“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
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Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Working On It!
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Thoughts on November 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Let’s Go With Always
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, think positive, Thoughts, Writers, writing on November 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“It was never the right time or it was always the right time, depending on how you looked at it.”
— Ann Patchett, Bel Canto
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To the Light and Beauty
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #BeFrodo, conviction, courage, ethics, J.R.R. Tolkien, morality, Thoughts on November 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“To become the shadow to defeat the shadow only extends the shadow’s reach and its reign. In one of the great ironies of our international moment, it appears that many of the people who’ve read “The Lord of the Rings” the most understand it the least. They perceive an emergency – a world in crisis – and grasp for the ring.
But Tolkien’s message is profoundly different. You must demonstrate courage to defend against evil, but to defeat it, you cannot rely on your own strength. It is to the “light and high beauty” that we must turn, even when we cannot see a way through.”
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Genius is Overrated
Posted in Writing on November 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »
One thing I like about posting every day is that, in my mind at least, this process becomes less about perfection and more like a conversation.
If I forget something, I can come back the next day and add it in. If I want to digress, it’s no big deal. And if I don’t feel like writing anything very involved, I can give you a quote and a pretty picture but I still post something.
Stakes are lowered, and the emphasis is on consistency, not genius. (What is “genius” anyway? The post that strikes you as incredible may land flat for someone else, and that’s fine. I can’t worry about that, I need to stay focused on writing.)
For me, that’s the key here. Write something. Say something. Do it again.
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Writing Time
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on November 8, 2025| 1 Comment »
“The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have.”
— Henry James
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Really, I Just Like Saying “Loot”
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #DontTryThisAtHome, Writers, writing on November 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »
When I hear a story like “crown jewels stolen in brazen theft,” my first thought tends to be “Now what?” (Ok, my first thought was, wait, France still has crown jewels? And then the other thing.)
I have zero interest in actual theft, but you never know when this sort of information might come in handy for fiction. That’s where experts come in. Here’s a law professor and specialist in art crimes on that very subject.
You’ve just stolen a priceless artifact – what happens next?
The high-profile heist at the Louvre in Paris on Oct 19, 2025, played out like a scene from a Hollywood movie: a gang of thieves steal an assortment of dazzling royal jewels on display at one of the world’s most famous museums.
But with the authorities hot in pursuit, the robbers still have more work to do: How can they capitalize on their haul?
And here’s another professor on what might happen to this particular loot.
What will happen to the Louvre jewellery after the heist? There are two likely scenarios
The stolen jewellery includes well-known pieces that are easily recognisable. This will make it difficult, if not impossible, to sell them on the black market, even to well-heeled collectors and buyers.
(Oh, and given post-heist updates, I’d probably add “Don’t drop the loot and / or leave DNA behind” to this list of handy suggestions.)
Perhaps this will help you think about a (fictional!) story.
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(I’ll Try to) Use Wisely
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, Writers on November 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“The gifts you possess can lift you up or pull you down; it all depends on how you use them.”
— Arthur C. Brooks
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Nothing, and Everything
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #WhereDoIdeasComeFrom, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts on November 2, 2025| Leave a Comment »
My office is filled with random yet interesting items. Maybe a color caught my eye, or a puzzle, or a map (or a bit of pottery, a magic wand, a decoder ring, a set of travel watercolors, or or or). All things that spark my creativity or capture an experience I want to remember.
For example: Mr Man and I had a special dinner a while back.
Appetizer: mussels steamed with a great deal of garlic and a perfectly reasonable amount of white wine.
Flavor: excellent.
Bonus: an unexpected gift, the tiniest pearl I have ever seen.
Taking a picture of it was a challenge, it’s that small.
I keep it in memory of that night. It’s worth nothing, and everything.
“But the pearls were accidents, and the finding of one was luck, a little pat on the back by God or the gods both.”
– John Steinbeck
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Beautiful Things
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, free fiction, short stories, Writers, writing on November 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today, a story by the excellent Arthur H. Manners. Dark, yes, but with a beautiful thread of hope.
Woodsong – Flash Fiction Online
It hit me last night, as a chorus of woodsong filled our hiding spot: we’re never getting out of here.
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Graveyard Poem
Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, death is inevitable but so is beauty, haiku, writing on October 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Live this moment
Feel this day this sun this breath
I loved those things too.
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