Keys, Bells, and Cat

they/them @wickerwax for writing and not the rest of the nonsense :3 if you did rp on a niche as hell proboards back in the early 2000s that no longer exists but I'm PRETTY sure was prefixed wildfreeflame with zero cohesion, any kinda character was fair game, hit me up cause there was only like four of us and y'all were cool as heck and I don't have a lot of other options in terms of contact haha

[queenoftheworldisdead]

[matrixdragon]

HEY.

[classic-cevans]

Rude

[wonderlandleighleigh]

I beg your finest pardon

[thesefallenembers]

the problem with reading and writing leading to a strong vocabulary is that you tend to know the vibe of words instead of their meanings.

if I used this word in a sentence, would it make sense? absolutely. if you asked me what it meant, could I tell you? absolutely not.

[fixyourwritinghabits]

OKAY HOLD UP I KNOW THIS IS A SHITPOST BUT I HAVE A DEGREE IN THIS

Okay, so when we talk about the meaning of words, we are talking about denotation, the dictionary definition of the word, and connotation, the context in which native speakers associate with the word. Connotation is why just looking up synonyms of words doesn't always work.

When teaching this to ESL learners, my favorite example is the word "accumulate." Accumulate means to gather or collect in the dictionary definition of the words. The error in the example is for someone to say "I accumulate things" instead of "I collect things." This sounds wrong, because despite the denotation of the word, the most common connotation of accumulate is that a process done over time and without intent. Water accumulates. Dust accumulates. Money accumulates. But a person cannot say they accumulate things, because that is not a natural usage of the word.

However! As a writer who likes to learn new words, you can now use this knowledge to your advantage. Consider the following sentences:

Bob collected unread books until they piled high around his bed.

Versus

Books accumulated around Bob's bed, turning it into a fortress of unread words.

Both sentences are telling us the same thing - but the latter gives us a bit more insight on Bob, in that he's not intentionally obtaining so many books and not reading them, and that's a far more interesting thing to learn. The more you learn these words in context, the more you can use them to enrich your own writing. Embrace the thesaurus - but pay attention to those example sentences and how those words are actually used!

[once-a-polecat]

As a writer, I need you to know that I accumulate WIPs absolutely without intent so there's that. 🤣

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

so strange when people assume 'waking up early' means increased productivity bc no??? im awake so i can read fanfic in bed before breakdown

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

BREAKFAST

[initiala]

As much as I think it would be fun to have emotive anthropomorphic ears, I also recognize I can barely control my facial expressions. Like hell can I keep from Angry Ears-ing during meetings

[initiala]

This is who you’re having a meeting with, by the way.

[kuttithevangu]

Unironically I despise cute posts about how people who organize their personal libraries by size/color/vibes are Evil and Monstrous. First of all it’s none of your damn business what someone ELSE does with their personal belongings and second of all what? People are supposed to use Dewey in their own home? Dewey hasn’t even DREAMED of the subject categories I require

[kuttithevangu]

Identifying My Own Emotions: this is an intersection of my subject matter expertise (MLIS) and my dislike of the internet cultural code in which it’s OK to express your feelings on utterly trivial personal taste as performative disgust and horror that someone else perhaps does not experience the world the same way as you. Listen to me. Liking pineapple pizza is morally irrelevant

[pandioncristatus]

Higgledy piggledy,

King Ozymandias

rendered in stone with a

strident decree.

Says our dear traveller

(unsentimentally)

"All that remains is his

foot and his knee."

[questions-about-blorbos]

???? Are you proship??

I am a normal person who understands thought crimes are not real, fiction is not reality, and people can read/write/enjoy whatever they want as long as it’s fiction and no one in real life is harmed. I don’t have to like it, because I know how to mute, block and scroll past what I don’t want to see. Overall I think labels are childish, but by definition I am proship and profic. I am also against censorship.

And if you (general you) shame or harass real people over fiction, you’re a bully and this blog is not a safe place for you.

[kogoeru]

I am anti-censorship. I do not approve of people engaging in fandom policing—no, not even for AI, you are not as accurate as you think—stop cosplaying as cops. Don't like it, don't read it. Curate your online experience, block people, block tags, block websites. As a minor, more personal aside: I also have a great distaste for people engaging in fandom to proclaim 'x trend needs to die' because they don't care for it. I don't care if you think it's oversaturated, make more of the thing you do like and move on. 'But that specific thing is so bad! It's bad characterization! It's not canon! It's bad fanon trope! It's a ship I don't like! They keep writing about problematic things, and aren't publicly making a big show that they know it's wrong and that bothers me!' I don't care. Let Fanfiction be bad. "Bad Fic" should not be censored. Period.

