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Posts Tagged ‘inspiration’

Trying New Things

Posted in Food and..., tagged , , , , , , on January 6, 2022| 1 Comment »

I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions, but studies have found evidence that temporal landmarks can help overcome motivation problems. You may have seen it referred to as the fresh start effect. It’s not a panacea (as gym members everywhere can attest) but whatever, if it helps me to rethink my process in a productive way, great.

As New Year’s rolled around I started thinking about trying new things. Today I’m thinking about new recipes. 

Be it bread, brownies, cake, yogurt, or a magic wand, I like working out the best way (for me) to make something. And knowing that my birthday cake is going to come out exactly as planned? Priceless.

But I also like working on new projects, triangulating resources, experimenting with techniques or components. Making something new.

So far this year I’ve tested new ways to make cinnamon sugar bread, lemon cake, and mushroom soup. Next up? A quick trip to the tropics.

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Mr Man brought home a box of fresh passion fruit yesterday. I’ve tasted it before, most recently in a collection of holiday Chocolates by Enid.* Passion fruit also appears frequently on the Great British Baking Show, where bakers treat it like your average ingredient but might go bonkers for recipes I consider excellent but everyday, like Key Lime Pie. 

My lack of experience means I have questions. Why are the fruits I’ve got two completely different colors? How can you tell when they are ripe? Do you just scoop out the pulp or is there bitter pith to be avoided? How do I keep from thinking about runny noses and other gelatinous goop while engaging in said scooping? Does the goop need to be strained? And why are those seeds looking at me?!

So much to learn, and all of it sounds like fun. Wish me luck!

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Not Enid’s chocolates but hey, close enough! Photo by Massimo Adami on Unsplash

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* These chocolates appeared as a temporary holiday treat at a local farm store but the source is otherwise mysterious. Who is Enid? Where did she come from and why won’t she make chocolates past December? Has she now retreated back to Choclandia with the other chocolate fairies? And where can I find more of those passion fruit cream-filled chocolates?! 

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Making Magic

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on January 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called “leaves”) imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.” 

― Carl Sagan

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Photo by JoelValve on Unsplash

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Another Reason to Read

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »

I am a re-reader. Sometimes I pick up a book that I’ve already read in order to study some aspect of craft, like a fight scene or character introduction, but my primary motivation is usually entertainment.

I love knowing that the piece I’m reading has a great story, compelling characters, and a satisfying conclusion. Often, that last element is where things fall apart. Over the holidays three books in a row ended with a whimper, and left Reader Me at loose ends, feeling out of sorts and disappointed. Writer Me was not impressed.

Good openings pull readers deeper into the story. 

The first scene can be anything—a funny incident that introduces one of your protagonists, or perhaps an argument that leaves your reader shocked. Maybe you’ll write a scene that will leave your reader admiring your protagonist and cheering for her, or perhaps you’ll introduce your tale with a gruesome murder that will leave the reader horrified but burning with intrigue. Whatever you do in your opening, a great opening scene will almost always find some way to arouse a powerful emotional response in the reader—and the impact of that scene will convince the reader to delve further into the tale, hoping for more.

— David Farland’s Writing Tips – Be Excited

All excellent advice. But a good opening isn’t enough. It’s a promise. Endings should deliver on that original promise by giving the reader a satisfying emotional conclusion. If a story opens with a question the ending must close with the answer. Not any answer. Not a conclusion (dramatic or otherwise) that has no relationship to the questions posed at the outset. And not, for the love of all that’s holy, a cliffhanger.

This is why so many books fail, in my experience. Open with a lost dog, close with a found dog. Open with a murder mystery, close with the murderer being brought to justice. 

What if The Return of the King had ended as the One Ring went into the lava? That’s it, right? Game over, no reason to continue. Not quite, and the fact that the story didn’t stop there is one reason I went back to The Lord of the Rings every year for decades. Our emotions are tied to characters, and in this case to one group in particular. Start with hobbits all nice and cozy, end with slightly battered but stronger, more capable, still cozy hobbits tucked up nice and safe at home.

There’s also a reason I have several reliable series on call at all times. I don’t do well with literary disappointment. That’s also the reason I return to some shorts over and over again.

I’ve mentioned this story before and may well again. Do I like young adult stories? Frequently not.* Do I like horror or monsters? Not usually. But everything about this story works for me, and it’s about time to read it again:

Holly Black’s Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (the Successful Kind) is everything I love about a story: it’s funny, poignant, trying and triumphant. And fun.

I hope you enjoy it. I know I will.

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Photo by Gaman Alice on Unsplash

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* There are exceptions. This story is one, and there are others like The Scholomance and Rory Thorne books.

