Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, creativity, genius, inspiration, Motivation, myths, productivity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »
“The more shots you get at the target, the more likely you’ll eventually score a bull’s-eye, but the more misses you’ll accrue as well. The bull’s-eyes end up in museums and on library shelves, not the misses. Which, when you think about it, is a shame. It feeds the myth that geniuses get it right the first time, that they don’t make mistakes, when, in fact, they make more mistakes than the rest of us.”
― Eric Weiner, The Geography of Genius
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Posted in Holidays, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, adventure, inspiration, Thoughts on August 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Summer can be a time to plan big, but today I am going to suggest that you consider adventures a little closer to home.
The Microadventure-Filled Life of Alastair Humphreys
Humphreys defines a microadventure as “a shorter, simpler, cheaper, more local, more accessible version of what you deem to be an adventure. It’s something that you can squeeze in around the margins of real life.”
I kind of love this idea, of finding what’s interesting right around the corner.
Now I’m off to consider what might be fun to do around town. Like this, which holy crap, looks both scary and crazy cool!
Interzip Rogers – The interprovincial zip line.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, #don'twanna, inspiration, Motivation, Thoughts, Writers, writing on July 30, 2023| 1 Comment »
Some days you just don’t wanna, you know? On such days, it helps to rely on the motivating power of a streak.
I’ve written daily posts here since January 1, 2021. That’s not a lot of time compared to some writers (Dean Wesley Smith and John Scalzi, I’m looking at you), but it’s long enough that I don’t want to break it for no good reason.
So here I am, writing and posting, even though I’d rather be chilling with Chewbacca and Mr Man.*
Which is exactly why I started this streak in the first place:)
* Now that’s an excellent band name.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, inspiration, reading, Thoughts, Writers, yay on July 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »
“The world should take note: not everything is getting worse.”
― Ian McEwan, Saturday
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, creativity, inspiration, Writers, writing on July 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »
I am the sort of person who loves to learn interesting things. Stuffing my head with random facts until it all merges together into a well of creative ideas also serves me as a writer.
While I hope I’ll ever need this information, one of my characters might.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, Fiction, genre fiction, Hugo Awards, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on July 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The finalists for the 2023 Hugo Awards have been announced!
Best Novel
- Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree (Cryptid; Tor)
- Nettle & Bone, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
- The Spare Man, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
- The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)
- Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
- The Kaiju Preservation Society, John Scalzi (Tor; Tor UK)
See the full list of nominees across all categories at Locus Online: 2023 Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards Finalists. Winners will be announced at Chengdu Worldcon in October.
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Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, history, hope, inspiration, Thoughts on July 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »
“The happiness of America is intimately connected with the happiness of all mankind; she is destined to become the safe and venerable asylum of virtue, of honesty, of tolerance, and quality and of peaceful liberty.”
— Marquis de Lafayette
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, inspiration, Thoughts on June 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”
— Leo Tolstoy
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, power, progress, Thoughts, Writers, writing on June 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Martha Wells, creator of Murderbot, the recently published Witch King and other terrific tales, recently posted a copy of her co-guest of honor speech from WisCon. It’s worth reading.
It doesn’t always seem like it from our moment in time, but there actually has been a lot of progress in the science fiction and fantasy world during the 30 years of my career.
In it, she applauds how far we’ve come while pointing out the issues that remain, and that progress is “not a perpetual motion machine.” To keep moving up, it must be protected, cared for, and cultivated.
Which we can absolutely, positively do.
“Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.”
— Ursula Le Guin
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Posted in Favorites, Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, behavioral science, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on June 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Some days it feels as though all the ideas have been done. We went for a walk today and passed a posse of girls in the park. I did a double take, because it was as if I’d been pulled back in time to the 1980s, at least as far as their outfits went. Are those high-waisted (deeply uncomfortable) stiff denim jeans I see? Check. What’s that, a Madonna-esque bustier? Check. Could that be a pair of Converse sneakers and a fluffy scrunchie? Check and check.
That got me thinking about Ötzi the Ice Man, a Neolithic-era man whose body (with clothing) was discovered in the South Tyrol Alps between Austria and Italy more than 5,000 years after his death.
Ötzi’s equipment is the oldest and best preserved in the world. His Copper Age clothing and weapons were frozen in the ice with him and therefore remained well preserved to this day.
— Ötzi’s New Clothes
If you follow that link, you’ll see that his clothes are surprisingly stylish.
I have no idea exactly why someone murdered Ötzi (not for his excellent goatskin coat, apparently), but it was probably for a reason we would at least recognize, if not condone: love, hate, anger, fear, revenge, greed, justice or security, just to name a few. Human needs, human abilities, human issues haven’t changed all that much in millennia. Even so, it would still be fascinating to know the specifics of Ötzi’s story.
In some ways, it can be the same with story ideas. The ingredients are the same, it’s how you mix them up that matters.
On the Quest for Originality, Recombine the Familiar – By Adam Alter – Behavioral Scientist
Often, the best way to get unstuck on the quest for originality is to combine two old ideas to form a new one, rather than searching for a single, novel creative nugget…. Trying to do something completely new is a recipe for paralysis.
If you’re stuck on a project and looking for a way forward that doesn’t feel like a 5,000 year old retread of the same old same old, this approach might help.
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J.R. Johnson 
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