploding* (She actually got really mad when he switched sides, which I just find hilarious.)

In other words: Just because your character meets a hot girl doesn't mean he'll immediately rethink his life.

(I will say, though, if meeting a hot girl does affect your morally-grey character, why? Does he have a past with her? Does he carry some guilt over something he's done? Or is he scared of her?)


Is Zuko a perfect character when his redemption arc is completed? HECK NO. He still has some trust and anger issues, and he has this weird tendency to take people on field trips. He still harbors a lot of fear and guilt over things he's done to the Gaang.

His flaws are even more apparent in the comics, although I'm not even going to delve into those.

But just because your character found the light doesn't mean he's automatically a saint. If anything, he's going to struggle even more. How do the people around him think of him now? Do they trust him? What does the main villain think, and how will he react? There are so many conflicts you could add to your story now!


It takes a lot of work to create a good redemption arc - lots of time, attention to detail, and persistence. But, as we can see with Zuko's redemption arc, it's totally worth it.


-----------------------------------

I could cover wayyyyy more things about ATLA in this post, but this is already long enough.

WATCH THIS SHOW, GUYS. IT'S SO GOOD. If you ever come over to my house I will force you to watch the first two episodes. I'm not even kidding. :)

all right, I promise to stop using GIFs now

Okay.

And now for the part of the post that I wish I didn't have to write, but here we are.

So. School started up. And this last week, Something Happened that dialed my schedule to an 11. I don't know if I'll ever bring it up online, not because it's bad, but just because it's still weird to think about.

But, in summary: I've got way too much stuff on my plate, I want to bring you guys good blog posts, and I don't have time to put out one post a week. So I'm cutting down my blogging schedule to every other Sunday.

If I DO have time during the week to write an extra blog post, I will definitely end up posting it! But I don't forsee that happening anytime in the next few months.

So, the next post you'll see from me won't be on the 8th, but on the 15th. You guys probably know the drill.

But September is still TV Show September, so the remaining September posts will be focused on TV shows! I'm excited for the next post - some of you already called it in last week's comment section. (and honestly I'm going to be very predictable XD)

Until next time, see you later!

-Nicole <3

Happy Sunday!

You know, some months are like Avengers: Endgame. There’s way too much going on at the same time, and you can barely keep up. And other months are like Thor: Ragnarok, where there’s pretty much nothing happening, but it’s (kind of) fun anyways.

This month has been like Ragnarok for me. Meeting friends, getting out of my comfort zone, and lots and lots of electrocutions.


What to say, what to say?

I feel like giving moments of August in bullet-point form because honestly, my memories of this month are really disjointed and these are the only coherent things I can come up with.

- losing my voice for, like, two weeks

- trying out for the school musical and actually walking away semi-satisfied with my performance (???)

- starting school

- my Ravenclaw locker magnet and my friends' corresponding magnets

- seeing my friends switch said Hogwarts house locker magnets around (I’m a Hufflepuff now!)

- PHYSICAL EXERCISE IS PAIN

- SO MUCH PAIN

- MY LIMBS ARE STILL DYING

- bridal shower

- starting the Blades of Acktar series!

- WHY DOES EXERCISE HURT SO MUCH

- WHY WAS STRENGTH TRAINING THE ONLY CLASS OPTION AVAILABLE

Jason Bourne. I’ve been meaning to watch these movies for forever, but I never really had a good chance. So, of course, I did the logical thing and watched the trilogy in four days. XD

While it’s definitely not a perfect series (there are several unresolved threads, for one) I think it’s a really intriguing use of the amnesia trope and a really interesting movie series overall!

The Blades of Acktar. I bought the entire series at RM, but only just started reading them now! I love the characters (I will go DOWN with the Leith x Renna ship) and the themes of forgiveness are woven into the storyline really well. I'm currently trying to work up the courage to read book 3, because book 2 ABSOLUTELY BROKE ME.

Artemis Fowl. If you haven’t read this series yet, WHAT ARE YOU DOING????? It’s a completely underrated series about a genius teenage criminal mastermind who discovers fairies. Also, book seven is pure comedy GOLD and has ruined my life. #onetwothreefourfive #wearthesuitandstayalive

seriously, number poetry? that’s ridiculous. 

Inception. To be fair, I haven’t actually seen this movie - I’ve only listened to the soundtrack. But I’ve been completely obsessed with "Time" for weeks now. (I think I prefer the TwoSetViolin cover - check it out! It’s aMaZiNg!)

You know . . .

Some people become writing MACHINES after writers' conferences.

I became a procrastination MACHINE.

Lately I’ve been doing better, probably because school has started and I get really panicky if I don’t write during school for some reason. *shrugs* But I had plans of finishing The Inhumans #1 draft 2 by the end of August, and unless I do some Serious Writing, that is not going to happen.

That’s okay, though! I still have two months before NaNo, so I might be able to pull my Grand Writing Plan off. XD (and in case you're wondering, yes, my Grand Writing Plan is wayyyy more than I can handle, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try it anyways)

This month has been one of my favorite blogging months. Here are the posts I did:




Meanwhile, around the blogosphere . . .

