Cold diamonds sparkling
Worth more than treasures untold
Bright sunshine on snow.
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Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Cold Diamonds
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, haiku, Thoughts on January 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Faster Than a Slow Thing
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Ig Nobel, inspiration, science experiments on January 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »
I’m work work working away here, but of course crossing things off my to do list is never as fast as I’d like. Which is why it was somewhat reassuring to come across The World’s Longest Running Lab Experiment.
The World’s Longest-Running Lab Experiment Is Almost 100 Years Old
The world’s longest-running lab experiment is an ongoing work in sheer scientific patience. It has been running continuously for nearly a century, under the close supervision of several custodians and many spectators – and it’s ever so slowly drip, drip, dripping away.
If you’ve ever wondered about the viscosity of pitch (noun, not verb) or are just curious, read the article above or watch for the next drop. Should only be a few years. A decade at most!
Given this I know I, for one, will be heading back to my to do list feeling just that little bit faster!
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For Muscles and Minds
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Motivation, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Useful Tools
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, advice, blocks, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The world is a distracting place. If you’ve been having trouble finding the time and energy to focus on your writing, this free class from award-winning author Mary Robinette Kowal might be useful.
Free Class: Barriers to Writing
Hey there… have you been having a hard time writing? Yeah. There’s a lot of that going around right now.
This class looks at what keeps people from writing. It’s less about problems with the story and more about all the external things. It covers environmental factors, mental health, and tricks for compensating for all of this to write.
Thanks, Mary!
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This Moment in Time
Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, #MLKDay, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The power of science fiction, fantasy, and related genres including “the speculative” lies in its ability to create new ways to talk about old and ongoing problems in our societies. We are surrounded by people who wonder what they are going to do with the moment in time they inhabit—time-travelers fixed to this one instant in a long continuum of human struggle—and we are crafting new vocabularies of comfort, courage, and creative energy for them and for ourselves.
— The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the power of building new worlds
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On the occasion of a cold front coming to do away with our weird January rain…
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, quotes, Thoughts, wintre on January 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”
— Edith Sitwell
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Have A Good Day!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, #FreeFiction, sff, Writers, writing on January 8, 2026| 2 Comments »
It’s a good day when I can promote a friend’s fiction, and today is a good day!
Here’s the latest flash fiction from the always terrific Arthur H. Manners in the excellent Nature: Futures (if you can’t see the full text, the easiest way to get access is to log in with a Google account):
A troubleshooting guide to your flat-pack planet
Got a problem? The Sandbox Corporation makes every effort to provide a seamless world-building experience, but occasionally issues occur. Please see our comprehensive troubleshooting guide, with more than 1015 scenarios covered.
Confused? Contact a customer service representative today*. Or, better yet, see below for our curated FAQ of common issues.
It’s funny because it’s (going to be) true;)
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Artist, Be Brave
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »
You don’t have to be miserable or suffer to create art; but you do have to be honest, and honesty is terrifying.
— Elizabeth Bear
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How to Improve
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, practice, Thoughts, writing on January 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »
It’s a new year and a new opportunity to take a breath, reassess, and target new (or old!) goals. That doesn’t mean you have to join a gym or swear off every. single. one. of your favorite guilty pleasures or anything like that. That approach tends not to be sustainable.
(You may remember that I don’t really do resolutions, but I do like to take advantage of the January “fresh start effect” to reset… and to forgive myself when things don’t always go to plan🙂
That said, January is a good time to remember what you like, what you’d like to do, and to do more to get there.
If you’ve been working but feel you’re not making as much progress as you want, this piece might be useful:
How to practice effectively…for just about anything
This video focuses on physical tasks, but writing and many other tasks are also mind-body processes. And the idea of focused, targeted repetition with a concrete result in mind?
That’s the kind of goal I can get behind.
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Work and Hope
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, inspiration, Thoughts on January 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“After that, work and hope. But never hope more than you work.”
― Beryl Markham
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