A Custom Mood Theme in a Year

As television just reminded me, we're now officially half way through the year! That happens to mean that, with how the suggested schedule stacks up, we're also a little bit more than half-way through the Maximum Mood Track 👀

This week's Minimum moods are: Relaxed, Silly, Uncomfortable

This week's Medium moods are: Tired, Aggravated, Annoyed

This week's Maximum moods are: Recumbent, Complacent, Indifferent

This part's optional mood is: Artistic

Complacent and Indifferent seem like the tough ones this week, both in themselves and in differentiating from each other. Complacent is just kinda letting things happen, while Indifferent isn't really caring about things happening. Good moods for stuff going on in the background, I guess! Or maybe you came across some images or ideas in Annoyed that didn't quite fit the bill, because the main subject was just too chill about things. On the plus side, while I still don't think Recumbent is really a mood, it does seem pretty easy to manage for most mood theme subjects*! Just let them lay down for a while 😂

* Exceptions can include things that float, because trying to figure out how to make a cloud lay down was one heck of a headache!

What are your thoughts on this week's moods? Have they got your creative juices flowing, or do you need a bit more of a metaphorical push? Do you think Recumbent really is a mood? And how is your mood theme going overall? Let's talk about it!

I feel strangely on top of things this week; that only makes me wonder why Suspicious isn't an official mood...

This week's Minimum moods are: Nerdy, Okay, Sad

This week's Medium moods are: Satisfied, Mischievous, Exanimate

This week's Maximum moods are: Hopeful, Pleased, Rejuvenated

Of this week's moods, I feel like Rejuvenated might be the most difficult. (It's certainly the one I have the most difficulty spelling! Argh, I even spelled it wrong in the tags 🤦‍♀️ I should fix that...) With a word that means a return of youth or youthfulness, there aren't a lot of canons that you can necessarily draw literal options from here! Going with something that implies a return of energy may be the way to go. With luck, you'll have better options for Hopeful or Pleased. As for me, I featured a shooting star for Hopeful in both my Fancy Rats and clouds, since wishing on a star seems pretty hopeful to me; whereas pigeon Hopeful is staring at an ear of grain that someone might drop right in front of them perhaps maybe. Pleased, meanwhile, leans pretty close to Satisfied for me, maybe with a side of Thankful/Grateful, so if you've got extra options for those, this might be a good use for them.


What do you think? Do you actually have Rejuvenated locked down, both in mood and in spelling? What about the other moods? Do you need any help brainstorming? Or do you have things picked out and are ready to brag? Let's talk about it!

Timing is always hectic for me on Thursdays. I'm looking forward to next year, when we'll be on a different day of the week here!

This week's Minimum moods are: Determined, Devious, Energetic

This week's Medium moods are: Refreshed, Surprised, Lazy

This week's Maximum moods are: Horny, Good, Grateful

And right off the bat, we've got a complicated mood to talk about! Since I want to keep this community open to all ages, if there's something 18+ -ish that you want to do with Horny, please either hide it under Details/Summary tags, or post it in your own journal and link it back in the comments. Otherwise, it should be good to go!

And now we get into talking about how to portray the mood itself! A picture of your subject with actual horns on for Horny is a pretty quick way to go about it, as well as if your source material has any scenes where your subject is in the mood. For my fancy rats, I took a cue from Japanese culture, and gave the rat in question a nosebleed; for my pigeons, I'm recreating a video where a pigeon is flirting hardcore with a very confused falcon. I skipped right over that mood in my clouds, though!

Good, on the other hand, is a bit more nebulous! I hear tell that some people like to lean into angelic theming, to contrast with the earlier Devious; there's also a common thumbs up sign as a useful signal. Grateful is more difficult still, especially when we'll have to contrast it with Thankful later on! A soft smile and a hand (or other appendage) over the heart can do well for this, as well as actually receiving something.

But maybe you have different ideas! What are your plans for this week's moods? Is something coming immediately to mind, or do you need some help with it? Do you have your ideas all lined up already? Planning to just skip one or more of this week's moods? That's valid as well! Whatever you decide, let's talk about it!

Buckle up, everyone; these are the last moods of Part Four!