Chloë wrote a very moving post titled Dear World that you definitely should check out.

Along those same lines, Melissa wrote another Dear Writer post that any writer should read. It’s probably one of my favorite posts of hers.

And Faith wrote a roast of all the bestselling YA novels that you will read and then proceed to die of laughter. ;)

Not to mention all the Realm Makers posts that have popped up during August! There have been so many it would take forever to list them all here, but some of my favorites were Christine's and Skye's posts!

----------------

This September, I’m doing something different and following a theme for this month's blog posts!

And the theme is TV Shows.

For each different Sunday of September, I’ll be covering a different (favorite) TV show, along with something from that show that can benefit our writing. I’m hoping it’ll be fun and interesting and keep me alive through this month. I'm pumped for this, guys!

(Also, for those of you still wondering about that Instagram, don't worry, I'm hoping that it'll pop up soon......)

Until next time, have a great day, and I'll talk to you guys in the comments!

-Nicole <3

Happy Sunday!

For me, school has started. Yay. (Read that last word in the most depressing tone of voice ever.) I'm taking quite a few English classes this year, which means that I'm going to be reading quite a few classics over the next few months.

Which, coincidentally, leads us right into this tag’s intro!

Rebellious Writing, which is an organization dedicated to writing and reading clean literature, created this tag in honor of their two-year anniversary! I LOVE their message and team, so of course I had to participate. XD

The amazing Gray tagged me, which is good, because if she hadn’t, I would have stolen it. XD Thank you, Gray!


The Rules:

1. Link your post to Rebellious Writing (www.rebelliouswriting.com) ✅
2. Answer the questions ✅
2. Tag at least 5 bloggers ✅

Well, that doesn't seem so hard.

Now I just need to get through all my unpopular opinions of classics. XD Here we go.


The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle. It's the most underrated Narnia book ever and IT DESERVES A MOVIE OKAY. <3333 The allegory is so perfect, and seeing all the characters come together in Heaven is just beautiful.


Um. *nervous laugh* The plot? I honestly don't read that many classics, so the plot will have to draw me in. Also, if there's a movie adaptation, I will also consider picking it up. Buuuuut, honestly, I’m not much of a classics person.

look at me, giving sacreligious answers to these


See answer to #1 (The Last Battle). But also the Father Brown books by G.K. Chesterton. It's like Sherlock Holmes, but with a Catholic priest instead! They're really interesting and sometimes even funny. (Although, in my personal opinion, the TV shows are not that great. Read the stories instead.)


Huckleberry Finn (and I guess, Tom Sawyer by extension). I LOVE Huck's character, but for years I tried and failed to finish this book. Once I got into the writing style, though, I ended up really loving it.


My most favorite would have to be Lord of the Rings (of course).

As for my least favorite . . . oh, goodness, I don't know. Maybe Of Mice and Men? I'm sorry, but I hate that ending. *shudders*


I already mentioned Huck Finn up above, but I think another favorite character of mine would be Jane Eyre from the book of the same name. I mean, we're both quiet bookworms. XD And also Joe Hardy from the Hardy Boys. I love that kid. (Are the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew considered classics? I honestly don’t know. *shrugs* Who cares, we’re counting Joe anyways.)


Okay, unpopular opinion time: Pride and Prejudice genuinely bored me. I barely finished the book, and when I did, I was not able to explain the plot.

The only reason I actually DO know the plot is because we discussed it at our school book club. (By "we discussed" I mean that I listened while everyone else discussed. XD)

Also, The Great Gatsby is also on my list, but to be fair, the movie ruined it for me, so I'll cut it some slack at least. But it left me feeling really depressed, and there just wasn't much hope in the book. (I suppose it could be argued that this was the point of the book, to show our world's sinfulness, but come on, there could be at least have ONE morally upright character to show the good. -_-)


J.R.R. Tolkien. Without question.


I think a classic is any book that can withstand the test of time. No matter the year, people will be able to pick it up and be sucked into that time period or that world, relate to the characters, and ultimately have a good time inside of the story. Classics are also universal and teach a universal truth (sometimes).


Pretty much just the answer to #9, honestly.

In terms of present-day books that I think might become classics . . . gosh, I honestly don't know. I don't read enough popular books. XD But even if I did, I don’t think they would withstand the test of time. From my experience reading YA, a lot of them are not especially well-written and don’t really have long-lasting themes.

...

And now for the tagged!

(Feel free to steal this if you want to do it.)

Emily @ The Ones That Really Matter
Kathryn @ In the Depths of Dreams
Catherine @ The Rebelling Muse
Keturah @ Keturah’s Korner
Rakayle @ A Story Detective

Rebellious Writing, happy anniversary! <3

-Nicole <3

Happy Sunday!

This is a post that I've been wanting to do for a looooong time now, but have never had the chance or the motivation . . . until now. *dramatic music plays* I am so excited!

In January 2019, I started bullet journaling. I had researched it for YEARS, I kid you not, but I had never really had reason to start until then.

And I found that the bullet journal method is SO HELPFUL.

