Writing | J.R. Johnson

Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

Crazy or Cool?

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 29, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I’m toying with an idea and I can’t decide if it’s crazy or cool. Here’s a peek inside my head:

“Hey self, maybe we should try something a little bonkers.”

“Why not? Sounds fun. What do you have in mind?”

“What about writing a bunch of drabbles?”

“One-hundred word stories? We do that all the time, so sure.”

“What about writing a hundred drabbles?”

“A hundred? As in, One hundred? 100? Ten times ten? Roman numeral C?”

“Yep. Because numerical symmetry. One hundred hundred word stories.”

“I know you like challenging goals but that’s completely bonkers.”

“Yeah?”

“Absolutely. Also… pretty cool, actually. Hmm.”

So there you have it, my current writing target dilemma. A project like this would be a fun challenge but the real question is whether it would help my writing or distract me from larger projects.

What do you think, is this idea too much or not enough? Crazy? Cool? Bit of both?

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Onward, My Friends!

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential.”

― Jessamyn West

You’ve got this.

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Cuddle Time

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“There is no way around hard work. Embrace it.”

— Roger Federer

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The 2024 Hugo Award Winners

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, genre fiction, Hugo Awards, Writers, writing on August 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Apologies for the delayed announcement, but in case you were looking at the clock and idly wondering, “Who do you suppose won the Hugos this year?” I am here to help!

The awards are announced at the annual Worldcon, and this year it was held in Glasgow. I’ve never been, but it sounds like a lovely, storied locale.

Right, ahem, the envelope please!

2024 Hugo Award Winners | Glasgow 2024

Best Novel

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom, Orbit UK)

Best Novella

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK)

Best Novelette

“The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023)

Best Short Story

“Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, May 2023)

Best Series

Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)

See the above link for the complete list of winners.

I haven’t read all of these yet but I do love the feeling of having good stories waiting in the wings.

/rubs hands with glee!

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Consider This…

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf39, creativity, editing, genre fiction, perfectionism, Thoughts, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on August 21, 2024| 2 Comments »

Consider this: when you over edit something, you polish off the edges that made it unique and vibrant. A little polish is good, but not too much. Nobody wants a diamond polished into a ball bearing. They want something unique. Something sparkly. The world is full of uniform ball bearings. Be a flawed diamond.

— David Hankins, award-winning writer, author of Death and the Taxman, and all-around good duck

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A Touch of the Medieval

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, fantasy, genre fiction, history, inspiration, Robin Hood, sword and sorcery, Thoughts on August 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

So, here’s the thing: I don’t really like the Middle Ages. I feel a little bad about that because if you have a History degree it seems like you are obligated to keep an open mind about even the worst centuries, but it’s true. The Middle Ages are very much middling in my book.

Is this bias a result of the (relative) lack of historical records, the goofy headgear, or the whole Black Death, Inquisition, feudal lords fighting over tiny territories, and “Bad Times All Around” vibe that so many of those centuries have?

Well, maybe.

However! While reading an interesting article on a medieval herb garden (as one does), I realized that the era was into some of the things that I am into: the many uses of plants, bookbinding, woodturning, weaving, dyeing, and a wide variety of handmade hacks designed to moderate the vicissitudes of life. (The fantasy genre also owes a lot to that time period, and to be fair the bycocket, or Robin Hood hat, was pretty cool.)

So, yeah. It’s possible that I might have a touch of the medieval in me. Which goes to show that I shouldn’t rule out whole swaths of history, or people, or things. (Except the Plague, I continue to be very much down on pandemics. For, you know, reasons.)

So while I’m never going to be a fan of petty monarchs, famine, uncertain hygiene or strict class divisions, the next time the topic of the Middle Ages comes up, I’ll do my best to keep an open mind.

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Old Man Willow Sends His Best

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on August 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Where did my imagination take root? In a yellow-brick house on a quiet country road, filled with bright windows and built-in bookshelves containing a wide range of genres, including science fiction and fantasy.

I remember that house well, not least because a friend recently sent me a listing for it on a rental site. It was odd to see the rooms looking so empty, with none of the life that still populates my memories. Even so, it was good to visit the house again.

And to remember what it was like to look out at the old willow shading the little creek behind our house, and dream.

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Writer, Curious

Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, history, internet, spies, Writers on August 14, 2024| 2 Comments »

Writers are known for their weird web histories, and I am no exception. Today, I’ll highlight just one of the many oddities I have come across lately. In case you are a writer. Or are the curious sort.

The official CIA manual of trickery and deception

The manuals reprinted in this work represent the only known complete copy of Mulholland’s instructions for CIA officers on the magician’s art of deception and secret communications written to counter Soviet mind-control and interrogation techniques

I found the reference after reading this newsletter, featuring a little magic and some talking shoelaces.

These Shoes Are Made for Talking – Now I Know

So in 1953, according to the BBC, the CIA hired a man named John Mulholland to help, paying him $3,000 (the equivalent of $35,000 today) to write the first-ever “CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception.” Mulholland, though, wasn’t a spy — he was a magician. The manual outlined lots of different ways CIA agents could use the principles of illusionists to help them survive in the field and advance their goals.

I wondered, was the book still available? And lo, it was!*

* Free to read with login.

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An Elegant Symphony

Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, learning@lunch, nonfiction, science, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I’m reading a nonfiction book that is fascinating, detailed and (so far, at least) very well written. My favorite sentence from the bit I read at lunch is this perfect illustration of how to set the tone as well as the stage:

The lighting is subtle, the decor an elegant symphony of beige.

— Gretchen Bakke, The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future

Can’t wait to read the rest!

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