To the veterans in my family, and yours. Thank you.
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Because they stand on a wall, and say “Nothing is going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch.”
— Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway, A Few Good Men
Posts Tagged ‘#365Ways2021’
Lest We Forget
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Armistice Day, memory, Thoughts, Veterans Day, with thanks on November 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Cooking My Books
Posted in Food and..., Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Fiction, food, genre fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on November 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I think I’m going to start cooking my books.
Not in a bad way! But some days generating inspired dinner ideas is a pain. So to drum up new recipes I’m going to cook some version of whatever is being served in my current book.
For example, if the characters take a few moments between aliens and heart-pounding explosions to enjoy pancakes or roast chicken or curry, that’s my starting point.
Because invasion or not, one must stay fueled!
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Today’s Perk Me Up
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, cats, creativity, inspiration, making stuff, Thoughts on November 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Did we think about building an elevator for our elderly and arthritic cat? Of course we did! Here’s someone who actually pulled it off:
* Note: Our elevator design would have required an indoor vertical lift with weight-sensitive call functionality, so a little different. Still fun to think about though!
So Many Ways
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #adventure, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, technology, Writers, writing, yay on November 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »
There are a lot of ways to tell a story. Out loud, on a screen, around a fire, on paper, you name it. And structure? Novels, plays, shorts, longs, movies, TV, take your pick, and new technologies mean new possibilities.
This Twitter-based choose your own adventure story is one fun example:
Metaverse Noir on Twitter: “START HERE” by Kathryn Yu
Would you like to know more? Here’s an article about the project.
There are so many ways to be creative, and it’s nice to be reminded that most limits are ones we put there ourselves:)
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I’m Doing It Again
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #littlestuck, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, nanowrimo, sff, Thoughts, Writers, writing on November 7, 2021| 1 Comment »
Hey hey, dispatch from the NaNo mines here, and I’m sorry to say that I may be a tiny bit stuck at the moment.
I don’t want you to think that my projects are always a breeze so full disclosure, we’re talking stuck as in deep underground trapped between a boulder leftover from the Pleistocene and a jagged hole leading onto a tiny ledge winding down into darkness, from which I can just hear a river rushing over the sound of war chants echoing through the uncharted cave system in which I find myself trapped for all eternity!
Ahem.
I keep starting and restarting my project, which is a problem I have sometimes. NaNoWriMo’s word count is a tool to get beyond that issue, but my goal for this month is not just writing but finishing. So yeah. It’s time for more thinking, prepping, checking to see how my favorite authors did it, reworking my whole premise, stalling doing.
The good news is that I’ve noticed there’s a problem and now I can fix it. Go me:)
There’s a light at the end of every tunnel, even if you have to turn around to see it.
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How Is It Almost Noon?
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on November 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »
We got up super early and yet somehow the morning is almost gone. Lots to do today including NaNoWriMo, so here’s another obvious yet still useful quote!
Everything worth doing is hard.
— Wil Wheaton
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Door #2, Please
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts on November 5, 2021| Leave a Comment »
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
― Albert Einstein
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Time Travel(ish)
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, Motivation, Thoughts, time travel, writing on November 4, 2021| 2 Comments »
Some of what I do in this blog is about leaving notes to myself, because I want to remember a recipe or an idea or an event.
Don’t have a blog? Continually misplace your diary? Wish Post-It notes were harder to lose? Want to give Future You a pep talk or notes on a brilliant idea or the memory of the most beautiful thing that happened to you today or a reminder of why you should stick with that challenging long-term goal?
You’re in luck.
FutureMe: Write a Letter to your Future Self
Does what it says on the box.
Decide what you want to write, when to send the letter and whether to make it public or keep it private. I sent myself a little NaNoWriMo encouragement for next year. Not sure what to say? Check out some of these public letters.
Is this time travel? No, but it’s the closest thing we have at the moment so I’m making the most of it!
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NaNoFinMo
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #NaNoFinMo, creativity, Fiction, finishing, genre fiction, inspiration, nanowrimo, sff, Thoughts, writing, yay on November 3, 2021| 2 Comments »
I like NaNoWriMo for a lot of reasons. It provides a useful set of constraints, a deadline, and a global group of fellow travelers with which to share the journey. It’s also completely bonkers, in a good way. I remember the sheer sense of glee when I realized that I could actually produce that many words in that short a time.
First question: Can I churn out 50,000 words in a month? Yes, yes I can. Go me.*
Next question, and one that most NaNo participants come up against as the first flush of success fades: Do those words mean anything? Are they useful?
In my case, and no surprise here, the first draft was not 100% terrible but certainly needed work. Writing to a tight deadline with a high word count left me, at least, with the sort of prose I don’t usually write in fiction.
- Contractions? Nope, they only counted as one word, and why write one word when you can use two?
- Blah blah blah descriptions that were far wordier than necessary? Absolutely.
- Unnecessary plot detours? Oh yes. Have my character stop off at a roadside ice cream stand and discuss the relative merits of lemon lavender versus pomegranate basil flavors on the way to the dramatic shootout? Sure, if it helps me meet my word count target.
That part of NaNoWriMo wasn’t as helpful to me. This year, I’m rewriting the rules.
- I know I can write a lot of words on demand. Check.
- I know I can write every day. Check.
- I don’t need more of that. What I want to practice now is finishing.
So this November I’m being a bit of a NaNo radical. Word count is not my focus. I’ve chosen one story idea and will work on it until it’s done. That’s it.**
The end:)
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* I bet you could do it too. Need a pep talk? Check out the NaNoWriMo archives.
** I may or may not also be participating in an imaginary mentorship program with Ilona Andrews. Because what good is imagination if it can’t take you where you want to go?
Purrassic Pawrk
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, fun, inspiration, photo compositing, sff, Thoughts on November 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »
It’s Tuesday so busy busy, but I still made time for a little cat-related fun.
You’re welcome:)
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