Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »
You know you’re a writer when you look down to see that your sleeve is soaked in blood* and think, “For your next action story, remember the sensation of blood-saturated fabric as it cools against the skin.”
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Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, cats, inspiration, Thoughts on October 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Thanks to a short night and a long workday I’m feeling sluggish. The cat is helping by following me around and randomly flopping onto his side, then purring up a storm. It’s adorable and quite soothing, the perfect foil to an otherwise deeply average day.
But what if you don’t have a cat, or the cat you do have is severely lacking in chill? Never fear! The internet is here to help.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, cli-fi, creativity, Fiction, free fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 11, 2022| 1 Comment »
Tuesdays don’t have to be all bad. You may remember I mentioned a call for optimistic fiction about our climate future. Here is the resulting free collection.
Imagine 2200: The 2022 climate fiction collection | Fix
This year’s three winners and nine finalists bring new perspectives to the vital genre of climate fiction, with short stories that offer visions of abundance, adaptation, reform, and hope. Join us in celebrating an uprising of imagination with 12 stirring, surprising, and expansive looks at a future built on sustainability, inclusivity, and justice.
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Posted in Food and..., Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, history, innovation, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »
A young family member tried her first root beer float this past week. She preferred straight ice cream, in the end, but it got me thinking about the complex history of what appears to be a fairly simple treat.
From a societal standpoint, the road to such a dessert requires an understanding of the science of crystallization as well as carbonation, plus the ability to package and distribute the ingredients while maintaining temperature and freshness.
From an entrepreneurial perspective, who came up with the idea of merging frozen dessert with thirst-quenching beverage in the first place?
A lot of folks, it seems.
Meet the people who claim to have invented (some version of) this classic dish:
The Delicious History of the Root Beer Float
As he was serving soda to his costumers, he ran out of ice to put in their drinks, so he decided to put ice cream in them to make them cold.
The Root Beer Float Was Invented In 1893 By A Gold Miner In Colorado – South Florida Reporter
The full moon that night shined on the snow-capped Cow Mountain and reminded him of a scoop of vanilla ice cream. He hurried back to his bar and scooped a spoonful of ice cream into the children’s favorite flavor of soda, Myers Avenue Red Root Beer. After trying, he liked it and served it the very next day. It was an immediate hit.
Whether these somewhat fanciful stories reflect the full truth we can’t know. What we do know is that by the end of the nineteenth century, the U.S. was awash with ice cream floats.
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Why so many instances of similar inventions, all around the same time? That takes us back to the bit about this particular creation being part of a complex system of social, technical and economic factors. Simultaneous invention happens all the time, with ideas big and small.
In the Air | The New Yorker (Malcolm Gladwell)
The history of science is full of ideas that several people had at the same time.
So don’t worry that your idea for a vampire story or cake recipe or video game or mousetrap has already been done. The world needs new creations, and new versions of old inventions, all the time. Learn from what’s gone before, of course, but if a project captures your attention, pursue it.
It hasn’t been done your way. And your way may be exactly what the world needs right now.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on October 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »
To me, the grounds for hope are simply that we don’t know what will happen next, and that the unlikely and the unimaginable transpire quite regularly. And that the unofficial history of the world shows that dedicated individuals and popular movements can shape history and have.
— Rebecca Solnit
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Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, #strongwomenrock, inspiration, Thoughts on October 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Never discount yourself. If you don’t go after a dream or a goal and if you don’t try, you’re never going to make it.
— Nicole Mann, NASA Crew-5 commander, Marine Corps pilot and the first Native American woman to go to space (NPR)
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, #IcelandicHorsesCanDoItSoCanYou, inspiration, Thoughts on October 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday’s dramatic image showcased an Icelandic waterfall and tomorrow is Monday. Iceland plus “Oh great, Monday, I could use some humor” equals Horse Mail.
Iceland Invites You to Relax While a Horse Replies To Your Emails
Iceland has run a number of clever, funny, and downright weird marketing campaigns in the last several years.
Their latest continues the humorous approach, with a campaign called OutHorse Your Email.
In involves real horses who were trained to type on a giant keyboard.
Next time I go on vacation, horsies, you’re hired.
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Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, writing on October 1, 2022| 1 Comment »
This is a place I would like to visit. The colors! The drama! The stratigraphy!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Growing up, we were taught to give books the first sentence test. If that first sentence drew us in we’d move on to the first paragraph. I consider that mindset excellent training for authors running the editorial gauntlet.
Here are a few examples of good openers. While I may not love every one, it’s a good collection, made even more useful by the side-by-side comparison with other great literature.
Literature’s greatest opening paragraphs – the best opening lines in novels
As with pubs and shoes, you know you’re reading a great book from the second you’re inside it.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Fiction, historical fiction, inspiration, Writers, writing on September 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Hilary Mantel, celebrated author of Wolf Hall, dies aged 70
The Booker prize-winning author of the Wolf Hall trilogy, Dame Hilary Mantel, has died aged 70, her publisher HarperCollins has confirmed.
Mantel was regarded as one of the greatest English-language novelists of this century, winning the Booker Prize twice, for Wolf Hall and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, which also won the 2012 Costa book of the year.
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Writer and broadcaster Damian Barr said her death is “such a loss”.
“With every book she redefined what words can do,” he tweeted, adding: “She’s the only person I ever interviewed that speaks in whole, flawless paragraphs. I can’t believe we won’t have another book from her.”
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“The pen is in our hands. A happy ending is ours to write.”
— Hilary Mantel
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