Writing | J.R. Johnson

Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

Fun Free Fiction

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, free fiction, Writers, writing on August 7, 2025| 1 Comment »

Howdy Readers! Today I’m happy to share a bit of fun free fiction from that master of humorous sci-fi David Hankins!

The Devil’s Footlocker by David Hankins – FREE STORY – Amazing Stories

Phil could sell anything to anyone. New Milwaukee, like most habitats orbiting Earth, was a moldering dump that smelled like rancid grease wrapped in locker room funk, but that was precisely why Phil had come. Suckers living in squalor made easy marks. The locals couldn’t get enough of his micro-transmat-powered Dust Zappers.

Enjoy!

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From Small to Big

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

“People overestimate what they can accomplish in a year but dramatically underestimate what they can do in a decade.”

— Maya Andrews, Olympic gold medalist

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Nothing So High

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, crafts, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

“You shall, I question not, find a way to the top if you diligently seek for it; for nature hath placed nothing so high that it is out of the reach of industry and valor.”

— Alexander the Great

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That’s a Lot of Books

Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, books, higher education, inspiration, so many books so little time, syllabi, writing on July 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Ever wonder what kind of books get assigned in college courses? Wonder no more!

Open Syllabus: Galaxy

This plot shows the 1,138,841 most frequently assigned texts in the Open Syllabus corpus, a database of 7,292,573 college course syllabi.

The books are grouped by field and sized by the number of syllabi on which they are assigned. Click for details, browse from archaeology to information science to writing and more, and have fun.

You will have to do a lot of zooming, however. There are a lot of books in this graphic!

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Poison Garden

Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Writers, writing, WritingResearch on July 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

A random guide that may or may not be related to the last scene I wrote: A Naturalist’s Guide to the World’s Most Lethal Plants

Not every threat in nature has fangs. Some sit quietly, rooted in soil, dressed in flowers, laced with poison.

And since we’re on the topic, what about the (mostly but not entirely historical) trend of poison gardens, and how are they related to the history of medicine?

Welcome To The Poison Garden: Medicine’s Medieval Roots

Visitors to the Poison Garden are allowed to look but not touch, says head gardener Trevor Jones. “They’re not allowed to stand too close to the plants. They’re not allowed to smell them or touch them or taste any of them, because they do all have the ability to kill you.”

In this as in so many other cases, knowledge is power!

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