Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, haiku, just thinking, poem, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »
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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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #whoops!, lessons for living, procrastination, Thoughts on October 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »
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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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
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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Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #BakingSortOf, random facts, Writers, writing on October 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
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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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #DefineWaste, philosophizing, Thoughts on October 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »
It’s not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.
— Seneca
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Thoughts on October 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »
We drove out to woods yesterday, the gently curving country road surrounded by rolling hills and turning leaves and the crisp cool air of an autumn evening.
Welcome, fall.
“No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.”
— John Donne
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Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, candy, Halloween, new experience, social contracts, statistics, Thoughts on October 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I recently received an emergency request from a friend for a critical mission: Could I please run over to the old Toys ‘R Us and check for a certain costume for their toddler?
That’s right, I was asked to visit Spirit Halloween.
Sure, I said, no problem. I’ve never been to a Spirit Halloween before, it’s bound to be interesting.
And it was. I’m not a big Halloween person (I believe I’ve mentioned my childhood scars from The Amityville Horror; thanks, Dad! and also thanks for not moving into that house that looked a lot like That House when we were kids).
My last real costume was a ghost (although I did attend one party as Trinity from The Matrix which was fun; still have the leather trench coat), so it’s been a while since I really celebrated.
I do remember that there were very definite differences between good candy and not-so-good candy.
As many of us prepare to do That Halloween Thing, I thought I’d share this highly scientific analysis of candy preferences:
The Ultimate Halloween Candy Power Ranking.
The social contract of Halloween is simple: Provide adequate treats to costumed masses, or be prepared for late-night tricks from those dissatisfied with your offer. To help you avoid that type of vengeance, and to help you make good decisions at the supermarket this weekend, we wanted to figure out what Halloween candy people most prefer. So we devised an experiment: Pit dozens of fun-sized candy varietals against one another, and let the wisdom of the crowd decide which one was best.
Or just buy what you like and share it with the neighborhood. Either way, have fun!
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on October 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Here’s an illustrated short by Rich Wells, capturing an epiphany he had outside a tire shop.
“I thought l’d take the words from my notebook and make something visual.
A reminder to myself that all this everyday stuff – admin, errands, school runs, park trips, waiting in lines, meal times –
it’s all a gift”
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, learning stuff, Thoughts on October 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »
It’s a brave act to embrace incompetence. What’s delightful is that it’s a temporary state.
— Michael Bungay Stanier
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, possibilities, scifi, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn’t exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again. As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world you are writing science fiction. It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible.
— Ray Bradbury
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J.R. Johnson 
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