# Preface Date: February 7, 2026 This week has been more about personal growth than writing. Which means there's been lots of journaling about a lot of things. And I learned that my critical thinking class has overlapped into my personal life as well. Specifically, we have learned about word precision. This, according to some I've spoken to, is **obvious**. But there is a section that made me stop and pause in chapter 2. Which I'll go into more detail about further down. Edit: I was preparing to write toward Project Moonshadow when I saw a creative diary entry stating I had written some background for this project. So I'm adding that without changing anything else other then the word count total at the bottom. # Part 1: Non-Fiction ### 1.1 College 2.0 (what I can share, anyway) In chapter two of ***Thinking for Yourself***, by Marlys Mayfield, there is a subheading called **"Words that Hide Meaning."** Below is a list of the words we discussed in class. ##### Vague Words or phrases that convey a generalized, unclear, and unfelt experience instead of one that is concrete, specific, clear, and sensory. ##### Ambiguous Words or phrases that have more than one meaning. They can be confusing when no explanation or context is offered. ##### Abstract Words that have no physical reference can appear vague when not clarified by context, definition, or explanation. ##### Jargon We can be confused by words, sometimes technical, that are familiar to a group of people but unfamiliar to outsiders. ##### Buzzwords These are trendy clichés or phrases invented to impress rather than clarify. ##### Euphemism The invention of words that mask meaning, making the less acceptable appear innocuous and respectable What I have come to learn (and I promise I'm not turning this blog post into a therapy session) is that an entire side of my family have used a mixture of all of these words to convince me they are right about things. This has gone on my entire life. And since I have shut them out, my thinking has become clear as I work on other things in my life. This and applying to grad schools has been exhausting, if I'm being honest. But I'm learning what "my own pace" means and am working diligently to make this work for me and set my own boundaries. Other than that, I wrote a cool 280 words on a second observation on college 2.0. It isn't published right now. Maybe I should polish this up and throw it at Substack... # Part 2: Fiction There's a lot of "Nothing to see here this week." ## 2.1 Short Story Titled: Word count: Synopsis: Notes: Nothing to see here this week. ## 2.2 Project Madison Flame Word count: Synopsis: Notes: Nothing to see here this week. ## 2.3 Project Moonshadow Word count: 745 Synopsis: Isaac and Richard (pre-transition) meet at a conversion camp and get along swimmingly. One day they start coming out to each other using nothing but euphemisms, as they are under tight surveillance. Notes: I wrote some background for this short story so that I would have more context moving forward. This felt like a short story in-and-of itself. And I may expand in this one day. But the main thing is to get this Fae Area adventure out of my head. ## 2.4 Project Castro There has been a bit of progress here. Mostly I've been working through some writer's block that's connected to this. I'm working on the skeleton of the story. And what this means is: I'm looking at key points in the story where there will be dialogue trees. These choices will affect which ending the player arrives at. Because of these key points, I will be able to look at the dialogue in smaller chunks, instead of holding entire conversations in my head. Which is what continues to happen when I look at the script of this visual novel. So far this has been a screenplay. And I've learned this is fine for a table reading. But not for coding. So I'm trying to work on this and backgrounds for this thing at a pace that doesn't make me dizzy thinking about it. ## 3. Substack **Please note:** I'm stacking my fiction and (eventually) non-fiction for Fridays in future. So you won't immediately see the content for Substack. It's queued up. ### 3.1 Flash Fiction Friday 343 "When It's Dark" Titled: Untitled Date: 06 February 2026 Word count: 888 Synopsis: Johnny, Billy, and Terri go into a Hayes Valley Victorian on a mission to find out what’s haunting the renovated house. Johnny is the first to run into… something. Notes: This is my submission for . [**@flashfictionfridayofficial**](https://www.tumblr.com/flashfictionfridayofficial/). This is a weekly prompt that I try to participate in every week. Some weeks I can’t think of anything, other weeks I do. ## 4. Link Roundup Below is a complete list of this week's links. I realize that if I'm gonna be showing off, the least I can do is have all my links in one basket, rather than scatter them about. They aren't seeds. Plus it makes it easier when I do this on Sunday. ### 4.1 Substack [FFF 343 When It's Dark](https://open.substack.com/pub/aroacephoto/p/when-its-dark?r=2getsk&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true) ### 4.2 Tumblr [FFF 343 When It's Dark](https://www.tumblr.com/acewriter/807861548755386368/when-its-dark?source=share) ### 4.3 The Kitchen Sink Nothing to see here this week. # Conclusion The major theme in my life at this very second is "slow down and listen to yourself." And that's what I feel like I'm doing. Sometime this week I came to the conclusion that I know all these facts about myself but I don't really "know" my Self. I have interests, hobbies, wants, needs. But if I put it all in a mind-map, what's the meaning behind this circled word with "me" in the center? This isn't a critical crisis point or anything dramatic. Not like this felt in my twenties (coming out as Bisexual was **bad**). But I keep telling myself that maybe I need to dealing with grad school applications as well as cultivate my creativity on top of healing. That deserves some quiet reflection as I find my momentum again. I hope you have a great week ahead of yourself. And don't beat yourself up. 2026 has only just begun. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next week! The below table is mostly for myself. But if you, like me, enjoy seeing numbers go up in any capacity, then this may be for you as well. It's meant to be an encouragement to keep on writing. I tally up all the different categories of writing that I contribute to. I keep track of them monthly. | Word Type | Monthly Totals | | --------------------- | -------------- | | Project Castro | | | Project Moonshadow | 745 | | Flash Fiction Fridays | 888 | | Non-Fiction | | | Short Story | | | TTRPG | | | College 2.0 | 280 | | Grand Total | 1,913 |