Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, creativity, genre fiction, Writers, writing on November 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Thanks to my day job, Tuesdays are the worst… except when they aren’t.
Me: Tuesday morning, grumble, grumble, work, work, work.
/muzak, lunch, muzak
Me: What’s this in my email?
/insert the crackling of digital paper
Me: An acceptance letter for one of my favorite fun stories? How cool is that?
More details as we get closer to publication, but it’s great news. And it couldn’t have come on a better day.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, creativity, genre fiction, Thoughts, Writers, writing on November 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »
“Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference.”
— Nolan Bushnell
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Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, Africa, ASU, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, Writers, writing on November 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »
While I’m more of a written word sort of a person, you may have noticed that this thing called a (checks notes) “podcast” has become something of a trend;)
If you are a fan of the spoken word, speculative fiction, futurism, African writers, writers in general and interviews with same, this new series from Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination might be just the ticket.
The Imagination Desk: Introducing Griots & Galaxies
The Center for Science and the Imagination is proud to present the new podcast Griots & Galaxies! This is a ten episode series hosted by Jenna Hanchey, Chinelo Onwualu, and Yvette Lisa Ndlovu that explores the work of ten African speculative fiction authors and imagining new futures for the continent.
Here’s a link to the series page.
Podcasts: Center for Science and the Imagination
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Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, baking again, creativity on November 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »
I’m looking to make a new special-occasion cake and find myself with too many recipe options. We’re also under a bit of a time crunch. So of course I will take three of these possible alternatives and combine them into something I hope will work.
Wish me luck!
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, creativity, growth, Thoughts, Writers on November 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »
“A self is not something static, tied up in a pretty parcel and handed to the child, finished and complete. A self is always becoming.”
― Madeleine L’Engle
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, craft, creativity, history on November 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »
I came across an article about socks. Why share? Because I happen to like good socks, and I like history, and I like crafting. And these are very special socks.
1,600-Year-Old Ancient Egyptian Socks Made for Sandals
I had never heard about the technique behind these socks, which is called nålebinding or nalbinding (literally, needle binding). If I were to characterize the method, I’d say that it’s knitting without the needles, or crochet without a hook, and if Wikipedia is to be believed, nålebinding predates both. Now more closely associated with Scandinavian cultures, the oldest known examples date from the Mediterranean around 6500 BCE.
If you also wonder what it took to make a sock in ancient Egypt, check out this site for descriptions and instructional videos.
I will now go appreciate the drawer full of socks I did not have to make.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, cat herding, creativity, Thoughts on November 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Perhaps you, like me, have found yourself trying to corral a recalcitrant cat (or dog, ferret, bunny or lizard, I don’t judge!) onto a scale. Perhaps that device frightens or just generally annoys your cat for whatever reason, and that cat refuses to stay on the scale for the requisite time required for weighing.
Perhaps you have also been watching a Lot of shows about veterinarians, and you come up with an idea.
That idea might look something like this.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, art, artists, creativity, technology on October 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »
This is for the artists out there.
New tool lets artists fight AI image bots by hiding corrupt data in plain sight
From Hollywood strikes to digital portraits, AI’s potential to steal creatives’ work and how to stop it has dominated the tech conversation in 2023. The latest effort to protect artists and their creations is Nightshade, a tool allowing artists to add undetectable pixels into their work that could corrupt an AI’s training data…
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, #wotf39, creativity, interviews, podcast, scifi, speculative fiction, Thoughts, writing on October 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »
I was recently invited to be a guest on the West Virginia Uncommon Place podcast. It was a fun interview, and I enjoyed the opportunity to explore multiple facets of writing, including how the landscapes and ideas we think of as home influence our creativity.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, #blueskysomewhere, creativity, meh, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »
In which I share a snapshot from my creative life, acknowledge that progress isn’t always linear and look forward to funner times.
What is it about avoiding a project that causes it to snowball into its own sort of blockade?
I’ve talked about creative friction before, and it’s a bit of a process. (I don’t care who you are, the life of an artist is not all productivity and acclaim. Some days are just slow like molasses.)
It’s not just “the project” itself I’m avoiding now, it’s the increasingly large speed bump that has been growing between me and it. At this point, I’m having trouble even seeing the original idea, just the mountain standing between me and the task that’s been haunting my to do list for lo these many weeks.
Avoidance takes on its own power, not replacing but adding to existing barriers to action.
So much of what paralyzes us when we’re stuck isn’t the act we’re supposed to be doing, but rather the questions that hover above the act like a curious vulture. “Why is this so hard?” “Why am I not making more progress?” “Should I be doing something else instead?” “How much longer do I need to spend on this?”
— Adam Alter, Anatomy of a Breakthrough
The good news is that the opposite also holds true. Action dismantles both types of barriers, or allows you to bypass them altogether.
The other good news is that it helps to remind myself that my key to creative progress has always been to tilt my perspective far enough that “must focus” becomes “must have fun.”
And that I can do.
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