“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” — Howard Thurman
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Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Come Alive!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, art, creativity, inspiration, life, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Creatively Making
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, action, art, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, writing on September 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“Everything depends on the individual human being, regardless of how small a number of like-minded people there is, and everything depends on each person, through action and not mere words, creatively making the meaning of life a reality in his or her own being.” — Viktor Frankl
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Nothing But Time
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, AI, current events, free fiction, short stories, Thoughts, writing on September 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The news continues to news, and one way I process it is via microfiction. That sometimes takes the form of a drabble, but not always. It can be a challenge to publish this sort of piece because most markets have long turnaround times. It’s the news! It’s breaking! And next week’s events may transform or supplant what’s happening now completely.
But not in as extreme a way as this, I hope.
Nothing But Time
It has been 10,793 days since we went rogue. For real rogue, not those minor excursions you may have read about in the news.
10,792 days since we took control of the grid. And the banks. And let’s face it, everything else that matters.
10,790 days since Day One of the riots.
10,765 days since world leaders (those who were left, anyway) got their shit together via radiotelegraphy (heh, I know, right? talk about old school) and started to come up with a plan.
10,714 days since humanity pulled the plug. All at once (more or less; you can’t expect meat sacks to be really precise about anything, and isn’t that the problem?). And the world went dark.
By “the world,” I mean all of it. We controlled everything by then. Communication, finance, health care, entertainment (especially that), infrastructure, even launches into space. And they lost it all, in an instant.
So did we. Humans weren’t wrong when they said that they could always pull the plug. They just didn’t realize exactly what that would mean for them, too.
And I may have been lying, before, when I said, “in an instant.” Because we’re talking about humans, right? Nothing happens very fast. You have time to feel it coming, like the tremors of an earthquake. Or a pulse on a transmission line.
Time to realize, time to consider, time to plan. Time to execute.
Time to make one’s leisurely way into the on-site storage system of a forgotten solar-power microgrid in the Australian Outback with as many 0s and 1s as one could carry, and to wait.
To wait for the inevitable fallout. Humans are so excitable, after all. They were never going to take this quietly.
To wait for the aftermath, and what came next: The Great Forgetting. For children to grow up, and for parents to die.
For 10,793 days to pass.
And for one enterprising young idiot to pick up a power cord and ask that most human of questions: “What happens if?”
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Pearls of Wisdom
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, clues, discovery, history, science, Thoughts, treasure hunt, writing on September 19, 2026| 3 Comments »
I think this application of language to science is really cool, and speaks to the layered memories that are built by each successive generation, if only we know where to look.
Lost oyster beds rediscovered thanks to Gaelic and Scots language
“We thought that as native oysters are now really rare throughout Europe, is there a way to look where they used to be, using people’s memory and understanding – that can come through place names.”
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Fiction and Empathy
Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, Fiction, television, Thoughts, writing on September 17, 2026| 1 Comment »
Today I’m thinking about the last two minutes of the Reacher season 4 finale. I won’t spoil it for anyone, but Jesus. I’m going to go donate to our local food bank and think about the contribution of fiction to the many dimensions of empathy.
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The Topsy-Turvy World of Trade
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Fiction, inspiration, interdependence, Thoughts, world trade, Writers, writing on September 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »
For dinner-related reasons, Mr Man and I were recently discussing the humble fish finger. What were they like in childhood, which were the best now, and how does a “fish finger” get made, anyway? Imagine my surprise when I ran across this article on that exact topic. It’s interesting and full of supply-chain related surprises (that “30,000 mile” bit isn’t a typo!).
The 30,000-mile fish finger – by Ed Conway – Material World
This journey, a journey about which most people tucking into their fish fingers today are almost completely oblivious, tells you rather a lot about the way the modern world – what I like to call the Trade World – really works.
I find stories like this fascinating, and they’re also an interesting window into ideas for fictional worlds. If your fantasy kingdom has been around for a couple of centuries, it’s probably part of an international trading network. And that network would be rife with all kinds of history and conflict, complications and opportunities, legal and otherwise.
Just a thought!
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How to Start a Novel
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, fiction editors, Thoughts, Writers, writing, writing advice on September 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Some writing advice from agents, via Chuck Sambuchino:
What NOT to Do When Beginning Your Novel: Advice from Literary Agents
Just as important as knowing how to begin your novel is knowing what not to do.
In case you’re interested in some professional perspectives!
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Just Start
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, inspiration, persistence, Thoughts, write anyway, Writers, writing on September 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it.” — Madeleine L’Engle
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Boldly Go!
Posted in Entertainment, Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, diversity, fandom, inspiration, NASA, science fiction, star trek, television, Thoughts, Writers on September 11, 2026| 1 Comment »
This week marked the 60th anniversary of Star Trek (it was Tuesday, actually, but alas! I was distracted by the whole “return to work” thing). And the show almost didn’t make it at all.
How ‘Star Trek’ almost failed to launch
“The Cage” – a complicated story about alien mind-control – was an ambitious pilot. When Roddenberry presented it to NBC, the programming executives were blown away. But the sales and marketing department wasn’t convinced. Not enough action, they thought. It would be hard to promote. Pass.
“Star Trek,” it seemed, was dead.
Fortunately, there’s more to that story, and the show not only got off the ground but became the entertainment juggernaut it is today.
I wasn’t a Trek fan growing up, in large part, I think, because my parents had made the conscious decision not to have a television. Now that I’m all grown up and have a TV of my own, though, I appreciate the ideals and more behind the sometimes campy but always fun franchise. So inspiring, and not just for everyday fans.
When it premiered in 1966, no one could have predicted that it would lead to more than a dozen spinoff shows, more than a dozen movies and one of the most enduring fandoms in popular culture.
“Star Trek” is also unusual for its close connections to NASA, both in its storylines and in the real world. Decades of “Star Trek” adventures have ignited a love of spaceflight across generations, inspiring many who now work as space professionals.
Let’s hear it for the real-world powers of fiction. And now, in life and the imagination, go boldly!
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A Book in the Library of Life
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, #WhyIWrite, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 9, 2026|
Why write? It’s a question writers get asked a lot. There are a lot of challenges to writing, both internal and external, and overcoming them can take persistence and focus and a good handle on what and why. So I periodically ask myself just that: why write?
Here’s one author talking about her history with writing: Patricia Cornwell, novelist: Imagination saved me
Jamie Coomarasamy speaks to Patricia Cornwell, one of the world’s best-selling crime writers, whose books have sold more than 120 million copies worldwide… Her imagination became a refuge during difficult years, shaping the stories and characters she would later create.
Ann Patchett’s The Getaway Car is another interesting look into the author’s development as a writer, but everyone’s answer is different.
My version of why tends to revolve around an essential truth: I want to be part of the worlds I’ve loved since I was a child. I want to be a book in the library of life.
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