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Sally Forth!

November 4, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

It’s Election Day in the US! Want to have a say in your community and its policies, in who represents you and for what? Voting is all this and more. 

Haven’t voted yet? There’s still lots of time. 

Need info on where or how to vote? These sites have you covered:

I Will Vote

VOTE411

And if you have additional questions or run into issues, there’s also this election protection hotline  (complete with memorable phone numbers!): 866ourvote.org

  • English 866-OUR-VOTE: 866-687-8683
  • Spanish/English 888-VE-Y-VOTA: 888-839-8682
  • Asian Languages/English 888-API-VOTE: 888-274-8683
  • Arabic/English 844-YALLA-US: 844-925-5287

Sally forth, citizens, and be heard!

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(I’ll Try to) Use Wisely

November 3, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

“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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Photo by Dovlet Hojayev on Unsplash

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Nothing, and Everything

November 2, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

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.

Yes, right there in the middle. The white dot. Nope, that’s not a spec of dust!

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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Photo by Ruth Bourke on Unsplash

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Beautiful Things

November 1, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

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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Photo by Deric on Unsplash

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Graveyard Poem

October 31, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

Live in this moment

Feel this day this sun this breath

I loved those things too.

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Photo by Benjamin Griffin on Unsplash

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Some Days You Just Need to Watch a Baby Elephant Play with a Pumpkin

October 30, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

Some days you just need to watch a baby elephant play with a pumpkin. If today is that sort of day for you, you’re welcome!

A baby elephant stole the show at Oregon Zoo’s pumpkin-smashing event | AP News

A baby elephant at the Oregon Zoo had more tricks than treats to show when handlers gave it a small pumpkin to play with during an annual fall event where giant elephants smash half-ton pumpkins.

Freaking adorable.

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Photo by Y M on Unsplash

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Me, Thinking

October 29, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

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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Photo by Anna Storsul on Unsplash

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Don’t Delay

October 28, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

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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Photo by Shrish Vijaya Sudharsan on Unsplash

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A Creativity Hack

October 27, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

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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Photo by Mihály Köles on Unsplash

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Writers Learn the Darnedest Things

October 26, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

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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Photo by Rob Wicks on Unsplash

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