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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Posts Tagged ‘creativity’
Artist, Be Brave
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Creative Work
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, art, creativity, Thoughts on January 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“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
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, writing on January 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.”
― Deepak Chopra
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Keep Doing It
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, writing on December 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing.”
― Emma Donoghue
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Time Machines
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts on December 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“We all have our time machines, don’t we. Those that take us back are memories… And those that carry us forward, are dreams.”
― H.G. Wells
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Lessons from the Past
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on December 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“That’s what literature is. It’s the people who went before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death! Listen to them!”
— Connie Willis
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Journey to The Journey
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, history, Writers, writing on December 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I ran across this short piece by Brian Lewis (self-described Cosmic Poet, which is awesome), and wanted to share.
In the fall of 1929, with America days away from financial ruin, Joseph Campbell committed what everyone called “professional suicide.” He walked into his advisor’s office at Columbia—degree in hand, future within reach—and announced, calmly, boldly, disastrously: “I don’t want one field. I want all of them.”
Yes, that Joseph Campbell, Mister Hero with a Thousand Faces.
By now, most of us have heard about Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, and how it distills thousands of years of mythology into a useful, easily transferrable model to help reach an audience.
(It also generated follow-on models, including Gail Carriger’s Heroine’s Journey.)
But how did Campbell build that original model? The essay shares some of the backstory of that process, and was full of new-to-me details. How did Campbell go from obscurity to one of the best known framers of storytelling?
Read the full essay for more. And yes, George Lucas plays a significant role:)
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First Things First
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on December 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Your first workout will be bad.
Your first podcast will be bad.
Your first speech will be bad.
Your first video will be bad.
Your first ANYTHING will be bad.
but you cant make your 100th without making your first.
So put your ego aside, and start.
— Alec Zamora
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Look What We Did!
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, accomplishments, cool projects, creativity, history, inspiration, Thoughts on December 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Last month marked 25 years of humanity’s continuous presence in orbit around this fair planet.
25 years, one website: ISS in Real Time captures quarter-century on space station
Two NASA contractors, working only during their off hours, have built a portal into all of those resources to uniquely represent the 25-year history of ISS occupancy.
ISS in Real Time, by Ben Feist and David Charney, went live on Monday (October 27), ahead of the November 2 anniversary. In its own way, the new website may be as impressive a software engineering accomplishment as the station is an aerospace engineering marvel.
It’s a good story about persistence and creativity, and it’s great to have all of this history and knowledge in one place.
It’s also easy to get bogged down in the trials of life and forget what’s good. But really? Our adventures in space are pretty incredible. For most of our species’ existence we’ve looked up at the stars and dreamed. And now?
Look! Look what we did!
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Making Peace
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, choices, creativity, life, Thoughts, Writers, writing on December 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Here’s a lovely thought piece by Spencer Sekulin on making peace with the ghosts of lives unlived and becoming your imperfect, unpredictable, beautiful self.
Forgive Yourself for Not Becoming Everything You Wanted – Spencer Sekulin
To live one life, you need to condemn many others.
Yet to try to live all of them keeps you stuck, forever.
Spencer’s fiction is also terrific. If you’re looking for excellently written fantasy, check out his work!
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