I could spend the next hour writing up a thoughtful treatise on some writing-related topic, edit, re-edit, and finally post. Or I could treat you to a pretty picture and go chill in the backyard with a book.
Hmm. Which would you pick?
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Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Decisions, Decisions
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, me not writing, Thoughts on July 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Look Deeper
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, inspiration, Thoughts, writing on July 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“When it looks impossible, look deeper. And then fight like you can win.”
—Aloy, Horizon Forbidden West
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Go Ahead and Dream
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, ideas, Writers, writing, writing advice on July 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »
How does science fiction author Charlie Jane Anders record history that hasn’t happened, build cities that may never exist, and ground her stories in unreal realities? And what advice does she give for those of us working to build our own fictional futures?
…I kind of start by daydreaming the wildest stuff that I can possibly come up with, and then I go back into research mode, and I try to make it as plausible as I can by looking at a mixture of urban futurism, design porn and technological speculation. And then I go back, and I try to imagine what it would actually be like to be inside that city. So my process kind of begins and ends with imagination, and it’s like my imagination is two pieces of bread in a research sandwich.
Whatever works for you, works. So go ahead and dream.
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Good Books Only, Please!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, authors, creativity, genre fiction, GRRM, productivity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on July 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »
We gave a dinner party over the weekend and talk turned (as it does) to entertainment. When, one conversant asked, would the Game of Thrones books ever be published? I don’t know the answer to that question (obviously, but the timeline tells its own tale) but I was interested to read this take by editor and journalist Maddy Meyers.
If George R. R. Martin doesn’t want to write Winds of Winter, that’s OK – Polygon
…without speaking to the man or knowing him personally at all, I am nonetheless prepared to make the case that George R. R. Martin simply does not want to finish writing The Winds of Winter.
He’s just not into it. If he continues to force himself to do it, the end result will probably be a pretty terrible book — and I think he knows that, and that’s why he can’t finish it, because he doesn’t want to publish a bad book. The alternative? We don’t get the book at all. And for me, that’s actually preferable.
Honestly, I agree. While I’d love for him to finish the rest of the series, a bad book is far worse than no book at all.
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Work Proceeds!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, Thoughts, Writers, writing on July 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Grandiosity lessens as work proceeds.
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927), U.S. aphorist.
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On Resurrecting Habits
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, habits, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing on July 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »
A lot of my work relies on habit. Be it the day job, chores, calling the parental units, these daily posts or other creative work, I made space for everything in my week. When the time came, I’d do the thing. Easy and good, a puzzle with all the pieces in place.
The problem with a system like that? Change. When one of those pieces breaks, is lost, grows in size, or (running out of puzzle-related associations, but you get the idea) otherwise shifts in ways that alter the system, the associated habits can break too.
For a long time, my habit was to spend an hour or so writing with breakfast, then shift over to the day job. But when my work schedule changed, my dedicated writing time disappeared too.
In sum: I’m not writing enough. Grr.
Time to get back to basics and rebuild my schedule.
Step one? Remember that urgency isn’t everything. Make time for what’s important.
“Everything is habit-forming, so make sure what you do is what you want to be doing.”
— Wilt Chamberlain
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What Magic Is
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, cli-fi, Fiction, inspiration, Joy Donnell, Writers on July 17, 2024| 1 Comment »
This story just came across my desk, part of the Grist Climate Fiction collection, which I’ve mentioned before. I haven’t read this piece yet but I’m looking forward to it. If you’re the sort of reader who enjoys hopeful views of the future, perhaps you’d like to join me.
Heirloom | Grist (by Joy Donnell)
A slight pressure on the mattress moves Dru’s foot. She looks down her body to see Helene sitting beside her toes. Her ancestor is a stunner. Perfect red lips. Her hair is curled and controlled, yet slightly tousled. Helene is also wearing the party dress but her version is composed of starlight regalia shaped like luna moths and floating bubbles of light.
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Word Power
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, persistence, purpose, Thoughts, Writers, writing on July 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“A word after a word after a word is power.”
— Margaret Atwood
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Creative Advice for a Saturday
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, neil gaiman, Thoughts, Writers, writing on July 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Most writers, and indeed, most creatives could tell you that quite often we are at our most creative when we’re staring into the middle distance, our mind engaged only with itself, silent and otherwise unoccupied.
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Outlook is Good
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, poets, Thoughts, Writers on July 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.”
— Emily Dickinson
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