“You were born and with you endless possibilities, very few ever to be realized. It’s okay. Life was never about what you could do, but what you would do.” — Richelle E. Goodrich
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Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Life Among the Possibilities
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, Thoughts, Writers on March 11, 2026| Leave a Comment »
On Art and Commerce
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, art, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on March 9, 2026| 4 Comments »
It’s Monday, which seems like a perfect time for a bit of wisdom on the intersection of art and commerce. This quote comes from sci-fi author John Scalzi, who has famously taken a stand on the importance of being paid for creative work, and knows a thing or two about building a viable living around art.
As a writer, and as a creator, nothing one ever does, professionally or personally, needs to be wasted. It’s all fuel for the creative engine…
Anyway: If you’re a writer or creator, never be ashamed of what else you do. It’s 2026 and this special flavor of gilded age we live in at the moment means that what qualifies as “selling out” has an extremely high bar. Making a living was very rarely “selling out” in any era. I think these days the phrase should be mostly reserved for writing things you absolutely don’t believe, for the sort of people you would in fact despise, with the result of your work is you making the world worse for everyone. Avoid doing that, please.
Short of that, get paid, have those experiences and develop new tools. All of it will be useful for the art you do care about. That’s not selling out. That’s learning, with compensation. — There Is No Selling Out Anymore
Now I’m off to do some more learning!
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Going Back? Plan Ahead!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, English, history, inspiration, language, Thoughts, time travel, what to pack when going back, Writers, writing on February 28, 2026| 4 Comments »
This is fascinating, educational and fun. One of the things they may not tell you when they give you the keys to the time travel machine is that language is a living thing, and English is now very old.
Linguist and teacher Colin Gorrie decided to illustrate how the English language has changed over the last 1000 years by writing a post that slowly transitions from the modern day, in hundred year increments. How far back can you understand?
How far back in time can you understand English?
He arrives, he checks in. He walks to the cute B&B he’d picked out online. And he writes it all up like any good travel blogger would: in that breezy LiveJournal style from 25 years ago, perhaps, in his case, trying a little too hard.
But as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler.
By the middle of his post, he’s writing in what might as well be a foreign language.
The last 300 years aren’t so bad, but then things start to get squiffy enough that I hope you’re planning to pack a fairly comprehensive dictionary. The success of your time travel adventures may depend on it!
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Can’t Compute
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, health, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 27, 2026| 13 Comments »
Like so many of you, I spend a lot of my life looking at screens. I try to keep my eyes healthy but you know how it is, you start the day at the writing computer and then move to the work computer, and then you’re just about to take a break when an email comes in about an important work project, or family thing, or taxes. And when I do get time to take a break? I read a book.
By the end of the day, my eyes are frazzled. Just me? I’m betting the answer is no, which is why I’m sharing this happy little comic about taking care of your eyes.
How to prevent digital eye strain: An illustrated guide
Ophthalmologist Dr. Rupa Wong and optometrist Dr. Valerie Lam explain how to avert those symptoms with 5 eye care tips.
(Have I shared this before? I don’t think so and I couldn’t find it on my site, but it’s possible my eyes just too tired!)
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Infinite You
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, art, creativity, inspiration, productivity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 25, 2026| 3 Comments »
Creativity is infinite. Creativity is infinite. — Reese Witherspoon
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So Much Life!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, inspiration, Writers, writing on February 20, 2026| 2 Comments »
This was a fun article to stumble upon:
We challenged teenagers to write a story about a meaningful moment in their lives in just 100 words. These are the subjects of some of the 14,232 “tiny memoir” submissions we received.
Teens do (nonfiction) drabbles. The New York Times called them miniature memoirs, but regardless, they are wonderful!
This reminds me of a book that my father gave to us all one Christmas, a lovely collection of poetry by children: Ten-Second Rainshowers: Poems by Young People.
The perspectives were touching and timeless, full of meaning, depth, joy and humor, much like these stories.
The Times chose 17 winners, but the detail I particularly like is that there were over 14,000 entries.
So much vision, so much thought. So much life!
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Not Too Long & Not Too Short
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, anthologies, creativity, inspiration, Kickstarter, Writers, writing on February 15, 2026| 4 Comments »
Here’s a quick notification for anyone interested in writing and publication venues and supporting a fun Kickstarter:
Missed-Fits: A Calendar of Fools Anthology by Storm Humbert
The idea for Missed-Fits is born of two central motivations at Calendar of Fools: the desire to create truly unique books and reading experiences for our readers, and the desire to provide a service or fill a gap we see in the professional short fiction space. In this case, the gap we saw was a relative dearth of stories of a certain length (1,200 to 2,100 words)…
I backed an earlier Calendar of Fools campaign and am happy to see that these anthologies are still going strong.
Given that I like books, often write stories that don’t fit traditional venue length requirements, and enjoy supporting artists, this is right up my alley.
Perhaps these are things you like too?
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Hold This Truth Close
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, haiku, haiku the news, Thoughts, writing on February 11, 2026| 2 Comments »
First, hold this truth close
there may be demons on earth
but there are saints too.
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How Marvelous!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, quotes, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 10, 2026| 1 Comment »
“How marvelous books are, crossing worlds and centuries, defeating ignorance and, finally, cruel time itself.” ― Gore Vidal
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On Behalf Of…
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, #wotf39, free fiction, Writers, writing on February 9, 2026| 1 Comment »
Today, I’m happy to share a story from friend and fellow writer Elaine Midcoh.
Do you want the truth? I will whisper so no one else will hear and think that I am crazy. I am not the ‘clever young legal scholar’ as has been alleged. The idea didn’t arise because I am brilliant or original. It only happened because, one night, after I had given up before trying, Lake Owakeela talked to me.
This story was a winner of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ “Write Before Midnight” short fiction competition, judged by none other than Kim Stanley Robinson (yes, of the Mars trilogy, The Ministry for the Future and many, many more).
See Robinson’s story notes at the top of the page, then settle in to enjoy a clever, entertaining, and ultimately uplifting story about protecting the world, and those who live in it.
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