Posted in Writing, tagged writing, creativity, inspiration, Writers, Thoughts, advice, #365Ways, art, #365Ways2026 on October 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“If you feel safe in the area that you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth, and when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.” — David Bowie
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, art, books, censorship, freedom, libraries on October 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Oh look, it’s Banned Books Week in the US.
Banding Together for Banned Books Week 2026
Banned Books Week, taking place October 4–10 this year, concentrates and amplifies the messaging of right to read organizations. Libraries, bookstores, and literary associations are hosting in-person and virtual events, featuring authors, educators, and advocates.
Interested in examples of books that have been banned this year? Here’s a list: Banned Books List 2026 – PEN America
In the near future, Offred is a handmaid in an authoritarian society who is not permitted to read. We’ll let that sink in.
And if you are a teenager in a library system that is banning books, Books Unbanned is for you.
A Books Unbanned library card gives teens across the United States free digital access to ebooks and digital resources, including banned and challenged books—no matter where they live. Books Unbanned helps ensure teens can read what they like, explore new ideas and form their own opinions.
Whether you support your local library, attend an event, read a book that’s been challenged to see what You think, or something else entirely, I hope you take a moment to appreciate the right to read without censorship. Because that benefits us all!
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, life, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on October 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »
In some ways, this quote expresses a very Monday sort of sentiment, but I like that you can flip it from “must do” to “get to.”
“No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
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Posted in Other, tagged Thoughts, history, humanity, storytelling, data, #365Ways, #365Ways2026 on October 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Some days you come across something on the web that helps you remember why people thought it was a good idea in the first place. For today’s entry into that ledger, I present Any Human Ever.
Any Human Ever: one life from over 100 billion
So: what would happen if stories were drawn from actual data, randomized to give a valid representation of the human story? That’s the question that was stuck in my head, and that drove this project forward. If you could draw a life at random from all of human history, what would it look like? Roll the dice, and see a genuinely random life, depicted as well as the data allow. Do it again and again, and what kind of pointillist painting emerges from all those colorful drops of humanity?
I love this idea. Do statistics have their place? Absolutely. Is this perfect? Maybe not, but I spent some time in grad school arguing for the humanization of data, and that debate solidified my belief that one of the best ways to connect people to ideas is through stories.
Have fun exploring 100 billion of them.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Oh look, I’m way behind today. Did I plan to get lots done? I did. Oh well!
“l often come back to a story I love about a wave panicking as it neared the shore, afraid it was about to disappear. Then, a smaller wave reminds it: You’re not a wave—you’re water. Plans will change. Your path will shift. And that shouldn’t be something to fear.” — Melinda French Gates
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, community building, creativity, inspiration, librarians, libraries, unsung heroes on October 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
You probably know that it’s the 250th anniversary of the United States, but did you know that this year is also the 150th anniversary of the modern American library system? I didn’t!
To mark the occasion, and to get a better understanding of what life is like for librarians today, reporters went to the annual American Library Association conference in Chicago this summer and interviewed almost 50 librarians about their work. What is it like to be a librarian in America today?
Librarians Discuss the Challenges and Triumphs of Running a Library Today
A lot has changed since the American Library Association was established in 1876 — even just over the past decade. The library has gone from a building full of books to arguably the most versatile civic center in any community lucky enough to have one… But most of all, they want you to know what the library really is: a safe place for people to gather around books, ideas and one another.
The work these often under-appreciated folks do touches so many communities in so many positive ways. Which reminds me, it’s about time to donate to my local library again!
“The misconception about libraries to me is that they feel irrelevant because we’re in a digital information age, but I would say they’re more relevant now than ever before because we’re conflating content with information and information with knowledge.” — Sam Helmick, Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City Public Library
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Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Doggerland, fun, history, maps, oceans on October 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Drain the oceans and flood the land with this sea level simulator
You’ve surely seen interactive maps showing the effects of the sea level rising, but Sliding Shores makes a game of it: you get a beautifully-rendered globe and a slider to raise or lower the oceans. There’s a load of presets, from “oceans drained” to “drown Everest,” a feat not even Waterworld managed.
Here’s the actual tool: Sliding Shores — Interactive Sea Level Rise Simulator by Richard Franklin.
(It had me at “Boil off 100 feet and we get Doggerland back!” Want to more about why that’s cool? It’s a real-life Atlantis, kinda sorta! Check out this backgrounder.)
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, news, that dog, Thoughts, translating emotions, Writers, writing on September 30, 2026| Leave a Comment »
As election season in the US ramps up, chaos continues around the world, and opening news and social media sites exposes you to a negatively incentivized firehose of information, what’s a creative to do?
These writers have Ideas.
21.37: Barrier Breaking: The World Is on Fire | Writing Excuses
“How do you continue to work? How do you survive? How do you be a person when everything around you is on fire without turning into the dog that says everything is fine?”
My day job involves a lot of news, so this is relevant for me. My usual approach is to try to write first thing in the morning, before I log on. It doesn’t always work but it helps.
(Let me say that elections and current events are important, obviously! I’m very much not recommending that you tune out completely, but I am saying that finding ways to give yourself some space for both creativity and news-related sanity is a good thing. Also, vote!)
While we’re at it, how can you translate your feelings onto the page in ways that help develop your characters and story?
21.39: Write What You Feel | Writing Excuses
The next time you’re actually experiencing a big emotion, this is how you can tell you’re a writer, is that you’re gonna sit there and go, can I use this? But think about like, what are your muscles doing?
What is your heart rate doing?
When you think back to that emotion, how does the temperature, that moment when the room is suddenly, you’re blazing hot or you’re suddenly cold, those people record those because that’s a thing you experience. How sensitive do you become to sound or touch or lights? What is your breath doing?
And then like your thoughts, what are you paying attention to? Do your thoughts feel smooth or are they skipping around? How is your memory attached to this?
I think all those somatic things are really, really wonderful.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, #MacFellow, art, awards, constructive creativity, creativity, Genius Awards, inspiration, MacArthur Fellows on September 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The 2026 MacArthur Fellows have been announced, and this year’s class is an interesting mix. From climate scientists to fiction writers, historians to chemists and more, the list provides a window into just some of the work being done by smart, enthusiastic, and creative people today.
These Fellows have found ways to capture some of the most important issues of our time, and it’s great to see such varied examples of constructive creativity, and to think of all the other people out there doing good work. Let’s hear it for flashes of genius!
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Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, astronomy, Hubble, inspiration, NASA, science, Thoughts on September 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »
This month marked the Hubble telescope’s 200,000 orbit around Earth. That’s a lot of laps!
NASA marks Hubble’s 200,000th orbit around Earth with a stunning image
Hubble has been operating in space for more than 36 years and is still making discoveries. The space agency noted that the telescope has traveled over 5 billion miles around Earth during its lifetime and has made more than 1.7 million total observations.
Click through to the article and the related NASA links to see an image of (checks notes) galaxy cluster MACS J0417, taken the day Hubble crossed that milestone. Here’s to science!
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