So I figured I'd just go through a few of my spreads and show you some of the mistakes I made and lessons I learned along the way.

Brace yourselves. This is not your typical "perfect" bullet journal. XD


Before we begin, I should probably clear up a question that some of you may be asking:

What is a bullet journal? 

I know that there are a few definitions on the Internet that work fine, but I'm not going to use any of them. XD

Instead, here is My Definition: a bullet journal is a combination of scrapbook, planner, journal, tracker, or whatever you can think of. It can literally be used for anything - scheduling out your day, tracking your exercise routine, planning out novels, anything. The possibilities are limitless.

I chose to try bullet journaling because all the other planners I was trying did not really work for me. I was drawn to the customization feature bullet journals have - because, in case you didn't know, you draw out literally everything. Nothing comes pre-printed. XD

(I'm not sure what I was thinking. I'm the least artistic or aesthetic person ever. But somehow this method works???? It must be magic.)

When I first began, I decided to use a really old, unused journal as my trial case. For some reason, I thought that the pink dotted lines on the paper would look great with the blue pen I decided to use.

It did not.

But you know what? You can do anything with your bullet journal - which includes using weird, ugly color combinations. No one will yell at you probably. It's your journal. Do whatever you want with it.

Here's one of my weekly spreads (or, I suppose I called it my "Daily Codex" *shrugs*):

also I'm just noticing this, but I wrote down when my Flash obsession began. I'M SO HAPPY

This lined journal worked great for me for the first two months. It was my place to explore different kinds of layouts (commonly called spreads).

However, lined journals have their limitations. You can't draw any small graph layouts with ease, such as this:

my color-coding skills are . . . interesting

Well, I suppose you can, but it is a lot harder than you think - and the perfectionist side of my brain HATED to even look at that page.

I'm not saying that you can't use lined or graph notebooks. But for me, a dot grid notebook offered a better alternative.

So, when I was positive that I would like bullet journaling, I ordered the least expensive dot grid journal just in time for the month of March. (I didn't realize how EXPENSIVE those things are. It's insane.)

my current journal w/ a pen and marker I use!

IS THIS COOL OR WHAT?

And with the dot grid system, I was able to create such spreads like the Year in Pixels, where I fill in a square every day with the color that corresponds to my overall mood:

some parts are blurred only because they contain Inhumans spoilers. XD

I could also create habit trackers like these, which look REALLY cool at the end of the month:

these also took FOREVER to draw out, but I think the end result was worth it XD

However, using a dot grid brought on a new wave of challenges, such as being forced to count the number of dots to make sure that each side of a page was equal in length. (Spoiler alert: it is VERY tedious.)

I was also still in the experimentation phase of journaling, so I tried out this timetable spread I'd seen on Savannah's blog. This is how far I got:


This just goes to show that you don't have to finish any spread. Again, who cares if you do?

I would also like to point out that it doesn't matter if your spread looks good or not. Believe me, I had to learn this lesson again and again and again. Take this June/July title page:

I accidentally started writing "June" where "July" was supposed to go and I panicked

I did somewhat manage to correct my mistake, but alas, I do not own erasable markers. XD

Then again, bullet journaling does not require specific supplies. You don't need to own the Muji pens or the Zebra mildliners or whatever those popular bullet journalers use. I just use a black or blue pen and some markers I have at home. XD

Now, we're going to move to my favorite part of bullet journaling: THEMES.

Guys. If you bullet journal, themes are a LIFESAVER and also super fun! The idea is for all your pages from one month to be inspired from something. During May, I took inspiration from Alea Harper's Instagram and made May Avengers Month (because #endgame). I'm pretty proud of the results.

my favorite title page I've ever made XD

my month at a glance! ft. marvel quotes from Clint and Loki

on your left is my "reasons to be happy" page, and on the right is my habit tracker, ft. quotes from Dr. Selvig and Cap

Behind the scenes, those pages took like FIVE HOURS to create. If you're going to embark on something of this magnitude, I would recommend for you to be patient. And if you don't know how to draw something, practice first. I drew that big Avengers "A" out on a separate sheet of paper first before putting it into my journal. It was totally worth the hour of drawing I needed.

.........

I want to end this post with a couple more tips if you want to start bullet journaling:

Your journal does not have to be perfect. I feel like I must reiterate this over and over, because a perfect journal does not exist. For every spread you see online, there's another spread that was never shown to the Internet. My weekly spreads are DISASTERS (and also contain private information, which is why there aren't really pictures of them XD). And even the pictures I've shared today aren't perfect.

Practicality > Prettiness. Seriously. It doesn't matter if you have perfect calligraphy, font-like handwriting. If you can't find anything in your journal, it's all pointless. The bullet journal is a tool, not an art canvas - no matter what you might see on YouTube. (I mean, unless your bullet journal is for sketches. In that case, you can throw practicality out the window. XD)

If other planners aren't working for you, maybe try the bullet journal out! It's pretty fun.

But, obviously, it won't work for everyone. This is just my experience.

XD

(and if you're interested, I could write a "how-to" post for bullet journaling! Let me know in the comments!)

probably my favorite quote of all time

-Nicole