life

Let the Fire Burn

/ abtimothy / Leave a comment

Don’t give up! I know what you might be feeling right now, because I am feeling it even as I type this. I’ve never taken this platform as a chance to journal my feelings, but in this case, it may help. Today I was lethargic. I was sitting at my computer desk for almost all of it, feeling lonely and useless. I didn’t get any writing done today, and all I did was watch Netflix. Have you had those days? Yet, here, at the end of the day, I am writing (the timezones are weird on WordPress, I am writing this on 09/12/2025 at around 10 PM, but WordPress obviously doesn’t show that date or that time). I had planned to tidy up my room a bit and go to bed, but I knew that I needed to “Keep the Beacon Lit!” I have goals, I have dreams, I have people who read my blog (or at least click on it long enough to like the post <3 you guys too!), and they deserve what I can give them.

Sometimes you have to plant yourself in front of your computer, or at a table with a scratch book, and just burn. Let the discomfort, the boredom, the anxiety, and the fear burn inside you until that fire rages out of your fingers and onto the page. I want to be playing Tetris right now, but I need to write! I want to be playing Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 right now, but I need to write! So, burn with me! Creatives, lovers, dreamers, fighters! Face the boredom, face the monotony of life, and laugh as the keys burn under your fingertips, or the pencil shears across the page.

Fight for you! Fight for your readers! Fight for the hope of humanity! While the world burns, who will tell the next generations how the fires felt? Who will describe the sizzling flesh, the agony of flaming injuries, and who will warn them so they know to respect the flame? You, dear reader, let your fire warn those who come after. Let everything you feel be felt by you and those who need to read it.

I wish I had more to say, but I don’t. I’m going to go work on my fantasy WIP right now and see if I can pick up where I left off. Godspeed, my beloved readers, Godspeed.

Death of a Word

/ abtimothy / Leave a comment
Daily writing prompt
If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?
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Throughout life, we go through phases of linguistic sense. When you are a child, you only use simple childish words that you have an easy time understanding. When some hit middle school, they begin to discover so-called “five-dollar” words. These extra-long words will get implemented into our lives, sometimes incorrectly, and we think ourselves smarter for it. In high school, if you are like me, a writer who began creating that young, you will do the same thing you did in middle school in your writing. You will attempt to shove these big or complicated words into sentences that don’t need them. Eventually, our linguistic palette matures, and we begin to actually understand these longer words and use them more and more seldomly.

This is often repeated as we read and write, discovering new and fun words along the way. These words are like cans of soda, though; you will use them until you’ve run out of enjoyment, and then move on to a different word that you find. Regularly used words are like a meal-prepped diet; they are consistent and don’t always bring great joy. Like eating broccoli, most words just don’t spark joy. Choose one to give up! See how long you can go, either in your next outline, short story, or creative endeavour, without using the word “have” or any of its tense-based counterparts. There are other words out there to describe owning something or controlling something, or doing something in the past.

If I had to choose a word that I use regularly to give up, I would choose “sick.” It is a classic word to describe something as “cool” or “radical.” To someone not in the know, however, it really means “disgusting,” “dangerous,” or even “wicked.” Much of how it is taken is in the tone of voice, but that does not often translate to text very well.

If you had to choose to give up a word that you use every day, what would it be? And why that one? Let me know below!