October 8, 2013 by J.R. Johnson
Whatever
News comes to me that Nebula Award-winning author Eugie Foster has gotten a rather unpleasant surprise in the form of a fast-growing tumor in her sinuses — cancer, in other words. Here’s her write-up with the details. She’s prepping for surgery even as you read this.
The good news is that she does have medical insurance, which will cover much of her costs. The less-than-good news is that even with medical insurance, she is on the hook for quite a lot of out-of-pocket costs. To help defray those, she’s reminding people of the work she has available for sale, both collections and individual short stories. She’s a very fine writer (note that Nebula win up there), so her work is well worth your time. Also, if you’re so inclined, she has a way for you to donate to her directly.
Check out her work and consider helping…
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October 6, 2013 by J.R. Johnson
It’s time for me to find a new book to read, and what better place to start looking than SFSignal’s delightful visualization of NPR’s Top 100 SFF Books? Sure, the list is a little older, but literature is timeless, people, timeless!
Posted in Entertainment, Likes | Tagged best of, books, entertainment, Fiction, genre fiction, literature, NPR, sff | Leave a Comment »
October 4, 2013 by J.R. Johnson
I’m busy, as I am most Fridays, but I wanted to send you into the weekend with this thought:
Your problem is how you are going to spend this one and precious life you have been issued. Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.
― Anne Lamott
This weekend I think the truth will taste like cookies:)
Posted in Likes | Tagged Anne Lamott, inspiration, Motivation, quotes, Thoughts | 1 Comment »
October 3, 2013 by J.R. Johnson
In which Felicia Day goes to the Wharton School of Business, talks with B-school types, and tells them how she succeeded even when everyone told her she was doing it wrong.
I’m a better person now and, I think, a happier person having come out of some of the darkest times in my life, having gone through this process. So, I can’t regret one step of it. In retrospect, there are so many things I learned. And I guess in this life, if you’re not learning, you’re dying.
Lessons? Set deadlines. Sell the rights to your content with caution. You can’t do everything, but low budgets don’t have to mean low aspirations. Also, never underestimate the power of awesome. (Ok, that’s me paraphrasing, but I dare you to check out the geeky fun that is Geek and Sundry and tell me it’s not true;)
Posted in Likes | Tagged artists, arts, creativity, entertainment, Felicia Day, geek and sundry, geeks, The Guild, Wharton School of Business, work, Writers | Leave a Comment »
October 2, 2013 by J.R. Johnson
Whatever
Over on her site, author Kameron Hurley tells the story of how she almost died because she didn’t have enough money to manage her adult-onset Type 1 diabetes. It wasn’t that she wasn’t working — First she worked for a company through which she had (crappy) insurance, and later she was hustling as hard as she could as a freelance writer. It was because the way insurance has been handled in the US made it very difficult for her to get insured, stay insured and to afford to be insured — and the alternative to being insured here in the US is so much worse that it simply beggars description.
Thing is: Kameron’s story? Not unusual for writers in the US. I don’t have enough fingers and toes on my body to count off the writers in my own personal sphere who are hardworking, who are hustling as much…
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September 27, 2013 by J.R. Johnson
From Phys.org via the good folks at Tor.com:
MIT and Harvard Just Made a Real Lightsaber. So That’s Done.
Cross another dream off the bucket list, because the Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms just created a new form of matter that could potentially be used to create real lightsabers.
… and fine, that place up the street isn’t so bad either:)
And yes, I finished those projects I was working on, thanks for asking.
Posted in Likes, Science! | Tagged awesome, finishing, Harvard, lightsaber, MIT, science, star wars, yay | Leave a Comment »
September 27, 2013 by J.R. Johnson
Busy, busy today, too much to do and not enough writing time. I did just get a great rejection (or as I like to say, a pre-acceptance), from a senior editor who asked to see more material. If that isn’t fuel for the fire, I don’t know what is.
Here’s hoping your day is also productive and encouraging…
Posted in Writing | Tagged creativity, finishing, genre fiction, Motivation, rejection, short stories, writing, yay | Leave a Comment »
September 26, 2013 by J.R. Johnson
For a friend who is facing down a challenging project, here’s a quote I like:
“E.L. Doctorow once said that ‘Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.’ You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice on writing, or life, I have ever heard.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Who among us couldn’t use a little perspective, and some encouragement? I would add that it’s helpful to remember that whatever the undertaking, the work doesn’t have to be perfect. Heck, I can guarantee that it won’t be perfect, nothing is. That’s not the point.
To my friend, and to myself, and to anyone else confronting a difficult task, I recommend taking a breath, and just making it as good as you can.
It will be good enough.
Posted in Writing | Tagged Anne Lamott, creativity, E.L. Doctorow, finishing, inspiration, Motivation, Thoughts, work, writing, yay | Leave a Comment »
September 25, 2013 by J.R. Johnson
I’m back, the world is still turning, and suddenly it’s Fall.
Death, like so many of life’s difficulties, serves to highlight what can be accomplished in the meantime and the short span in which we have to do it.
Time to get back to work.
Posted in Writing | Tagged creativity, death, home, inspiration, Motivation, Thoughts, work | Leave a Comment »
September 15, 2013 by J.R. Johnson
Sorry I’ve been away (and that I will be MIA for a few more days). Death in the family. I find it humbling and strangely joyous that everyone, at one point or another, experiences the challenges and strain of family loss… and continues on.
Posted in Other | Tagged death, joy, Thoughts | Leave a Comment »
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