oozey mess
noise dept.
Jimmy Eat World
The Bright Sessions
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
blake kathryn
No title available
Cosmic Funnies
One Nice Bug Per Day
untitled
Keni
Phantogram Three
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Mike Driver
Cookie Run:Kingdom Official!
EXPECTATIONS
pixel skylines
RMH
occasionally subtle
Sade Olutola
seen from India
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from Lebanon
seen from Malaysia
seen from Türkiye
seen from Spain
seen from Australia
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seen from Indonesia
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@marbled-raccoon
Hello ^^
If you’ve stumbled across this blog somehow, then welcome
I’ve been trying to work on my writing recently; I’m not really sure if my goal is to become an author or what, but I like writing. Here you’ll find either stuff that I wrote at the behest of a prompt (which I’m trying to do daily), chapters of stuff I’m working on, or brainstorming stuff
Feel free to provide critique if you feel the need to or just say hi
Recovering from autistic burnout as a high-masking adult:
To recover, you literally need to manually learn skills that most people learn as a toddler
You need to learn what makes your body uncomfortable, and what to do to fix it
If you are high-masking, that usually means that you have learned to ignore every distress signal your body sends unless it is a distress signal that a neurotypical person would recognize. People have likely been unintentionally gaslighting you about your lived experience your entire life
If you feel bad or panicked for no reason, stop and try to pay attention to your body. Are you tense? You are likely feeling physical pain somewhere. If you've been gaslit about your pain your entire life, you might not be able to identify it.
Go through a sensory checklist.
SIGHT: Try closing and covering your eyes. If this gives you relief, the lights are probably too bright. You may also need differently-colored lights
SOUND: Cover your ears. Does this give you relief? If so, you may need earplugs or noise canceling headphones. You may also benefit from a neutral or pleasant background noise, like soft music or brown noise.
TOUCH: Are your clothes uncomfortable? Your chair? Your body? Do you feel greasy, like you need a shower? Do you need softer, sensory-friendly clothing?
TASTE: Do you need to brush your teeth or tongue? Would chewing on something help?
SMELL: Is there a strong or unpleasant smell in the room? Do you need to clean or empty a trash can? Would an air purifier help? Would a pleasant smell like a candle help?
INTEROCEPTION: Are you hungry? Thirsty? Tired? How is your posture? Are any of your muscles tight or sore? Scan your body slowly from head to feet, tensing and loosening each group of muscles. Going for a walk or doing a series of quick stretches may help a lot.
Learning how to do this stuff is not intuitive, if you've had an entire lifetime of gaslighting telling you that everything hurting you isn't a big deal and you're being dramatic over nothing.
This takes time, it takes work, it's not intuitive, and it's hard. Most people forget how hard it is, because they learned this as toddlers.
If you want to recover, you need to relearn your whole body. And get over your idea of "normal" and just wear the damn sunglasses and put on the headphones. If people stare, fuck em. You're disabled and they can deal with that.
What a great post! So helpful.
People often ask me about my unmasking journey and express surprise to hear that such a big part of it has been 1) accepting I must avoid light/the sun and 2) wearing clothes I can stand.
I’ll play it jokey and say it like “well it took me far too long to realize that my former wardrobe made me want to jump off a bridge.” Or “turns out my old underwear was anti-autistic.” Or “for whatever reason when it’s too bright, I can’t think.”
It sounds silly to some people. It’s very hard for the average allistic person to understand how severed I was from what my physical person was feeling. It served me to be disembodied to survive for a long time. Until it didn’t.
eliminating all polyester blends from my wardrobe (and polyester in general) changed my fucking life
On Dentists
So I can’t brush my teeth. Like, it’s the worst kind of hell. I went to the dentist for a cleaning today and I told the hygienist this, and she was wonderfully helpful.
There are some incredibly soft toothbrushes available- namely, post-surgical brushes. Running them under hot water makes them even softer.
She told me that you don’t really need to use toothpaste- it’s mostly marketing. The foam gets to me, so that is really reassuring.
She gave me two particularly soft brushes and some xylitol gum. Trident is a market brand of xylitol gum, which helps with your teeth and can make your breath smell better.
The whole purpose of brushing is to disrupt plaque buildup. You don’t need to brush twice a day, every day with toothpaste if you brush correctly- little circles, focusing on near the gums (where most plaque builds up). So if you’re having a bad sensory day and can’t brush at all, it’s not the end of the world.
Hell, you don’t even need a toothbrush if even the post-surgical ones are too harsh. Going over your teeth with the same motions using a washcloth is enough.
She wants to find a fluoride rinse that has a taste I can stand (peppermint is the only mint I can stand) but she’s not particularly worried about it.
I go to Dr. Barr in Chicago. If you can get to the State St. Macy’s, his office is nearby. He’s very kind and patient and really understanding of my needs as an autistic person. The hygienist, I don’t know her name, announced everything she was going to do before she did it, and stopped frequently to see how I was doing.
This is really the only positive dentist I’ve ever had- past dentists have been too rough and not bothered to help find ways I can actually brush.
Basically this is a glowing recommendation for Dr. Barr’s office if you’re autistic, afraid of dentists, or have sensory needs. This is a recommendation even if you don’t have any of those things.