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The Professor

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

You never know whose life you’re going to touch. I trace a line between my own love of reading and writing to a relatively obscure (at the time) fantasy series read to us by my father, back to his department secretary, and eventually to Oxford professor and World War One veteran JRR Tolkien, born 130 years ago today. 

Tolkien Birthday Toast: raise a glass to the Professor in honour of his 130th birthday

If book sales, movie earnings, popular culture and Peter Jackson’s knighthood are any indication, millions of other people also have a similar connection to an academic whose books were once dismissed as simple tales for children.

They were wrong about that.

Hobbits and hippies: Tolkien and the counterculture – BBC Culture

I’m taking this as a reminder to do my best. As a children’s author, chef, engineer, teacher or whatever else you may be, you never know what impact you may have.

For myself, I hope that impact stirs even a little of the positive impact Middle-Earth had for me.

The Professor!

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Photo by Nikhil Prasad on Unsplash

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Dare Anything

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I went to bed thinking of New Year possibilities, and woke this morning with a quote stuck in my mind. I may not have the wording quite right and don’t remember the source, but the idea has been following me all day. 

“Dare anything. That is the road.”

Guess I’d better listen:)

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Photo by Theodor Lundqvist on Unsplash

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Map from the Past

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , on December 29, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I am feeling particular affection for my past self today.

Earlier this year I needed to design and print multiple versions of a complicated spreadsheet. It was the sort of project that should have been easy but was a verifiable pain. After more time on it than I want to remember, I had my printouts finalized. Yay. I have a vague memory of thinking, “Self, this is great, you have this covered allllll the way to the end of the year. Go you!” And then I forgot about it.

Yesterday I went to flip December over to the next sheet. You can guess what happened next.

There is no next printout. The stack only went to December and now here I am at the end of the line.

Usually this would mean having to start over from scratch, trying to remember exactly which hoops I had to jump through to get the end result.

Not this time.

This time, Past Me realized that there was no way I’d remember all the annoying details required in each of the multiple applications used. This time, Past Me not only took notes but also clipped them to the last printout in the stack.

I left myself a map.

And so today I am feeling grateful for my past decisions. I’m also asking a question with the potential to make the future a better destination: 

What can I do today to help myself tomorrow?

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Photo by Julentto Photography on Unsplash

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In Case You Were Wondering

Posted in Science!, tagged , , , , , on December 28, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I accumulate a lot of random facts. Here’s one I found interesting: Spiders can’t spidey so well when they’re on drugs.

Just say no, spiders, just say no!*

* Unless you have a constant source of delicious insects supplied by your organization’s graduate students and no pressing engagements, in which case, you do you, spideys.

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NASA Tech Briefs, April 1995 – NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS), file p. 106, document p. 82

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Can’t Be Serious All the Time

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , on December 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”

— Dr. Seuss

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Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash

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Shouldn’t It Be You?

Posted in Holidays, tagged , , , , , , on December 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »

One thing about adulthood is that you get better at peering behind life’s facade and seeing its complexities.

That’s not always fun, but the good part is that you get to decide what to make of it for yourself.*

If there is a wizard behind the curtain, shouldn’t it be you?

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This holiday season won’t be what we hoped. I won’t be seeing my family in person this year. I keep reminding myself how tiring the drive is but it’s thin consolation.

What isn’t thin is that I can rest easy knowing that I won’t be passing on any Canadian Covid, or even the flu, to my immunocompromised family members. That’s a whole lot of yay.

We also now have the option of making this holiday whatever we want. An author I follow had a good take on this idea so feel free to head on over and take a gander. 

It’s ok, I’ll wait.

It’s not like I’m going anywhere.

Guilt Free

“This won’t do.

You still have a right to peace and happiness this holiday season, whichever holiday you choose to celebrate. Decide what that happiness is and go for it.”

— Ilona Adrews

Excellent idea.

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Photo by Hussaini Hashim on Unsplash

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* Also, if you want to have ice cream for breakfast, dangit, you can.

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Bee Thoven

Posted in Other, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 16, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Today is (probably*) Ludwig van Beethoven’s birthday, and it’s a date I note every year. That’s because it also happens to be my adoption date. 

Like a lot of kids, mini me went through an early phase where I pronounced new words as they were spelled (like “Zay oose,” here’s hoping no Greek gods were paying attention). And so in some corner of my mind this German composer will always remain “Bee Thoven.”

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The 20 greatest Beethoven works of all time – Classic FM

Here’s where I admit that I find a lot of his work a little over the top, like he was angry at the piano or something. As my stepmother has been known to say, “Too many notes!” I still recognize brilliance when I hear it, and his approach is a lesson for creatives of all forms.

“To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.”

― Ludwig van Beethoven

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Bring me my piano! Photo by Maria Lupan on Unsplash

* Beethoven was baptized on December 17th in Bonn, Germany, making it likely that he was born the day before. Let’s just go with it, shall we?

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