The 7 Deadly Sins Of Being A Writer

1 Year Anniversary Post

Origins

I made this account a year ago, on November 29, 2020. I’d been in the writing community since August 2020, but I was only on my personal account at that time. Everyone was so familiar and warm and friendly, and I knew that this was a place I wanted to be, so I joined it. I can safely say that was one of the best decisions I've made! It’s been a wild ride ever since. I’ve learned so much about myself and about my writing, and I’ve met so many lovely people!

Thank you to...

Thank you to all the people who were with me from the beginning, including those who first shouted out my account when it was new. Not all of you are super active anymore, but I couldn’t have gotten started without you! Thank you to Brynn, Vega, Val, Cecelia, and Shel, who were all so kind and helpful to me in my early days (and still are)!

Thank you to my other friends and mutuals, including Maya, Jorja, Jay, Sailor, Liv, CJ, Emma, Yolanda, Noor, Liv, Daisy, Grace, Sam, and many, many more whom I'm forgetting right now. Thank you for listening to me, fangirling and ranting with me, competing for first in my comments and being all-around awesome people in general. You guys never fail to make me smile and I’m so, so grateful to have you all! You make all of this worth it.

Finally, thank you to the person reading this post. I literally would not be here without you. You are just as important as all of the other people I’ve mentioned so far. Thank you to all my followers--everyone who comments on my posts and answers my question stickers and supports me unconditionally. Thank you to the people who have shouted me out and reached out to tell me that you liked my account--you guys are amazing. I don’t think I can express how much all of your support means to me!

Here's to one year on Instagram, and here's to the next :)

C.S. Lewis once wrote,

"I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief"

And I think we all needed to hear that.

grabbing new writers by the shoulders. it is important to write what you love and to love what you write. if you spend all your time trying to make something other people will approve of you will hate yourself and everything around you. learn at your own pace. you have time. i’m proud of you

I’m a knitter. I sometimes knit socks.

I have recently got back into doing some writing. This writing has been multi-chaptered.

So, here is a trick I am going to share that I learned from knitting socks. There is a thing called “second sock syndrome” which is when you finish one sock but can’t seem to get around to starting the second. So, when I finish a sock I IMMEDIATELY cast on the second sock and just knit a few rows.

So, when you finish that chapter, IMMEDIATELY just write one sentence of the next chapter. Trust me.

Douglas Adams is the best when it comes to describe characters

Making Your Content Accessible

Introduction

On social media, being able to read and understand posts is essential. However, some sacrifice comprehension and efficiency for their aesthetic, which only hurts their audience. Content accessibility benefits people with disabilities most, but everyone and anyone can make use of it!

This is a noncomprehensive list of things you can do to make your account accessible. Feel free to add on in the comments!

Backgrounds

When you’re making a post, the text and the background must be 1.) different colors, 2.) contrasting, and 3.) not too bright or dark.

That should be pretty self-explanatory, but I’m going to elaborate on number 3. Don’t use pure white or too-bright colors in general for your backgrounds because it creates eye strain.

Maybe you have images as your backgrounds, which gives you a bit more to consider. One way to lessen eye strain is to put a layer between the background and the text. Another thing you can do is choose images that are not crowded or busy.

Text

Some people use fancy, cursive script for their post titles, which looks cool, but it can be hard to read. This doesn’t mean you have to remove it, though. Instead, use alternative text, which describes something that is inaccessible or difficult to read/see. In this case, you duplicate the post title in a more readable font on the cover slide. Good fonts for dyslexia include Open Dyslexic, Comic Sans, and most sans serif fonts.

Alt text should also be present if the original text has been manipulated in some way or has had effects added. For example, the titles of my posts are curved, so I add alt text.

Save cursive fonts for your post titles and headings. Cursive body fonts may sound great in theory, but in reality they are highly inefficient and make people people less likely to read through the entire post.

Also, if you type long paragraphs, you may want to separate it into smaller bulletpoints. People are more likely to skim (or just skip over) long sections of text. Make sure there’s enough space between the lines as well--reading crowded text can give some people headaches.

Alignment is also a factor in readable text. Align body text to the left, rather than centering or justifying it, because it lets people follow the lines of the text more easily. You can align your titles however you want because anything goes for them.

Screen Readers

Visually impaired people, dyslexic people, or people who get migraines may use screen readers, which read the text of a post to them.

One of the first things you’ll have to sacrifice here is aesthetic font. I know, I know, it looks cool, but screen readers don’t pick up on it, not to mention the more stylistic it is, the harder it is to read.

Hashtags are also difficult for screen readers to understand, because it might read the entire hashtag as one word. Instead, capitalize letters where a new word starts. For example: #WritersOfInstagram.

Another thing you can do is provide alt text for your entire post. Instagram lets you do this in the post but they only allow 100 characters, so if your posts run long you should just type them in the comments.

Descriptions

If you’re posting an image, for example, a meme, add an image description, or ID. When you’re writing an ID, include all details, even ones that might seem obvious. Consider color, position, shape, expression, etc. 

For example: “ID: A blonde, curly-haired girl dressed in an orange T-shirt and denim shorts sits on a mossy log surrounded by pine trees. Her head is bent in concentration as she cleans a bronze knife with a gray rag.”

Closed Captioning

As a hard-of-hearing person, I really appreciate closed captioning on videos that require me to understand what someone is saying.

When typing out your captions, abbreviate closed captioning to “CC:” and then write your text after it. For example: “CC: These are my favorite tropes.” 

Another thing to remember is not to censor swear words or leave out anything. Besides being annoying to people with hearing loss, it can also be patronizing.

In a video, keep closed captioning away from anything that might block it. Also, make sure the text is large enough to easily read. If you don’t want to type out what you’re saying, automatic captioning is available on Instagram, although like any automatic closed captioning, it can be unreliable.

eldest daughter syndrome and gifted kid syndrome are some great examples of phrases used to talk about specific kinds of trauma that the internet has taken and turned into "boo hoo these people arent special anymore so theyre lashing out!!" it was never about that you fucking cunts

im not joking when i say that my friends are everything to me

someone: can i be a character in your book??

me: sure! right here i have an opening for *squints at doc* insignificant side character who exists only for plot purposes

ma'am those are my 15 emotional support wip research tabs