Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, haiku, just thinking, poem, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Sometimes a story seed comes to me, and while it doesn’t always grow into a full-fledged story, it’s often expressed in the form of its own small poem. Like this.
Can We Make a Deal?
My alien mind
In this animal body
Which wins, in the end?
And since today is National Cat Day in the US, let’s make that animal a kitty.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #whoops!, lessons for living, procrastination, Thoughts on October 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Some days seem designed to deliver a lesson. I won’t go into the sadly uninteresting and happily trifling details, but today’s lesson for me?
Time comes for us all. Don’t put stuff off!
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Looking for an unexpected way to find interesting and creative story ideas? Creativity expert Keith Sawyer has a suggestion.
The Creativity Hack No One Told You About: Read the Obits
Here’s how you can use the obituaries to enhance your creative cognition.
First, start by reading them slowly, without searching for a big idea. Let the details wash over you — the places lived, the professions practiced, the odd hobbies pursued. Notice what sticks.
It’s not just about learning new facts, of course — it’s about asking questions.
There’s more to this idea than just skimming the paper. Want to know more about how to enhance your creative cognition? This article can help.
“…research shows that distant analogies often lead to creative breakthroughs, often in unexpected ways. What you’re doing is filling up your brain with a range of very different cognitive material.”
As you read the obits (or watch TV, or stroll through the neighborhood, there are lots of options), start by asking questions. Get a sense of the who, what and where, then look for the why and see where it leads.
To your next story, I hope!
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Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #BakingSortOf, random facts, Writers, writing on October 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Powdered sugar is a kitchen staple.
For whatever supply chain reason, we went through a powdered sugar shortage up here a while back, grocery store shelves with sad empty spots where this baking essential should be. That led me to wonder who uses it, and for what.
Need to make icing for that birthday cake? Or a batch of shortbread? Or dust the top of your chocolate cake or French toast or Beaver Tails or Swedish pancakes? You’ll probably need powdered sugar.
Some readers may know this already, but powdered sugar is also a key ingredient in a product that you probably want to keep far away from your kitchen: grenades.
To make grenades, the Army needs 30 tons of powdered sugar
It turns out that sweet powdery sugar, the same you might put on funnel cake at a state fair, is a major ingredient to make things go boom, or at least hiss and spray smoke.
…
Though powder sugar’s use in industrial weapons making isn’t an obvious leap of logic, the chemistry is fairly simple… Explosives need an oxidizer, ignition source and fuel, and sugar is an excellent fuel.
And that is another interesting fact for your “writers learn the darnedest things” file.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on October 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Here’s an illustrated short by Rich Wells, capturing an epiphany he had outside a tire shop.
“I thought l’d take the words from my notebook and make something visual.
A reminder to myself that all this everyday stuff – admin, errands, school runs, park trips, waiting in lines, meal times –
it’s all a gift”
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, possibilities, scifi, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn’t exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again. As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world you are writing science fiction. It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible.
— Ray Bradbury
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, cliffhangers, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today, Mr Man is out in the woods being woodsy, and his cell connection is weak at best. He called with a story about an adventure, full of drama and excitement, near misses and impossible tasks.
Ninety seconds into the tale, the call cut out. Oh no, I thought, he just set up the problem, how will he triumph? What happened next? I waited by the phone in anticipation.
Another call, another 90 seconds, another cut line, another moment of drama as he hung, metaphorically speaking, between victory and defeat. It happened again, then again.
I started answering his callbacks with “And then what happened?”
After many episodes I got the whole story, and it was a good one. Let’s just say that most of us would have found ourselves stranded in the bush waiting to become a bear’s dinner, but through creativity, deductive thinking and mechanical know how, he found a way!
And I enjoyed an excellent reminder of the power of suspense in story.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #QuittingIsForQuitters, creativity, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 17, 2025| 2 Comments »
The only guaranteed way to succeed is simple: don’t quit.
— Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Posted in Writing on October 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I made butterscotch last night and realized I’d neglected to post the recipe. Given my habit of scrawling ingredient lists on random scraps of paper which may or may not make it over to my kitchen book shelf, it helps to know exactly where I put my recipes.
Here:)
| Butterscotch | x1 | x2 | x4 |
| Heavy whipping cream | 175g | 350g | 700g |
| Butter | 85g | 170g | 340g |
| Brown Sugar | 150g | 300g | 600g |
| Salt | pinch | pinch+ | 1/8 t or to taste |
| Grand Marnier | ~1T | 2T | 4T |
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, free fiction, jobs in space, sci-fi, Writers, writing on October 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today, a fun bit of free short fiction from Carrie Vaughn and Clarkesworld Magazine.
She hit send and hoped that this would be the last she had to think of it. Engineering would get the work order, run the diagnostics, the glitch would get fixed, all would be well. She was also very aware that this would probably not be the end of it. She couldn’t tell if the cramping in her stomach was lunchtime hunger or simmering rage.
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J.R. Johnson 
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