Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, hope, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on December 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Now this is exactly what I need on a Monday.
How John Green Fights Despair Every Day | The Interview – YouTube
I mean the problem with hope is that it feels like a very easy word. You know, it feels like very convenient and sort of kumbaya. But I’m interested in the kind of hope that holds up to scrutiny. The kind of hope that does hold up to the worst things that happen to us, that holds up to our worst days. That’s the kind of hope that I’m interested in.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, AI, art, artists, creativity, persistence, Thoughts on November 30, 2025| 1 Comment »
The flood of AI art has led to a lot of commentary, some thoughtful, some otherwise, by pundits, tech gurus, and artists themselves.
Here’s cartoonist Matthew Inman sharing his perspective on why he finds AI art problematic.
A cartoonist’s review of AI art – The Oatmeal
…I need you to know from one artist to another, that every mark you make on a page even a squiggly, imperfect one is still beautiful.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, writing on November 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up they will change the world.”
— Jack Ma
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, climate fiction, free fiction, Writers, writing on November 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today, a free fiction short from Colby Devitt and the Grist Climate collection:
On the morning of April 8, 2200, Lake Ballona went missing. A pair of hikers ventured down from the Hollywood Hills on a day excursion into the Tongva Wetlands. Where the area’s largest body of freshwater met seawater to create a brackish habitat, they discovered an empty crater. Lake Ballona was gone. Vanished overnight. Only muddy puddles remained where the lake had swelled the day before. There were no signs of violence.
Excellent opener. I hope you enjoy the rest!
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Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Thanksgiving, Thoughts, ways to be happy on November 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate today! Even if this isn’t your holiday, I hope you have a moment to remember the good things in your life.
The Right Attitude to Gratitude – The Atlantic
Gratitude is so effective that if you could bottle it, you’d be a billionaire. But as with so many beautiful parts of life, gratitude is not something you can market like a drug or nutritional supplement: It happens to be completely free—but not so easy to attain. Thankfulness requires neither payment nor subscription, just a commitment to stand up against your limbic system, which is lying to you with its negativity bias—saying that this lovely morning is actually pretty annoying, and that everyone is dissing you.
And if you want to learn more about overcoming your all-too human negativity bias, check out the full article. Because while evolution may be good for the species, it’s focused on survival. It doesn’t care if you have a good day.
Unlike me. Have a happy Thanksgiving!
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, take the win, work, Writers, writing on November 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today is officially a crazy day. By that I mean a mad scramble to get day job work done, including the projects I expected and the three others I did not expect. Lots to juggle, and while I may have bobbled one tiny little thing, it all worked out fine in the end.
I also managed to get up early and write a very (very) short story before all the craziness began, so I’m calling it a win!
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Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, baking, food, recipes, remember this on November 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today, an addition to my recipe collection so I know where to find this next time I need a light, perfectly sweet, flavorful chocolate frosting to go with my favorite chocolate cake.
This is my new go-to frosting recipe.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting – Sally’s Baking
- 339g (12 oz.) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened
- 170g (12 Tbsp; 3/4 C.) butter, softened
- 420g (3 1/2 C.) confectioners’ sugar
- 55g (2/3 C.) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 t. pure vanilla extract
- 1–2 T. milk or heavy cream
- pinch salt
For full instructions and more, head over to Sally’s.
Mr Man’s rating: “Yes, please and thank you!”
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, fresh perspectives, Thoughts on November 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
For whatever reason, today I’m walking around seeing everything as component parts.
For example: instead of seeing the comfy red chair in my office, I’m seeing that chair (so comfy!) with all of the materials that went into it lined up in a row. The tree that provided the wooden legs, the cotton growing in a field before being harvested, carded, spun, dyed and woven, the metal ore that needed to be mined, processed and extruded to make the wire frame, the stuffing made of… you know, I don’t know what it’s made of so let’s insert “amorphous, fluffy cloud of probably polyester fill” here.
It’s weird but also fun, like looking at a room upside down. Suddenly, everything is interesting and new.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Thoughts, Writers on November 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“It’s the questions we can’t answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he’ll look for his own answers.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man’s Fear
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #ThingsILike, Thoughts, weather on November 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I have a thing about fog.
Waking to a day where the view is swathed in white, neighbors fading into the background while rooftops peek above a hidden world. Sight is no longer quite as reliable. Sound is dampened, too. A car appears suddenly, and is then gone, the engine’s rumble muted and distant.
Depending on the mood, the lack of visibility can be threatening, but I tend to see it as an embrace. Wisps of moisture flow past tree limbs and flagpoles, porch steps and windshields. On days like today, those wisps extend, discover, then freeze in place. When the fog lifts, trees are covered in a shimmer of white. Magic made real.
As one writer put it, fog is water in its most mystical incarnation.
I call it a delight.
“And the fog. The purple fog, blue fog and white fog. Film noir fog. How I love the sheer romance of it; disorientating, dominating, concealing and revealing.”
― Caroline Eden, Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels
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J.R. Johnson 
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