Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, advice, art, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on March 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“Don’t throw any of yourself away. Don’t worry about a grand scheme or unified vision for your work. Don’t worry about unity — what unifies your work is the fact that you made it. One day, you’ll look back and it will all make sense.”
— Austin Kleon
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, creativity, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing on March 14, 2025| 2 Comments »
If you’re stuck on a problem, don’t sit there and think about it; just start working on it. Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, the simple act of working on it will eventually cause the right ideas to show up in your head.
— Mark Manson
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, AI, creativity, technology, Thoughts on March 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »
One thing that often happens when writers talk about writing is a discussion of the creative voice. Separate from the critical voice, the creative voice has been described as “a two-year old who just wants to play.”* It is key to writing.
Problems occur when that urge to play is shut down by the critical voice. That is the side of your mind that is trying to keep your child self from running out into the street without looking both ways, from getting baked** in public, from forgetting your homework, or otherwise making mistakes.
The critical voice is very little help when it comes to getting words on the page. It is pretty good, however, at keeping you from being run over and/or caught making up cases in legal filings. Just, you know, for example.
Bad ChatGPT, bad!
It occurs to me that in some ways, AI is that two-year old running around, trying to give you answers without thinking too hard about whether or not they are the right answers.
It needs a parental figure.
Am I thinking of a caretaker program that follows the AI around like a nanny, keeping it from sticking its finger in a light socket and cleaning up after it?
Yes, yes I am. (Fun story idea idea, too, my inner two-year old must be on the job.)
And hey, we’re already teaching AI mindfulness, why not this?
* I’m sure lots of people have said some version of this but I’m thinking specifically of Dean Wesley Smith.
** I meant to type “naked” but this works too.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, goals, inspiration, Thoughts, values on March 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”
— Michelangelo
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on March 4, 2025| 1 Comment »
The good news is that I’m writing. The less good news is that I am not writing as much as I might want, but hey, that’s pretty much a requirement for the position of “Writer.”
In 1974, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis published a paper titled “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of ‘Writer’s Block.'” It contained a total of zero words.
— Mental Floss
I remain optimistic. Time to spend more time in the writing chair!
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, inspiration, living, Thoughts on March 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“The whole point is to live life and be—to use all the colors in the crayon box.”
— RuPaul
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, ideas, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on March 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Have convictions. Be friendly. Stick to your beliefs as they stick to theirs. Work as hard as they do.
— Eleanor Roosevelt
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, artists, creativity, quoteandaprettypicture, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“Snatching the eternal out of the desperately fleeting is the great magic trick of human existence.”
— Tennessee Williams
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, creativity, current events, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Storytelling is good for so many things: entertainment, shared cultural touchstones, lessons from elders, or other instruction manuals for living. Even so, speculative fiction has always been burdened by accusations that it is less able to comment on reality than, say, literary fiction.
I disagree.
In fiction or nonfiction, no matter the genre or approach, storytelling is always, always, grounded in the cultural currents from which it springs. It’s how we pass on what’s important, even if it isn’t always “real.” Whether it shows us futures to avoid, goals to achieve, values of importance or daily ways to survive, the work’s foundation always reflects its context.
On a related note, here’s a short document on surviving difficult times, written in the form of an RPG-style guide. It wouldn’t surprise me to see an actual game follow soon.
Because life and art are two facets of the same die. And we’re all just players, trying to level up.
“The idea that any of us can do everything is instant failure. We all have our own skill sets and our own passions and we will accomplish the most if each of us works within those arenas to do what we’re already good at, what we already care about. You don’t have to do it all. Just a little.”
— Bree Bridges
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, climate change, creativity, storytelling, Writers, writing on February 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“To care about climate change, you only have to be one thing, a human living on Planet Earth.”
— Katharine Hayhoe
(I submit that other animals and any Earth-bound aliens also qualify, but “humans” is a good place to start.)
If you are a creator concerned with the livability of the planet, this guide from This Is Planet Ed may be useful. It’s designed for works aimed largely at younger audiences, but the ideas apply across the board.
A Toolkit For Climate Storytelling
Whether you want to develop a whole show, a story line, or embed climate solutions in your character’s world, this guide offers ideas, strategies, and tips to help.
Because as my landing page reminds us:
“Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
— G.K. Chesterton
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