Im actually crying i feel like this post was reblogged for me oh my god oh my god oh my lord thank you
You can also dilute your mouthwash and use it to swish around if it burns. My dentist does this so consider it dentally approved
If you were feeling guilty about your brushing habits, either due to sensory issues, pain, allergies, executive dysfunction, or just plain fatigue, here’s what you need to know about what is and isn’t necessary if your dental care!
Post-covid, I got really horrible shit going on with my gag reflex where for some reason the mint flavor of toothpaste (and only toothpaste) would make me gag so hard that I’d throw up. Then I found a kids toothpaste that’s like strawberry flavored or something, but it has the proper adult amount of flouride, so it works for me and I don’t gag much anymore. Here’s an article with some options if you’re like me lol
Dr. Gemma Wheeler lists best non-mint toothpaste options for adults. The list includes those that are truly non mint, without oils or aromas
Also for the people who can’t stand foam, the ingredient you’re looking to avoid is called SLS.
Day 20
Prompt: Think about the last dream you had. What was it about?
This prompt and all I do come from this website:
Get a daily dose of inspiration with a year's supply of creative writing prompts. Daily writing helps you keep your writing goals. Learn how
Trigger warnings: weird dream logic I guess?
Discussion of the writing at the bottom
___
I do remember having a dream recently, but I can’t really remember the details of it now. Usually I remember if I’m able to immediately tell someone else what happened in it or if I write it down, but I didn’t get the chance to do either, so…yeah. I remember it was weird though.
Instead, I’ll write about the second-most recent dream I had, which I remember for the most part.
I remember in the dream that I was a young boy walking around with a young girl who I think was my sister? Either that or a friend of mine. We were at Universal Studios, but it was obviously kind of messed up because it was a dream version of it. Basically the whole park had been turned into one big line-que with metal railings and all, and I mean the whole park. If you wanted to go get food or walk around a gift shop, you would step out of your line and get into that line. I honestly don’t remember how you would get back into the main line, maybe it was like merging onto a backed up highway - someone stops to let you in, you both move forward, and the person behind the person who let you in stops to let someone else in front of them. It doesn’t really matter.
At some point, my friend/sister and I decided we wanted ice cream or something, but the line was way too long. I think she came up with the idea of getting completely out of the line to go into an employees only area, the thought process being that we could move more freely through the park by the employee tunnels and whatnot. We decided to split up to search around easier.
Now alone, I, for some reason, had the strange idea to start yelling for my grandma. I remember vaguely that I was thinking about the fact my grandma always made food for me and, even though she wasn’t there, if I called for her she would come and make/get me ice cream. In response to me calling for my grandma, I did hear an older woman’s voice reply.
The voice led me to a storage area that looked like it was stacked full of gymnasium mats or something, but I knew that’s where I’d heard the voice. Suddenly, peaking out from between some of the mats, I saw a very scary looking older woman. I think she was bald with a freaky smile. I knew that wasn’t my grandma and I was going to close the door and leave, but she asked if I wanted ice cream.
I remember feeling too scared to say no, so I nodded. She led me in behind the mats and there was a whole living area back there. She began making…food, I guess. It wasn’t ice cream and it honestly looked really gross, but I went from being polite and scared to feeling pretty at ease, for some reason. The older woman was pretty obviously trying to scare or unsettle me, but the more I earnestly responded to her, the more confused she seemed to get.
Eventually, I asked what her name was - seeing as I already had a grandma and I needed to call her something else to differentiate them - and she said “Grandma Babyhead.” I think I thought that was funny even in the dream.
I ate, hung out for a little longer, then left. The details start to get foggy past that point, but there were some older guys who I think were my family. When I told them about what happened, I got the impression they knew Grandma Babyhead and that she was cool.
It was a very bizarre dream.
___
I forgot to post this one yesterday, oops
I honestly find Grandma Babyhead thoroughly enjoyable as a concept. There’ve been times where I have a dream and want to use it in some way for a story, but I really really want to use her somewhere
Day 19
Prompt: write a letter to future generations
This prompt and all I do come from this site:
Get a daily dose of inspiration with a year's supply of creative writing prompts. Daily writing helps you keep your writing goals. Learn how
Trigger warnings: talk about global warming and civil unrest
Discussion of the writing at the bottom
___
Dear future generations,
I don’t really know what to tell you. What I hope for you is that my generation is able to make a lot of really big and important changes very soon because we’re careening very fast towards a wall. I feel hopeful one day that things are going to take a sharp left, then the next I’m just bracing for impact. Every generation has an end of the world scare, but this isn’t really the end of the world itself - more the end of life as we know it.
When I was in high school, I fell down the alt-right pipeline. I was convinced we were on the brink of civil war back then, but when I came out of it thought I was being dramatic. At this point in my life, I really truly do think we actually are on the brink of some sort of internal conflict. With the way things are functioning right now in the American government, I think revolution is the only way to see anything really change, but I’m not sure what that looks like. I’m not sure what system of government I would want to see put in place of what we had before.
I don’t want to leave a mess for future generations to clean up, I feel like that’s what was done to me. I look at my parents and I wonder how they can be proud of the world they’ve given to me, I don’t know how I can be proud of the world I’m leaving for you.
