I woke to light dancing through the curtains. This is my attempt to replicate that feeling.
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Posted in Likes, Other | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, abstract, creativity, inspiration, visual art | Leave a Comment »
Exactly one year ago today I decided to do a little time travel. You may remember I mentioned a site called FutureMe, an easy and fun (and free) way to write yourself a letter to be delivered at some time in the future.
My letter arrived this morning, delivering a boost from NaNoWriMos past.
Thanks, Past Me, I will.
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Posted in Likes, Writing | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, Motivation, Thoughts, time travel, writing | Leave a Comment »
One thing I like about being a writer is the rejection. That sounds weird, I know.
As I’ve mentioned before,* I used to hate the cycle, write, submit, be rejected, write submit, be rejected. Then one day you wake up and realize that rejection is no longer as painful as it once was. And some time after that, it occurs to you that rejection is really just another part of the cycle, winter to acceptance’s spring. Or whatever.
Don’t get me wrong, acceptances are definitely more fun. But they aren’t the only way to mark writing progress.
All I know is that my email tonight contained an editor’s, “Sorry, it was great and all but it’s just not great for me” email and it was Not A Big Deal. More like another hole in my writer’s punch card.
Rejection, and the possibility of it, used to dictate a lot of what I did or did not do with my writing. No longer.
Tonight, my first thought after skimming the rejection was, “Cool cool cool, glad they finally got back to me.” My second thought was, “What’s next?”
* A few examples: Making the Most of Rejection; Keep Writing; Exposure Therapy 101.
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Posted in Writing | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
It’s funny how much you can absorb without intending to. The other night I put on a classical channel in the background. An elegant but weighty piece came on and I looked up to see that it was by Brahms. Makes sense, I thought.
The next tune was lighter, a sparkling Baroque presence. Telemann. Ah yes, I thought.
Finally, a dramatic, Romantic sound that spoke of strength with warmth. Dvořák, of course.
Of course? What do I know about classical music? Nothing, that’s what. But my father played it all through my childhood and apparently some of it sank in.
It’s the same with writing, I find. I’m not great at picking apart a story into pieces like sixth-grade sentence deconstruction. (That may have something to do with my memories of actual sixth-grade sentence deconstruction. Ugh.)
Whatever genre I’m exploring, I prefer to swim in it, absorb it, dive deep until I am close enough to understand why some readers love it, even if I don’t.
That way, I absorb more than I know.
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Posted in Writing | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, family, genre fiction, inspiration, music, Thoughts, writing | Leave a Comment »
Damocles; Siege Perilous; Chekhov’s gun
xkcd: Interior Decorating
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Posted in Writing | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, puns, Writers, writing, xkcd | Leave a Comment »
I have moderately complicated feelings about Halloween. Do I enjoy the horror genre? I do not (so scary!). Did I rewatch Practical Magic the other day? I did. Do I like the concept of Halloween as a chance to try on other personas, other worlds, and to learn new ways to fly? I do!
If you’re dressing up tonight, go you. And if you’re frazzled from working on kiddie costumes, shepherding young ghosts door to door, and gaining eternal parenting credits for putting up with sugar-fueled children for a week? Your sacrifices will be remembered, always.
Thanks, Mom and Dad. Happy Halloween!
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Posted in Holidays | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts | Leave a Comment »
We went to the woods today. Blue jays, gray jays, deer, a tick and a spider as big as a fifty-cent piece, wild peppermint, oaks and maple and birch and hickory trees and their nuts, moss, lichen, granite ridges wearing down at geological speeds, and an abandoned bird’s nest, waiting patiently to be discovered in the middle of the trail. The first person stepped over the nest, unaware, the second person strode past, unaware, but the third saw it. And stopped.
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
― W.B. Yeats
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Posted in Writing | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, inspiration, nature, Thoughts | Leave a Comment »
“Everybody has a secret world inside of them. I mean everybody. All of the people in the whole world, I mean everybody — no matter how dull and boring they are on the outside. Inside them they’ve all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds… Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe.”
― Neil Gaiman, A Game of You
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Posted in Writing | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, genre fiction, imagination, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing, yay | Leave a Comment »
Years ago, I was fortunate enough to visit the Pyramids in Egypt. What I remember most is the sense of age, and of awe. Heat and dust, crumbling stone and the awareness that I was just the latest in a long, long line of visitors.
What I don’t clearly remember are the pyramids themselves.
That’s fine, because we live in the future. Interested in seeing the interior of the Great Pyramid of Giza? Now you can see the full (known) extent of this world wonder. (And thanks to SFCanada’s Geoff Hart for finding this link.)
Inside the Great Pyramid | Giza Project
Have fun exploring!
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Posted in Other | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Egypt, history, inspiration, Thoughts, wonders of the world | Leave a Comment »
Things I am currently in the middle of:
- making yogurt
- finalizing my contract with Writers of the Future
- working on that fun and funny Wordle story
- deciding whether or not to update my nom de plume to something more unique
- writing more, or at least aspiring to write more.
If you, too, have already started but not yet finished, perhaps you’ll appreciate Martha Wells’ new article on writing:
Getting Unstuck – Apex Magazine
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Posted in Writing | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, genre fiction, Martha Wells, Thoughts, Writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
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