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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Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Artist, Be Brave
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »
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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Creative Work
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, art, creativity, Thoughts on January 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.”
― Bertolt Brecht
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Nothing At All
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, writing on January 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.”
― Deepak Chopra
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Keep Doing It
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, writing on December 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing.”
― Emma Donoghue
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Time Machines
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts on December 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“We all have our time machines, don’t we. Those that take us back are memories… And those that carry us forward, are dreams.”
― H.G. Wells
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Lessons from the Past
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on December 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“That’s what literature is. It’s the people who went before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death! Listen to them!”
— Connie Willis
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Journey to The Journey
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, history, Writers, writing on December 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I ran across this short piece by Brian Lewis (self-described Cosmic Poet, which is awesome), and wanted to share.
In the fall of 1929, with America days away from financial ruin, Joseph Campbell committed what everyone called “professional suicide.” He walked into his advisor’s office at Columbia—degree in hand, future within reach—and announced, calmly, boldly, disastrously: “I don’t want one field. I want all of them.”
Yes, that Joseph Campbell, Mister Hero with a Thousand Faces.
By now, most of us have heard about Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, and how it distills thousands of years of mythology into a useful, easily transferrable model to help reach an audience.
(It also generated follow-on models, including Gail Carriger’s Heroine’s Journey.)
But how did Campbell build that original model? The essay shares some of the backstory of that process, and was full of new-to-me details. How did Campbell go from obscurity to one of the best known framers of storytelling?
Read the full essay for more. And yes, George Lucas plays a significant role:)
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First Things First
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on December 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Your first workout will be bad.
Your first podcast will be bad.
Your first speech will be bad.
Your first video will be bad.
Your first ANYTHING will be bad.
but you cant make your 100th without making your first.
So put your ego aside, and start.
— Alec Zamora
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