I guess this letter is partly an apology and a message to not give up. If there’s one thing you can put faith in, it’s that the earth is more resilient than we give it credit for. We’ve done a real number on it, I don’t think it can ever be pristine again, but it’s already trying to heal. Even if it takes the collapse of human society to happen, someday nature will bounce back.
I don’t want to think humans have to go extinct in order for that to happen, but I do think we would need to take a massive step back. Maybe what I want to see is a return to a more rudimentary way of life while keeping some modern touches. I don’t think we should do away with medicine or anything, but I don’t mind the idea of walking places as long as it’s safe to do so. With how large the human population is, I don’t know how possible it would be to just…get rid of certain things, but it’s a nice thought anyway.
So chin up, I guess. You at least (hopefully) don’t need to fight with many past generations because I’d like to think most of us are pretty cool and understanding. We know this world sucks and we don’t want to see you drown, so try not to be too too scared.
That’s all I got, I think.
Yours truly,
Some guy
___
I think most of this speaks for itself
I don’t really know what I’m supposed to say to kids growing up right now. It took me until this year at 24 to finally start seeing a point to life, how long will it take some of them to see a point?
Also, yes, the alt-right pipeline thing is true. I’m not proud of that and I don’t really know how to explain how I fell into it or why exactly I left it. It just happened in both instances
Day 18
Prompt: Invent a character that can manipulate what people see
This prompt and all I do come from this website:
Get a daily dose of inspiration with a year's supply of creative writing prompts. Daily writing helps you keep your writing goals. Learn how
Trigger warnings: I suppose conspiracies and implications of human testing?
Discussion of the writing at the bottom
___
Logan Cyrus is a young aspiring superhero…who already has a bounty out for him.
He has a unique ability to tap into radiowaves, which he originally used to eavesdrop on his parents’ conversations when he was younger. Eventually, he graduated to listening in on police chatter and this is where the problems started.
Being fifteen and rocking up to active crimes on your bike is a good way to get in a whole world of trouble, especially when the only unnatural ability you have is best used from a distance for recon. The police were mildly impressed by his knowledge of the different code phrases they used to communicate what kinds of crimes were happening in the area, but not enough to ask for his help like he wanted. Instead, they just called his parents and told them that, in exchange for not slapping him with charges, he needed to be sent to the academy for supers.
His parents didn’t even know he had this ability, which was an uncomfortable conversation in and of itself. They came to the quick conclusion that the only choice was to send him to the academy so he could learn how to use his powers for good instead of for…being a nuisance. He was not happy about it, but it wasn’t really his choice at that point.
The good thing for him, bad for a lot of other people, was that he learned he not only could listen in on conversations, but he could also manipulate radio waves in and of themselves. Many a prank was played at the school in the wake of this revelation where the morning announcements were hijacked to show text or videos that they weren’t supposed to. He and a small group of friends he’d accumulated thought it was hilarious, but school staff were less than amused.
Logan sensed at a certain point that his teachers weren’t really trying to help him strengthen his abilities anymore, instead they were giving him a lot of lectures about responsibility and the danger he was putting himself in. He responded to this by deciding to work on his abilities on his own in the only way he knew how: by being even more of a snoop.
The email chain he found himself quietly observing was just supposed to be another exercise in focusing his abilities on a wider scale - the teachers and other staff were always shooting emails back and forth, it gave him a large pool to practice in - but he started to feel a sinking in his stomach the more he read. On the surface, the emails appeared somewhat normal, but the more he looked the more the conversations didn’t really make sense unless he assumed the staff were talking about something else.
It became clear to him the more he followed those specific teachers’ email chains that something really bad was going on in the school. He couldn’t know how bad until he finally managed to remotely break into a specific series of password protected files, where he learned the real story of what happened to Baronet “The Body Terror” and why he was a wanted person.
Logan doesn’t want to be a traditional hero. The heroes he sees peacocking around the city don’t address the real problem and sickness breeding behind the scenes. He wants to be the person that exposes the truth, and he does so one hijacked radio show or newscast at a time.
___
I don’t know why this time my tabs all disappeared when I copy and pasted this over, but ah well. The double spacing on tumblr helps with readability
This is set in the same superhero world as one of my other prompts. I actually really like this character, so I might work him into the actual story (whenever I write it, lmao)
Day 17
Prompt: write a letter to a fictional character and give them some advice
This prompt and all I do come from this website:
Get a daily dose of inspiration with a year's supply of creative writing prompts. Daily writing helps you keep your writing goals. Learn how
Trigger warnings: uh…immortality as a curse? Idk
Discussion of the writing at the bottom
___
Dear Kim,
I want to start this letter with an apology. I made you many years ago now (I probably would’ve been about fifteen, so it’s been nearly a decade) and I still haven’t found a satisfying way to remove your curse.
I know the idea is stupid, probably even cruel, to you. Where you are, you’ve been alive and suffering for millions of years and the ending of that suffering hinges on me. It’s in my hands to remove it, but the only way I can is if the circumstances please me. I’ll work on a solution for you, it’s not fair.