And if you think this might be about you, maybe consider how you are performing your fandom in public spaces for others to see. (AND YES, TUMBLR IS PUBLIC, YOU NINNIES). There is a psychological phenomena (don't ask me to cite sources right now, I beg, but I'm not a doctor either!!), wherein if you are constantly searching for things to dislike, you are bonding with people over your mutual dislike of something; you are constantly framing your taste and your consumption with an eye to the negative; then that will soon be all you see because you've trained your brain to do this, and the brain is a lazy tapioca pudding. Also? Nobody fucking asked you to be a critic, being a critic is easy, it's lazy even. If you want to pick a fight on an 'well as an intellectual' level, then write an essay and submit it for peer review instead of asking your followers to wank you for your weak ass take. Please, for the love of the OTW, try to look for the things you actually like. You'll be shocked at how much more pleasurable your entire life will become over time. Hey it might take more effort for now, and it's actually really hard to start noticing when all you do is criticize. It's no fun realizing that 'oh shit, I was the asshole all along'. Our brains, our egos, our feelings, none of them like it. The upside is, you don't have to fucking out yourself! You don't have to perform self growth for anybody. You can just...realize you're doing it, interrupt yourself, and go look for something you like to talk about instead.

TL;DR Fuck censorship. Let Fanfiction be Bad. Curate your experience. Chase joy.

[storybookprincess]

one of the best ways i’ve found to combat that inherent depressive pessimism without veering into toxic positivity territory is simply the phrase “i’m open to the possibility”

this particularly works with anything negative i’ve forecasted. “i woke up feeling like shit today, so my day is gonna suck” isn’t a particularly helpful thought, but “it’s a great day to be alive!!!!!” feels hollow and insincere when i have a pounding headache & am running on three hours of sleep

instead i’ll tell myself, “i really don’t feel good right now, but i’m open to the possibility that coffee and breakfast might perk me up a bit.” or “i’m in a lot of pain today, but i’m open to the possibility that my workday might still have fun parts despite that”

sometimes, when your impulse is to slam the door on anything good, but you’re not exactly up to going out & hunting it down yourself, leaving the door open just a crack makes all the difference

[yujateaandpi]

This helped me today hope it helps someone else too

[beep-beep-im-asleep]

Always remember you don't know the future! Things could suck even worse than you expected, but they could also be much better, and you can't make up your mind what it'll be like before you see for yourself.

"I'm open to the possibility this won't entirely suck."

"This sounds awful but I could be surprised. I'd love to be proven wrong."

"My hopes aren't high but I guess we'll see."

This is the mentality behind "expect the worst but hope for the best," behind cynical optimism. It's being prepared for everything to go wrong, but keeping that door cracked with a spark of hope in the back of your mind that—you know it won't happen all the time, it doesn't change your expectations, but hopefully sometimes you'll be pleasantly surprised. And when opportunities happen, you're less likely to pass them by, and more willing to see where they go.

[indigosfindings]

when tiger met dragon

[indigosfindings]

crouching harry hidden sally

[252mya]

Dilophosaurus in nonbinary pride colors is the energy we needed and didn’t know we were missing. Art by @webvein and available as merch at 252MYA.COM/DNB.

[mongeese]

The Murderbot Diaries are a power fantasy about being aromantic and still developing extremely important dedicated emotionally intimate partnerships where you are a top priority in a person's life, equal to their other family or romantic attachments despite your own emotional difficulties. And having guns in your arms

[nonaferatu]

This would have had me crucified on tumblr 10 years ago but maybe we are ready for this conversation now:

If you are a socially anxious person, you have to socialize. Your panic/anxiety attacks will only get worse and trigger more frequently if you constantly avoid contact with The Public. Not saying that you need to be a social butterfly- but there is a genuine problem with not being able to order your own meal at a restaurant. And it cannot be solved by always having someone else do it for you.

This is a PSA to about 3/4s of the Portland Youth populace

[nonaferatu]

everyone who reblogs this and is like "I ordered my own tea this week" or "I only barfed once when I had to give a presentation'- you are doing amazing sweetie. Have patience with yourself, you are relearning a skill so difficult that people get 4 year degrees to do it professionally.

[patrick-stewart]

Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005)

[alvallah]

One of my favorite things about loving someone or developing a closeness or fondness towards someone is also loving and developing a fondness for the things they care about. When you learn to see the world in a new way, or you learn to appreciate the things you’ve previously overlooked, or they become your excuse to get into an interest you always thought was cool but thought you didn’t have time for. When a connection makes your world bigger and warmer and fuller and more beautiful.

[ainecdote-remade-deactivated202]

tired of cannibalism as a metaphor for love or sex. can we get into cannibalism as a metaphor for colonization.

[sloppity-bilepiper]

1. Europeans using Egyptian mummies as medicine

2. The Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism Within US Slave Culture by Vincent Woodard

3. "Abolitionists turned the tables on Europeans by accusing them of being cannibals when they ate sugar tainted with the flesh and blood of slaves."

4. Zombies (which I would class as cannibals, since they were human and need to eat humans to live) have a root in Haitian folklore and represented enslavement.

[vintagedean]

adding that, if you can find it, cannibal culture by deborah root is about exactly this. the way the white western world is a hungry, destructive force that cannibalizes non-white cultures and creates wealth and status through the cannibal colonization of those cultures.

here's the intro

i almost think there's an essay in bell hooks' black looks about this too? yes! just checked, there's an essay called "eating the other"

[careydraws]

No, seriously,

[snake-drinking-gif-every-day]