“I think it’s important to remember that something that’s happening to you is not the only thing happening in the world. There’s always another story.” — Arundhati Roy
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Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Every Story a New Perspective
Posted in Writing, tagged writing, Writers, #365Ways, perspective, #365Ways2026 on May 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »
One Small but Important Thing
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, creativity, inspiration, non-fiction, Thoughts, Writers, writing on May 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Today I want to share a fun non-fiction essay by one of my favorite fiction writers, T. Kingfisher. It’s about history and gardening and passion, real-life inspiration for fiction, and heroes saving one small but important thing.
History, Discovery, and the Quiet Heroics of Gardening – Reactor
So what does all this mean, for a writer? Well, it may not be holding the bridge at Thermopylae, but I keep coming back to how many gardeners end up saving a small piece of the world. Whether it’s a food from a lost homeland or a cultivar that is about to vanish from the earth, so often it comes down to one person who kept something small but important from being lost forever.
May we all be so heroic.
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Our Business Is to Create
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on May 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »
If you’ve ever read a book and thought, “I will never write anything this good,” and feel the urge to give up your own creative efforts, this article may be for you:
The thing every writer needs to overcome – Big Think
It’s common to feel embarrassed, shy, and self-conscious when we are writing. It’s easy to feel the need to be different when someone else has done it so well already. But, as the saying goes, the woods would be very silent if the only birds that sang were those who sang best. So, sing anyway. Sing badly, sing well, sing as much as you can… The point was never to out-sing the nightingale; our “business is to create.”
What also helps? Not taking myself too seriously!
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To the Billionaires Among Us
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, Fiction, poem, Thoughts, work, writing on May 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Hmm. Maybe writing after reading the news isn’t a great idea? Or maybe it is.
To the Billionaires Among Us
What will you do?
When the skies pour fire onto cracked and desolate earth,
tornadoes skip from your first mansion to your third yacht
and hail plays paddy whack with your bones?
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What will you do
when the oceans rise and the gates fall,
and there is nothing left to consume
but yourselves?
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But What Does It Smell Like?
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, space, Writers, writing on May 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The Surprising Truth About What Outer Space Smells Like
Some space veterans seemed to find this scent quite pleasant. “It is hard to describe this smell; it is definitely not the olfactory equivalent of describing the palate sensations of some new food that ‘tastes like chicken.’
Yes, these are the things I find interesting about space. Not the math (with apologies to all my math teachers ever) or the physics (with apologies to all the classes I never took), but the lived experience.
When I’m thinking about a story and need to ground the reader, this sort of information is useful. What would it feel like, what would it taste like?
What would it smell like?
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What’s for Dinner?
Posted in Food and..., Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, food, inspiration, InterestingAndUnusualOrganizations, Thoughts, writing on May 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »
I like reading interesting nonfiction, not least because it’s a great source of ideas for stories. I ran across this oddly fascinating article a while back:
Italy’s undercover pizza detectives
…the AVPN intermittently dispatches secret pizza agents on espionage missions to clandestinely spy on the restaurants.
Excellent title!
In related news, I might be hungry.
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Keep Dreaming
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on May 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »
There’s always a dream within a dream within a dream. — Dolly Parton
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Do Your Best
Posted in Writing on May 13, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“This life is filled with inescapable moral compromises. We should do what we can to avoid the easy ones.” ― Gabrielle Zevin
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What to Write Next
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, art, creativity, inspiration, Writers, writing on May 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Entertainment and Connection
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, art, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on May 11, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“Your fans, the ones that exist and the ones you have yet to make, will appreciate that what they get from you is from you. That’s what people mostly want from art: Entertainment and connection. You will always be able to do that better than ‘Al.’” — John Scalzi
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