A mortal giving an immortal advice is almost laughable, but I’m also the one true god of your world, so I know how it ticks. In a lot of ways, I know how you tick too, so I suppose take my word with a healthy amount of skepticism, but weight too.
No matter how long you’ve been alive, you’re still a human and humans are pack animals. Some can withstand being alone for a long time better than others, maybe you feel like you’ve been handling it okay, but I know you’re lonely. You don’t have to make friends, but you can feel a connection without becoming completely entangled with other people.
Go to a sip and paint, get a little tipsy and laugh with the other people there. Volunteer and help animals or other people in need. Go to a concert. There’s a lot of places you can go and things you can do that give you interaction from a safe distance.
I think a lot of the reason why old people tend to get so miserable is because they can’t go out and do things as easily as they could before. Their bodies hurt, all their friends and a lot of their family are dead, and the world around them is morphing into something unrecognizable anyway, so why would they want to go out? I can’t stop the world from changing, I can’t bring your loved ones back from the dead, but you aren’t bedridden. The more you get out and see the world, the less different it looks - the less scary it looks.
Sometimes when I think about you, I realize I sort of created you in an old image of me. I was, and honestly still am, afraid of the way things are changing. Sometimes I feel like an old man already, just wearing a young face and feeling completely out of place. Nowadays though, I feel a lot of hope. I attribute a lot of that to getting out there a bit more. I’m still a homebody, but I can say that this year - despite how shitty the end of it was for me - has been a year of big steps forward for me. I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t take a lot of leaps of faith.
I know you could say you are getting out there in your own way, but I don’t think fighting demons for godly favors really counts. I know you have a creative and loving side to you: feed it. Don’t let it wither and die.
I think that’s all I have for you. Sorry again, I’m working on it.
Yours truly,
Uh, me
___
This is about/to one of my characters: Kim. She’s an immortal and extremely angry woman. I think if we met face-to-face, she would actually kill me
She’s one of my favorite characters though. The idea of writing her a letter and giving her advice is kind of funny to me, which is why I decided to give it a shot.
Me when the 24 year old who made me tells me to go talk to people: 😐 right
Day 16
Prompt: write a dialogue between two objects in a museum
This prompt and all I do come from this website:
Get a daily dose of inspiration with a year's supply of creative writing prompts. Daily writing helps you keep your writing goals. Learn how
Trigger warnings: uh…colonialism and racism, but not super explicit
Discussion of the writing at the bottom
___
A mannequin, wearing traditional South African armor, stands guard at the archway of the “African History” section of the museum. Right across the hallway, ironically, is the “European History” section. Guarding that section is a suit of armor.
EA: Good morning again, sir.
SAA: Ndi dzulela u ni vhudza uri ndi mufumakadzi. (I always tell you I’m a woman.)
EA: *he clearly doesn’t understand what she’s saying* You know, I feel just rotten about our spat last night. What do you say we put it behind us?
SAA: A thi na dzangalelo ḽa u ita zwenezwo. (I am not interested in doing that.)
EA: …you know, you’ve been in this country long enough to speak the language. How are we to speak to each other if-
SAA: Ndi a pfesesa luambo lwaṋu. A thi na dzangalelo ḽa u ḽi amba kana u vha na vhukonani na inwi. Ni litshe nṋe. (I understand your language. I have no interest in saying it or being friends with you. Leave me alone.)
EA: See, I can tell you are becoming agitated, sir, but I can’t understand you. I don’t know how to rectify your anger if I don’t know why you’re angry.
SAA: U a ḓivha uri ndi ngani ndo sinyuwa. Ni litshe nṋe. (You know why I am angry. Leave me alone.)
EA: …we’ve stood across from each other so long and I never asked your name. What’s your name?
SAA: A zwi ṱoḓei uri ni ḓivhe dzina ḽanga. (You don’t need to know my name.)
EA: Ah…*he tries to repeat what she said, but sighs in frustration* I’ll call you “Langa,” how about that?
SAA: …
EA: I am Fulgentius. It’s a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.
SAA: U amba nga maanda. Zwi a netisa. (You talk a lot. It’s exhausting.)
EA: I have heard people say you should “kill your enemies with kindness,” so that’s what I will try and do today. *he clears his throat* It’s a lovely day today.
SAA: …
EA: Yes, indeed. I heard another class is supposed to be coming through for a “field trip.” Those children really need to wash their grubby little hands.
SAA: Vhalindi vhadzo vha fanela u dzula vho dzi sedza khwine. (Their keepers should keep a better eye on them.)
EA: Exactly! *he still obviously doesn’t understand what she said, but caught that she was agreeing with him somewhat* And taking all those “pictures.” *he shudders* Eyes take pictures too, you know.
SAA: A hu tshe na u livhuha lunako ho fhumulaho. (No more silent appreciation of beauty.)
EA: Precisely!
SAA: Muisimane ha khwine. (The Englishman is no better.)
EA: Right you are, my friend.
SAA: *she actually laughs at that*
EA: Ah, you've got emotions after all!
SAA: A ni vhoni uri ni pfala ni tshi nga ni dodo hani zwa zwino. Zwi a seisa. (You don’t see how stupid you sound right now. It’s funny.)
