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Beneath the Stars

I’d hoped to be over this awful exhausting tedious annoying illness, but there’s always tomorrow. I remain optimistic!

“Do not complain beneath the stars about the lack of bright spots in your life.”

― Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

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Sick Day

Sick today, the annoying kind where your brain doesn’t work. At all.

I’ll be on the couch with a book.

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Have A Good Day!

It’s a good day when I can promote a friend’s fiction, and today is a good day!

Here’s the latest flash fiction from the always terrific Arthur H. Manners in the excellent Nature: Futures (if you can’t see the full text, the easiest way to get access is to log in with a Google account):

A troubleshooting guide to your flat-pack planet

Got a problem? The Sandbox Corporation makes every effort to provide a seamless world-building experience, but occasionally issues occur. Please see our comprehensive troubleshooting guide, with more than 1015 scenarios covered.

Confused? Contact a customer service representative today*. Or, better yet, see below for our curated FAQ of common issues.

It’s funny because it’s (going to be) true;)

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Size of Life

Another entertaining project from Neal.fun:

Size of Life

(Although the image of a person next to that Titanoboa is more than a little scary. At least we could have taken that angry turkey Velociraptor!)

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Artist, Be Brave

You don’t have to be miserable or suffer to create art; but you do have to be honest, and honesty is terrifying.

— Elizabeth Bear

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How to Improve

It’s a new year and a new opportunity to take a breath, reassess, and target new (or old!) goals. That doesn’t mean you have to join a gym or swear off every. single. one. of your favorite guilty pleasures or anything like that. That approach tends not to be sustainable.

(You may remember that I don’t really do resolutions, but I do like to take advantage of the January “fresh start effect” to reset… and to forgive myself when things don’t always go to plan🙂

That said, January is a good time to remember what you like, what you’d like to do, and to do more to get there.

If you’ve been working but feel you’re not making as much progress as you want, this piece might be useful:

How to practice effectively…for just about anything

This video focuses on physical tasks, but writing and many other tasks are also mind-body processes. And the idea of focused, targeted repetition with a concrete result in mind? 

That’s the kind of goal I can get behind. 

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Work and Hope

“After that, work and hope. But never hope more than you work.”

― Beryl Markham

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Creative Work

“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.”

― Bertolt Brecht

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Nothing At All

“You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.”

― Deepak Chopra

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You’ve Got This

Welcome to a new year. Past me thought I might need a little encouragement as we step into the unknown. Here’s the letter I wrote myself in case you do too:

Dear FutureMe,

You’ve got this.

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