We got up super early and yet somehow the morning is almost gone. Lots to do today including NaNoWriMo, so here’s another obvious yet still useful quote!
Everything worth doing is hard.
— Wil Wheaton
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Posts Tagged ‘inspiration’
How Is It Almost Noon?
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on November 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Door #2, Please
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts on November 5, 2021| Leave a Comment »
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
― Albert Einstein
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Time Travel(ish)
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, Motivation, Thoughts, time travel, writing on November 4, 2021| 4 Comments »
Some of what I do in this blog is about leaving notes to myself, because I want to remember a recipe or an idea or an event.
Don’t have a blog? Continually misplace your diary? Wish Post-It notes were harder to lose? Want to give Future You a pep talk or notes on a brilliant idea or the memory of the most beautiful thing that happened to you today or a reminder of why you should stick with that challenging long-term goal?
You’re in luck.
FutureMe: Write a Letter to your Future Self
Does what it says on the box.
Decide what you want to write, when to send the letter and whether to make it public or keep it private. I sent myself a little NaNoWriMo encouragement for next year. Not sure what to say? Check out some of these public letters.
Is this time travel? No, but it’s the closest thing we have at the moment so I’m making the most of it!
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NaNoFinMo
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #NaNoFinMo, creativity, Fiction, finishing, genre fiction, inspiration, nanowrimo, sff, Thoughts, writing, yay on November 3, 2021| 2 Comments »
I like NaNoWriMo for a lot of reasons. It provides a useful set of constraints, a deadline, and a global group of fellow travelers with which to share the journey. It’s also completely bonkers, in a good way. I remember the sheer sense of glee when I realized that I could actually produce that many words in that short a time.
First question: Can I churn out 50,000 words in a month? Yes, yes I can. Go me.*
Next question, and one that most NaNo participants come up against as the first flush of success fades: Do those words mean anything? Are they useful?
In my case, and no surprise here, the first draft was not 100% terrible but certainly needed work. Writing to a tight deadline with a high word count left me, at least, with the sort of prose I don’t usually write in fiction.
- Contractions? Nope, they only counted as one word, and why write one word when you can use two?
- Blah blah blah descriptions that were far wordier than necessary? Absolutely.
- Unnecessary plot detours? Oh yes. Have my character stop off at a roadside ice cream stand and discuss the relative merits of lemon lavender versus pomegranate basil flavors on the way to the dramatic shootout? Sure, if it helps me meet my word count target.
That part of NaNoWriMo wasn’t as helpful to me. This year, I’m rewriting the rules.
- I know I can write a lot of words on demand. Check.
- I know I can write every day. Check.
- I don’t need more of that. What I want to practice now is finishing.
So this November I’m being a bit of a NaNo radical. Word count is not my focus. I’ve chosen one story idea and will work on it until it’s done. That’s it.**
The end:)
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* I bet you could do it too. Need a pep talk? Check out the NaNoWriMo archives.
** I may or may not also be participating in an imaginary mentorship program with Ilona Andrews. Because what good is imagination if it can’t take you where you want to go?
Purrassic Pawrk
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, fun, inspiration, photo compositing, sff, Thoughts on November 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »
It’s Tuesday so busy busy, but I still made time for a little cat-related fun.
You’re welcome:)
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See More
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts, writing on October 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »
“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”
― Henry David Thoreau
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Now It’s Getting Real
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, climate change, Fiction, imagination, inspiration, superheroes, Thoughts, writing on October 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Part of what good fiction does is to create a world and place the reader in it, allowing you to imagine yourself battling the Empire, slaying the dragon, or rescuing the fair prince in distress. But I get it, fiction is also a distancing mechanism.
Satisfying stories open with a problem and close when that problem is resolved, leaving the reader with the sense that they’ve helped and no more needs to be done. I think that can be particularly true when it comes to real challenges like climate change.
Sometimes what’s needed is a picture.
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Meet ThisClimateDoesNotExist, a project by a group of scientists from the Quebec AI Institute in Montreal. They’ve put together a tool that lets you visualize the impact of climate change not on the world in general, or even a region, but on an address.
Take Killian Court at MIT, overlooking the Charles River. What would it look like flooded?* Or the US Capitol Building? Or the Sam’s Club parking lot in West Palm Beach, The Alamo in San Antonio (and I’m pretty sure we can kiss the River Walk goodbye), Pike’s Place Market in Seattle, or (now it’s getting real) the Guinness Brewery in Dublin?
* Not worried about flooding? Try the options for wildfire or smog. Also unpleasant!
Then picture yourself there too. Who better to be the hero of that story?
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Today My Happy Place Is Mars
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, Thoughts, xkcd on October 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Roughy Respect
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, fun facts, inspiration, learning@lunch, ocean, Thoughts on October 19, 2021| 1 Comment »
I found this visualization of ocean denizens and depth fascinating. It looks simple but keep scrolling down (and scrolling, and scrolling) to see what lives where and how.
Elephant seals can dive to 2400 meters deep? That may be why the Headless Chicken Fish (real name) goes 500 meters deeper. Then there’s the Cookiecutter Shark, Flabby Whalefish, Dumbo Octopus, Sea Pig, Faceless Fish (who comes up with these names, they’re awesome) and not-really-related to jellyfish Comb Jelly.
And did you know that Orange Roughy can live up to 200 years? Or that the Patagonian Toothfish is found down to 3900 meters and has antifreeze in its tissue? I didn’t.
Next time there’s a choice of fish for dinner I think I’ll head over to Seafood Watch to find the most sustainable options. And skip the Orange Roughy.
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The Answer
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, cake, creativity, Douglas Adams, Fiction, genre fiction, humor, inspiration, sff, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 18, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Forty-two years ago this month, we learned the answer to life, the universe and everything. Even if humorous sci-fi isn’t your thing, Douglas Adams’ work has permeated pop culture.
42 years later, how ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ has endured
The influence of the Hitchhiker’s Guide “is everywhere,” says Marcus O’Dair, author of The Rough Guide to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
“We can see it in culture, where Adams’ story is rumoured to have inspired everything from the band Level 42 to comedy show The Kumars at No. 42,” he says. “We can see it in tech: in the real-life ‘knife that toasts,’ for instance, or in-ear translation services reminiscent of the Babel fish. The most visible sign of its ubiquity, though, might be the fact that we can celebrate its anniversary not at 40 or 50 years but at 42 — and everyone knows why.”
This book let me know that there was a place for humorous absurdities in writing, and that it really doesn’t pay to take yourself too seriously.
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is an indispensable companion to all those who are keen to make sense of life in an infinitely complex and confusing Universe, for though it cannot hope to be useful or informative on all matters, it does at least make the reassuring claim, that where it is inaccurate it is at least definitively inaccurate. In cases of major discrepancy it’s always reality that’s got it wrong.
This was the gist of the notice. It said “The Guide is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
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