EA: *he laughs a little too and then sighs* Well, that was a lovely chat. I hope to get to know you better.
SAA: …
___
Disclaimers: I ran everything through google translate and double checked that it was saying roughly what I wanted it to say. I don’t speak Venda, which is the language the woman is speaking
I’m sure what this is commenting on (museums stealing stuff from foreign countries to put them on display) is obvious, so I won’t yap about that. I’m not super well-read about this stuff anyway, but, like I said in a previous prompt, if I was going to do more with something like this I would do more research to portray everything correctly
Day 15
Prompt: describe the colors you would use to capture a sunset
This prompt and all I do come from this website:
Get a daily dose of inspiration with a year's supply of creative writing prompts. Daily writing helps you keep your writing goals. Learn how
Trigger warnings: honestly, none
The end of this writing is me talking about it
___
A sunset makes shadows deeper and longer in comparison to its brightness. The trees and landscape framing it would turn almost pitch black.
At the horizon, the clouds would turn gray and shift into shades of brilliant pink and orange the further it is away from the sun. The sun can be bright yellow or red, depending on its position and weather conditions. I’ve always liked a primarily red and pink sunset.
The sky would turn yellow-orange at the horizon, fading back into blue, before being lost to the dark navy of nighttime. Stars would start peaking through the further the sun descends and the white moon would look like a hole punch in the sky when full and a dark stain when it's fully shadowed.
People caught in the ending rays of the day are illuminated in golden light, bringing an innocent twinkle to their eye. No matter how many times you see a beautiful sunset, it will always make you stop what you’re doing to marvel at it. Under different lights, the color of a person or animal’s eyes can shift - hazel will turn gold, dark brown will turn amber, and blue will turn silver. Everything the setting sun touches gives it new dimensions and life under its gaze.
Stirring from sleep, barky owls and gray raccoons would start to emerge. Red foxes, dusty coyotes, and amber cockroaches, all ready to start their nightlife of hunting or scavenging for food.
I’m copping out again and just writing my closing thoughts as the end of this prompt. I’m sure coming up with 365 unique writing prompts is hard, but some of these just don’t do much for me. Maybe I’m the problem and most other people could write 500 words describing the way a sunset looks, but I just can’t. Gratuitous descriptions of landscapes and people are generally annoying for me to read anyway, so maybe that’s why I struggle with these sorts of prompts.
I’ll tell a little anecdote. I was at a football game a while ago - I’m not a football fan, but my sister, or maybe my ex girlfriend, was in the marching band - and there was this beautiful sunset. The bleachers gave me the perfect view of it over the field and treeline and I wanted to take a picture of it.
For something like that, I like taking panoramic pictures. Being able to zoom out and see all of it in one picture, then zooming in to look at finer details is just nice to me.
My mom was standing near me and she got caught in the picture. If you’ve ever taken a panoramic picture that has an animal or person in it and they move, you know sometimes it will look a little weird. It kind of made her look wider than she was.
When I showed it to her, I can’t remember if I pointed that out or just said “Hey, look at this pretty picture,” but she chastised me for “making my mother look fat.” She took my phone and deleted the picture.
There’s no real point to that anecdote other than it’s vaguely on topic and I think it’s kind of funny.
A small list of random ass sites I’ve found useful when writing:
Fragrantica: perfume enthusiast site that has a long list of scents. v helpful when you’re writing your guilty pleasure abo fics
Just One Cookbook: recipe site that centers on Japanese cuisine. Lots of different recipes to browse, plenty of inspiration so you’re not just “ramen and sushi”
This comparing heights page: gives you a visual on height differences between characters
A page on the colors of bruises+healing stages: well just that. there you go. describe your bruises properly
McCormick Science Institute: yes this is a real thing. the site shows off research on spices and gives the history on them. be historically accurate or just indulge in mindless fascination. boost your restaurant au with it
A Glossary of Astronomy Terms: to pepper in that sweet terminology for your astrophysics major college au needs
Adding to this since I’m working on a shifter au one-shot:
Canine Body Language
Feline Body Language
More:
Cocktail Flow: a site with a variety of cocktails that’s pretty easy to navigate and offers photos of the drinks. You can sort by themes, strengths, type and base. My only real annoyance with this site is that the drinks are sometimes sorted into ~masculine~ and ~feminine~ but ehhhh. It’s great otherwise.
Tie-A-Tie: a site centered around ties, obviously. I stumbled upon it while researching tie fabrics but there’s a lot more to look at. It offers insight into dress code for events, tells you how to tie your ties, and has a section on the often forgotten about tie accessories
Even more:
Types of High Heels: A page describing twenty five different types of high heels. It gives a description and pictures. Shake it up from just “stilettos and kitten heels”
Random Job Generator: Exactly as it says. The site offer more generators like characters, plots, or town names.
Glossary of Hosiery Terms: Figure out what is what on a pair of stockings.
Men’s Dress Shoe Guide: A quick guide describing the eight most common types of men’s dress shoes. Pics included.
Types of Women’s Coats: Descriptions and pics of various different types of coats.