This week's Minimum moods are: Recumbent, Complacent, Indifferent

This week's Medium moods are: Content, Aggravated, Annoyed

This week's Maximum moods are: Recumbent, Complacent, Indifferent

This Part's bonus mood is: Artistic


As a reminder, the bonus mood is from Part Eight, which only has five moods in it. By tacking these five moods to the end of Parts Three through Seven, it frees up most of December, which is a very busy time for a lot of us. That said, if you want to keep going with the original stated schedule, you're welcome to do that as well! We're very laid back here at Mood Theme in a Year.

What are your thoughts on this week's moods? And how have you done with this Part overall? Did you struggle more than you thought you would, or are moods coming more easily than you anticipated? And are you looking forward to the next Part? Let's talk about it!

Posting early so I don't forget or miss it!

This week's Minimum moods are: Nerdy, Okay, Sad

This week's Medium moods are: Satisfied, Mischievous, Exanimate

This week's Maximum moods are: Hopeful, Pleased, Rejuvinated

What are your thoughts on this week's moods? And, since we're almost half-way through the year, what are your thoughts on your progress, whatever track you're taking? Are you happy with what you've made? Are there any moods you want to re-do or tweak? How are this week's moods looking by comparison? Do you think you'll have an easy time with them, or will the be more trouble? Let's talk about it!

Time to plug in the next batch of moods!

This week's Minimum moods are: Determined, Devious, Energetic

This week's Medium moods are: Stressed, Excited, Optimistic

This week's Maximum moods are: Horny, Good, Grateful


As a quick discussion reminder, I do want to keep this comm friendly for all ages, so if there's something 18+ -ish that you want to do with Horny, please either hide it under Details/Summary tags, or post it in your own journal and link it back in the comments.

Other than that, have at it as usual! What are your thoughts on this week's moods? How do you think you'll portray them? "Good" in particular seems tricky to me; what are your thoughts? Let's talk about it!

Ack, almost missed sharing these during the relevant break!

( Part 4 Rats )

After missing a mid-week check-in (whoops!), we're back on track with three new moods!

This week's moods are: Calm, Mellow, Peaceful

This week's minimal moods are: Scared, Thoughtful, Working

The new moods this week are definitely on a theme! Differentiating between the three of them seems like it could take some work. How exactly do the three compare, anyway? It seems like Calm might do well with a contrasting background of chaos, while peaceful could use a relaxing background. But you might have other ideas!

What are your thoughts on these moods? Are they coming to you easily, or are you struggling? Or maybe it's middle of the road, compared to some other moods? Let's talk about it!

Hello, everyone, it's time for our next set of moods!

This week's moods are: Impressed, Jubilant, Loved

This week's minimal moods are: Enthralled, Happy, Indescribable


I don't know about anyone else, but Jubilant seems like a lot of fun to me! Especially with its link to "jubilee". Time to celebrate! Meanwhile, Impressed and Loved could well go hand-in-hand with Jubilant.

As for the minimal moods, has anyone had any problems with them in the past? Do you have any suggestions for minimal mood theme-ers who might have trouble with them? Now's a great time to bring those up, so let's talk about it!

Coming in a bit early with the opening week of Part 4!

This week's moods are: Chipper, Ecstatic, High

This part's moods are overwhelmingly derived from Happy, which is a nice change of pace from the Angry moods. That said, I know that I for one was really struggling with variations on Angry by the end of Part 3, and coming up with so many different and subtle variations on another mood is going to be tricky! Unfortunately, it also won't be the last time, as Angry, Happy, and Sad are the most populated "root" moods in any mood theme. Hopefully this will serve as a good continued stretch of your creative muscles, and you'll be well prepared for when we get to that last overpopulated root mood.

This week, as previously mentioned, we're also starting the parallel Minimal Mood Theme run! If you've been wanting to join in on creating a mood theme at a chill pace, but don't want to go for the whole thing, this is a great way to get one done.

This week's minimal moods are: Angry, Awake, Confused

If you're just now jumping in and any of those moods are giving you trouble, feel free to check out the relevant tags (linked above) and see how other people have approached them!

Finally, I've tightened up the applications of a few of the tags I introduced last week, and threw in a few more that I think would be useful for this community. Be sure to check the post out, even if you looked at it when it first went up.


Is everyone ready to get started on this new part and/or to get to work on a minimal mood theme? Are you intimidated by anything, or too eager to go to notice any of that? Do any of them stick out to you this week as particularly easy or difficult? Do you have any thoughts on the new tags or the Minimal Mood Theme approach? Let's talk about it!