Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, climate change, creativity, Fiction, free fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, sff, writing on October 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The good news is that there is a lot of up and coming fiction addressing issues of climate, change, and the environment. (The bad news is that we need it.)
Grist/Fix: Solutions Lab has a new climate fiction issue out, with discussions about the role of fiction in fixing reality and a dozen new stories from their “Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors” short story contest to get us started.
The Climate Fiction Issue: How fiction can change our reality | Fix
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Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, J.R.R. Tolkien, Thoughts, Writers on October 1, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I vote for this as one of the feel-good stories of the year. Because what’s happier than real-life hobbits?
‘What is this if not magic?’ The Italian man living as a hobbit
“I decided that I wanted to live my hobbit life to the fullest… I wanted people to enter my mind, my fantasy. Many make fun of us. Some think I am trying to escape from reality. Far from it. I am living my dream, my adventure.”
— Nicolas Gentile, hobbit
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Good for you, Italian hobbit man, good for you.
Posted in Holidays, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, history, Indigenous art, inspiration, progress, Thoughts on September 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today is Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
It’s good to see at least some progress on long-overdue Indigenous issues, but it also raises a question. How do we deal with difficult topics? Expression, sharing, recognition, and dialog are constructive options, and art plays a fundamental role in each of these elements.
9 Indigenous musicians reflect on what truth and reconciliation means to them | CBC News
This article interviews Indigenous creators, about their art and their thoughts on reconciliation, and also includes links to their work. I particularly like this quote from Inuk singer-songwriter and filmmaker Elisapie:
“Like I always say, this is our story. But this is definitely your story, too. So get on with it and discuss and face those uncomfortable questions and try to find the answers, too, right?”
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I also like this quote from Murray Sinclair:
“I did say … at the end of the TRC report that we will not achieve reconciliation in my lifetime. We will probably not achieve it in the lifetime of my children. We may not even achieve it in the lifetime of my grandchildren,” Sinclair, a former senator and chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), told Unreserved host Rosanna Deerchild.
“But if we make a concerted effort … then eventually we will be able, some day, to wake up and, to our surprise, find that we are treating each other in a way that was intended when contact was first made.”
— National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is 1 step on a long journey, says Murray Sinclair | CBC Radio
So here’s to what’s hard getting easier. And to waking up.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 29, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I recently finished a book that should have checked all my boxes, but in the end… didn’t. The characters started off interesting but came down with a case of the stupids and never fully recovered.* The characters also spent most of their time floating around like bobbers on an unbaited line. When they eventually found their purpose it was too late, and the book finished before actually ending.
When a story is like that I find my mind stays twisted up in it, fidgeting with its edges, trying to work out how it should have fit together rather than how it did. Like a jumbled Rubik’s Cube made of words. A stream flowing in the wrong direction. Or an itch I can’t scratch.
Sometimes that itch gets to the point where I find I have to Do Something about it.
Once upon a time I read a British coming-of-age novel called I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I remember it as charming and it mostly worked for me, at least until the end. I finished the book and thought, “Nope, I’m afraid that won’t do.” And as an exercise for the annoyed problem-solver at the back of my mind, I rewrote the final chapters.
I moved a stack of Jim Butcher books yesterday and happened upon that new ending. It now sits on my bookshelf next to the original book.
Sometimes what you need is to step back and think, “This little piece of the world could be better.” And then work to make it so.
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* This is, of course, just my opinion. At some point you may read the same book and think, “That was the most brilliant and lyrical story ever.” That’s cool too.
Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, family, meteor shower, NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day on September 28, 2021| 1 Comment »
Today’s Astronomy Photo of the Day is a video, two and a half minutes of the Perseid meteor shower as seen from the Indian Astronomical Observatory in Hanle, India.
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Watching this takes me back. We would wake up at three in the morning and head to the back yard to watch meteors burn through the atmosphere. I’d anchor myself on Orion, my first and still favorite constellation, then watch the sky for the next magical streak of green.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, action, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts, work on September 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »
“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
― Carl Gustav Jung
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, stupid Covid, Thoughts, weather maps on September 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Out of an abundance of caution we went in for a Covid test today (yes, another one). Drive-through this time, plus they had us hum through the probing. So that was new and interesting.
And… I think I’m pretty much done for the afternoon. Instead of a new recipe, or my thoughts on freezing herbs or the new Space Force uniforms or the pain of slogging through a book only to realize that it really does lack all redeeming qualities, here’s an excellent visualization of global wind patterns.
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I find watching these globe-spanning rivers of air quite soothing. It’s beautiful, and helps make any problems I might be having feel small.
And now it’s time for a frosty adult beverage!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »
“Never envy someone who is better than you. It will stop you from looking at how they do it.”
— Gianpiero Petriglieri
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, cat, home, obligatory capitalizations on September 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The cat made it through her Vet Experience* and is now home, spending most of her time sleeping off the anesthesia.
Health-wise, it looks like she’s doing pretty ok (especially for a cat her age). In case you were wondering!
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* She informs me that this should be capitalized, because I have No Idea How Terrible It Was.
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, cat herding, home, monster wrangling, puddytat, random update, Thoughts on September 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The cat is at the vet today. Is she happy about it? Let’s just say that we should have worn earplugs in the car, and that the vet had the knock-out box ready to go as soon as we got there.
With any luck this should be a pretty straightforward visit, although it’s been some time since Neko’s last checkup so anything’s possible. She’s not the easiest of patients (hence the full-on anesthesia). She’s also an older monster cat who is having trouble with arthritis and teeth and feet, so we’re hoping the vet can help us make her life a bit easier.
(Actually, we’re mostly hoping the cat doesn’t decide to eat us when she gets home. We had to pull her food last night to prep for the anesthesia and she woke us up three times to remind us of that fact. She was really hungry this morning, so tasty delicious human fingers crossed!)
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J.R. Johnson 
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