WRITING REFERENCES
Day 14
Prompt: Describe the best nap of your life
This prompt and all prompts I do come from this website:
Get a daily dose of inspiration with a year's supply of creative writing prompts. Daily writing helps you keep your writing goals. Learn how
Trigger warnings: nightmares and maybe sleep paralysis?
Discussion of the writing at the bottom
___
I don’t have a strong memory of taking a really good nap. I’ve had naps where I wake up and say “Yeah, I really needed that,” but nothing to write home about. Instead, I’ll write about how my naps usually are.
I’m not somebody who has nightmares very often and I usually consider them more stressful than scary when I do have them. Like, for some reason, I forgot I needed to work that day and I’m really far away, or my teeth fall out, or I’m out of the house and suddenly look down and I’m naked; pretty standard bad dreams. When I nap, those are the times I usually have nightmares that are actually scary.
I’ve been told a few times that it sounds like sleep paralysis - I guess I always imagined sleep paralysis as having your eyes open and feeling awake, but you can’t move and you hallucinate. I don’t think I’ve had an experience like that, not one I remember anyway, but I have dreams.
The worst one I ever had was that I was laying in bed and got up because we had family over. I felt so heavy and tired that I was basically crawling around the house, but nobody really seemed to care that much. At some point, I closed my eyes and, when I opened them again, I was suddenly back in bed. This is usually what happens in these dreams, that I am up and trying to move around and then I end up back in my bed with no memory of walking back to it and laying down. Everyone in the dream acts like I did just walk away, so I’m left feeling out of control. This cycle will usually repeat a few times until I start getting scared that this is just what life is going to be like for me going forward - constantly afraid of being in the middle of doing something only to find myself back in bed - and then I’ll wake up for real. Sometimes I scare myself awake or I had an alarm set that finally shakes me out of it.
This one was particularly upsetting to me because at one point I sat up out of bed and looked at my arm only to see I had a tattoo that I didn’t have before. I remembered in the dream that I had two tattoos, but there was a new one that had randomly appeared after the last time I laid down. It kind of looked like the Timelord language from Doctor Who and I acknowledged that in the dream and thought that, if the circumstances were different, I would like it. When I showed people in the dream, they reacted like I had either always had it or that I should remember getting it.
When I lay down for a nap nowadays, I joke that I’m rolling the dice on whether it’ll be a decent nap or a stressful one. As you can probably guess, I honestly tend to avoid naps if I can since I know this only happens when I take one.
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I’m finally back in the saddle with my prompts. Thanksgiving was very busy and tiring with some family coming in from out of town, but it was nice to see my aunt and uncle again
I don’t mind the way this one came out. I think it sort of reads like a no-sleep or creepypasta post, but that’s probably because I had just gotten done listening to an analysis of “My Dad Finally Told Me What Happened That Day.” I’ve noticed that sometimes when I get exposed to a certain writing style that I’ll emulate it if I try to write immediately afterwards
Anywho, that’s all for now, talk more tomorrow
Again, for my records, I skipped yesterday and I’m skipping today too. I didn’t sleep very well last night so I’m very sleepy 😔
I’ll get back in the saddle soon…or I might just start back up after Thanksgiving. We shall see
Day 13
Prompt: write a dialogue between a tree and a bird resting on its branch
This prompt and all prompts I do come from this website:
Get a daily dose of inspiration with a year's supply of creative writing prompts. Daily writing helps you keep your writing goals. Learn how
Trigger warnings: I guess talk of death? But hopeful
Discussion of the writing at the bottom
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Bird: *she lands on the branch* Good day.
Tree: Good day and well met.
B: Have you any pests to be rid of?
T: Many, feast away.
B: Much obliged. *she hops to the trunk* Lovely weather today.
T: So lovely, but getting colder. Are you preparing for migration?
B: Indeed I am. The kids are still flapping out of sync, but I’m confident they will have their wits about them by then. *she gets busy looking for worms*
T: I’m thankful I have no child-rearing to do.
B: It has its moments. *she finds one and snatches it up, swallowing it whole* Teaching them to fly is the hardest part. Eventually you just have to shove them out the nest and tell them to figure it out.
T: They don’t get hurt?
B: *she shakes her head* Not often. If they do, that’s just how it was supposed to be. *she huffs* It’s when those people stumble upon them and pick them up that there’s a problem. How are they to learn if some “do-gooder” comes along and coddles them all the way?
T: Humans don’t look at things like you and I do.
B: Well, I wish they would. *she humphed and flew to a higher branch to look for more worms* Mine are strong though, just getting the hang of things. They’ll be ready for migration soon enough.
T: Whereabouts do you travel to?
B: Across the ocean to the other land mass. *she finds another and gobbles it up*
T: You don’t get tired?
B: Well, of course you do. *she laughed* What is there to do about that?
T: You’re not afraid that you’ll get so tired you’ll fall into the water?
B: If I did, which I won’t, then that’s just what was supposed to happen. I don’t worry about that sort of thing, it does me no good.
T: Do any birds worry about that sort of thing?
B: *she scoffed* Maybe a crow does, they think too much.
T: How does one “think too much?”
B: By asking too many questions.
T: Do you think I’m asking too many questions?
