Rabbit Rambles

We judge ourselves really harshly. I'd be genuinely curious to know who doesn't believe this of themselves - I've been actively working on showing myself grace for the last few years, and it's helped me be compassionate toward others, but it makes me realize just how cruel I've been inside my own head. I already posted before about calling something 'Boris', and I try to continue ascribing to that mentality. Something is more than nothing. You can't edit a blank page. Perfection is the enemy of good enough. Assume everyone you meet is doing their best, and everyon's best looks different. It's hard. I'm impressed when I meet people who exhude calm and patience and generally seem to not let things bother them. I know that sometimes, that's come from hard, hard work. It's a skill like any other - some people can do carpentry, some can fix machines, some can stay calm in traffic. I've gone through some of the older scenes I've wri...

This feels deeper than it is and I'm sure I'll talk in circles as I let the words out. That said.  It's been bouncing around my mind recently - probably due to the sudden influx of darker-themed media consumed in a short period of time - that humans only make up an incredibly small percentage of the creatures with whom we (poorly) co-habitate on this planet. But the only time that we call something inhuman or inhumane is when we're referencing another of our species engaging in some sort of deplorable action. Or inaction. Dogs can't be inhumane. Octopuses and corvids can't be inhumane (though I hold strongly to the belief that they are at least as sentient as we are). We expect, demand?, a certain level of humanity, which can vary socially or culturally or generationally (etc.) within certain parameters. Anything that falls outside of that is inhuman. Some things come very close, like spanking children - it's been determined that this does nothing positive a...

... starting letters of my posts together spell 'llama'. It's the little things. I could have gone to bed, I'll have you know. 100% an option for me, but I'd asked for my computer to be woken up, so it seemed the least I could do to write another of these micro fictions. I also wanted to share a bit of the process of creation for magic systems. I have zero plan. I generally like to have consequences for magic use, and I always consider the punishment system that would need to be in place to keep magic users contained, how effective they might be, etc. Beyond that, wherever the spark blooms, my friends. For example: speaking with a couple of friends the other day and my buddy Ken tells me he's had an idea for years of some kind of 'street magic' that would take you from one street to another with the same name. I pondered on that for a moment and he, Brittney, and I threw around some ideas. That would be super cool! Brittney took it to gravestones, I took...

I haven't made time to work much on my main stories, but I'm proud of myself for knocking out some of these Words of the Day. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have been! Word of the day:  Apricate : To bask in the sun, or to expose to the sun  https://www.wordgenius.com/words/apricate?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1534456795 Winter is necessary. I know that; everyone knows that. It is a time of renewal, of preservation. Winter is for rest and prophsey. Winter sees all of our clothes mended, our crafts improved, our stories told. But it watches with patience deeper than any snowdrift, listens to our bellies grumble when the food runs low, and stands ready to steal our warmth, our breath, our lives. I know that winter is not my enemy. I was born late autumn, after all, and winter is my kin. But though it is my opposite, spring's first warm rays seem to sink into the core of me and chase away winter's wariness. I could do chores - as an autumn in...

 Discipline, discipline... bah! Working on it, but I'm not going to crack down on myself, since writing is something I love to do and I refuse to make it a chore. That said, I do thrive with routine, so now's as good a time as any to do another Word of the Day micro-fiction in lieu of anything deeper. Today's word: Palinode : A poem in which the poet retracts a view or sentiment expressed in a former poem. https://www.wordgenius.com/words/palinode?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1678488986 As much as I enjoyed visiting the court for a celebration, I could only find admiration in me for the non-living things that cluttered every room with a painstaking sense of décor. One could almost taste the near-palpable cloud of mingled panic and practiced calm that the servants exuded in their nightly changing of paintings, sculptures, furniture, rugs, and the like. No less did the people express the well-practiced and professional air of flippant distaste, gossi...

 Sometimes, often, I don't have any ideas. That's fine. But I want to work on building my discipline instead of relying on the much more elusive motivation. I signed up for a word of the day email a while ago and, while those can be hit-or-miss, this one's been pretty good. Plenty of words I don't know, which I dutifully save into a folder. ... That's really where the plan ended but now I shall endeavor to pick one of these at random and use it in a micro-fiction or such. I'm super concise, so it'll be easy... harumph. Today's word:  Realia : Objects and material from everyday life, especially when used as teaching aids.  (https://www.wordgenius.com/words/realia?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1645954925) It is difficult for anyone to come to a new place. A new job, a new school, a new neighborhood; everything is different, but with the kind of familiarity that resonates much too close to that which you once had. Like a musical yo...