B: Just a bit. I’ve landed in many trees and never had one say more than a few words to me. Tell me, would you describe yourself as anxious?
T: Just a bit, I suppose. I’m getting older, so I think more.
B: What good does that do you? I say it adds more age through stress alone.
T: I can’t help it.
B: But you can. You’re a tall and noble tree, you’ve lived a long life. I say be glad for that and accept that all things must end eventually.
T: I suppose I’m anxious about how that end will come.
B: However it comes is how it was supposed to be. *she plucked another worm and swallowed it* If you knew how you would end and when, do you think it would make you feel better or worse?
T: …probably worse.
B: Precisely, so why torture yourself with every way it might happen? You will know when it comes and I say you’ll be more at peace by that time because you didn’t waste so much of your remaining life worrying about it.
T: Hm…I suppose that’s true.
B: A bird is never wrong. Anyhow, I must be going. It was a lovely chat. *and she flies off without waiting for a reply*
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Almost forgot to post this one, whoops
I like this sort of script style of writing every once in a while, it’s pretty fun
A day until it’s been two weeks of writing! I know I took a break two days ago, but one break in two weeks is worth celebrating too
Day 12
Prompt: invent a new superhero and describe their abilities and backstory
This prompt and all I do come from this site:
Get a daily dose of inspiration with a year's supply of creative writing prompts. Daily writing helps you keep your writing goals. Learn how
Trigger warnings: child and systematic abuse, body horror
Discussion of writing at the bottom
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Nobody knows quite how it happened, but fifty years ago a small portion of the human population started to develop superpowers. It most often occurred in children during puberty, but cases of adults rapidly developing unnatural abilities have been seen. In cases where a person has a relatively benign power, it might be considered cool once the initial discomfort passes, but with dangerous abilities?
What is now the joint academy for all superpowered individuals used to be more of a research center and asylum for these people. The sorted history of this place isn’t often spoken about since they rebranded as a joint campus for young children and adults alike to learn how to control their abilities, but the people still alive who went through “treatment” there have told nothing short of horror stories about what it was like. It’s no surprise that some of those people went on to become so-called “Supervillains,” necessitating the need for “Superheroes.”
Baronet had his power-awakening younger than most boys and his ability manifested in a violent way. His power, which would later be coined “Body Terror” by his teachers, gave him the ability to morph his body in often grotesque ways. Teeth, limbs, and eyes where they shouldn’t be, twisting of his bone structure and rapid muscle mass development, and all could be reversed to reveal once more a twiggy red-headed boy. In the wake of his power developing, he spent a week trapped in what most would consider a prison of his own body that would lash out against anyone that got close against his will. In response, his parents surrendered him to the academy and scarcely spoke to him past that point. He doesn’t blame them, he admits he probably wouldn’t be able to get over that sight easily either.
In the academy, his powers were considered largely useless outside of psychological warfare - he couldn’t maintain supernatural strength or speed for longer than short bursts, couldn’t weather harsh conditions better than a normal person, etc. - but soon a potential use was discovered. Baronet, as a joke, threw up a whole and still beating human heart. The potential was teased then that his ability may give him the ultimate life-saving ability: universal organ and blood donation.
With his parents’ and Baronet’s consent, he was put under the knife. This was how they discovered that anything extra he made didn’t stay viable after being separated from his body and how he came to have only one kidney - discovering that he couldn’t regrow anything that he lost from his base body. The experimentation, regrettably, didn’t end there and it ultimately led to the death of three researchers and the disappearance of Baronet.
If you look him up, he’s still labeled as “At Large and Dangerous,” despite the fact he has never struck again. A hole-in-the-wall restaurant, working primarily in the back and out of sight, is where Baronet finds himself now. He’s not a superhero nor a supervillain, not even an anti-hero. He’s just a very traumatized man trying to make the most of the cards he was dealt.
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My boyfriend helpfully pointed out that the the prompt calls for the creation of a new character when I used one I already have 🙄 /affectionate
So yea, this is a character I already had bumping around, he’s my little guy
As for the writing in general, I feel like the sentence structuring is off in a few spots. I kind of purposefully don’t work on these too much because the point for me is to do a little writing every day and not spend too much time worrying about how good it is. Anyway, I’m not super happy with how this came out but ah well
Day 11
Prompt: invent a robot for a specific task
This prompt and all prompts I do come from this site:
Get a daily dose of inspiration with a year's supply of creative writing prompts. Daily writing helps you keep your writing goals. Learn how
Trigger warnings: vague mentioning of dogs getting hurt? Idk, nothing crazy
Discussion of the writing at the bottom
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The Dog-Walker K9 is a new robot on the market from Tri Robotics. Though its name is “Dog-Walker,” it’s basically everything you need in a pet sitter wrapped into one robot.
Where people can be forgetful or have emergencies, leaving your dog high and dry while you’re away from home, the dog-walker’s singular goal is to make sure your pup is happy and well taken care of in your absence. All you need is to provide a schedule of when and how much to feed your dog, how many times they need to be taken for a walk, what toys they like to play with, times for medication to be given if necessary, and a place to charge, then you can go on your way. Through the dog-walker app, you can look through the robot’s eyes to check on your dog at any time, so long as the robot isn’t charging. You can also schedule automatic updates from the robot where it’ll send you pictures and, for particularly anxious pet-parents, also let you know when it’s fed and walked your dog.
Not only is your dog’s happiness the robot’s priority, but their safety too. In the event that your pet becomes sick, the dog-walker will automatically contact you to ask for guidance on what to do. With consent from the owner, the robot is authorized to take your dog to the vet - owners are responsible for any and all vet bills in such a situation. If your dog is injured, the robot will inform you that it’s taking your pet to the nearest pet hospital - owners are responsible for any and all vet bills in such a situation.
If you’re just going on vacation and need temporary care for your dog, through the Tri Robotics website you can rent a dog-walker. Note: any damage to rented robots are billable to the owner, cleaning fee is included in rent cost. For people who find themselves away from home a lot for work, dog-walkers are also for sale on the Tri Robotics website. More basic models run as low as $350 while more advanced models can run as high as $1,000.
Please note that more skittish dogs may find the dog-walker frightening. Due to this, it is recommended that, before you leave, you introduce your dog to the robot and let them become comfortable with it. Handing the dog-walker some treats to feed your dog so they know it’s a friend is recommended, so is going for a few trial walks and having the robot play with your dog under supervision if there’s time. The dog-walker is programmed to never retaliate if a pet attempts to bite or attack it, so there is no risk of it purposefully harming your dog, but it is made of hard plastics and metal, so harm is possible through your dog hurting their teeth or swallowing bitten off pieces. Tri Robotics is not responsible for any vet bills accrued as a result of dogs biting the dog-walker.
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I really did consider writing a continuation of the Abel model thing for this one, but I decided not to. It is still technically set in the same world though
I don’t have much else to say about this one, I think it came out pretty good
I know I’m talking to myself here, but for my own records: I’m taking a break from the prompts for tonight
I did write today, so I don’t consider it a failure, sometimes you just have to listen to your body and not push yourself too hard. I’ll still call tomorrow day 11, if I treat it like a streak I have to maintain it’ll probably just stress me out
I’ll have some proper writing to post here probably…December first? No idea, with thanksgiving coming up things are gonna get hectic. If you like MLP fan fiction and somehow find this, stay tuned ^^
Day 10
Prompt: describe traveling to a foreign country
This prompt and all prompts I do come from this website:
Get a daily dose of inspiration with a year's supply of creative writing prompts. Daily writing helps you keep your writing goals. Learn how
Trigger warnings: none really
Discussion of the writing at the bottom
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Driving to Canada from Florida takes about three days, two if you drive straight and don’t stop. Being a passenger on that sort of ride is honestly pretty fun - you get to sight see and sleep when you’re bored - but I’m not sure I could be the driver. Maybe I could if there were only one or two relatively quiet people in the car with me, but doing it the way my family does would drive me crazy.
Six people, and usually a dog, all piled into the car and surrounded almost on all sides by luggage? I’m surprised I didn’t feel claustrophobic just being in the car, let alone driving and dealing with four kids fighting about someone else being in their space. I think whenever I go up to Canada again to see my family I’ll just opt to fly - provided planes aren’t still blowing up or crashing left and right.
Regardless, I think my favorite part of the drive is seeing the St. Louis Arch. We said every year that, one of these times, we would stop and actually look at it, but we never did. I think the opportunity passed already to do it with my family, but I’d like to do it with my boyfriend or even just by myself at some point. Another thing my siblings and I always liked was pointing out water towers when we saw them, and cows and horses. You drive through a lot of open land where the only interesting things for miles are water towers, cows, and horses, but you’re easily entertained as a kid, I suppose.
I remember one year I noticed for the first time a sign at the US-Canadian border that said something about legal aliens. I thought it was funny because I didn’t know at the time what an alien was in that context and pointed it out to my parents, to which they informed me that we were legal aliens. We were Canadian citizens living in America - we’re naturalized now, whoopty-doo. I got a kick out of it anyway, I still think it’s kind of funny.
I don’t remember us ever having any trouble crossing the border in either direction, though my parents said that the border agents who were Canadian would kind of look down their nose at them. I guess they didn’t like that they had left the country to live in the neighboring one. It’s a problem anywhere you go, I suppose, that everyone thinks their country is the best and can’t understand anyone leaving permanently.
The way you know you’re in Canada now is that the roads drastically get worse; that and the speed limit signs switch from MPH to KPH. Most of the time, we arrived in the night, so all we’d really be seeing were darkened buildings, street lamps, and traffic lights. I still enjoyed it, but that part of the drive always felt the longest because I was excited to finally be out of the car and at my grandparents’. I’m trying nowadays to make a more concerted effort to talk to them for a number of reasons, but I’m hoping to make it up to Canada again next year at some point.
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Another personal anecdote. I probably could’ve dove into more descriptive language with this one, but I feel like I’m slowly but surely getting the hang of fitting everything I want to say into around 500 words
Anyway, when I was younger, I wanted nothing more than to move back to Canada even though I didn’t live there very long. Around high school, I changed my mind and became an America fanatic, then I changed my mind again. My boyfriend and I thought briefly about moving up to Canada, but we’ve settled for now on just moving up north
