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Posts Tagged ‘inspiration’

[written from The Bush, as they say]
Greetings from Northern Ontario, where I sit at a table in a cottage overlooking a broad grey lake. Most mornings the lake sits still and calm, its surface and the encircling hills a chalice in which to hold mist. Like so many others in this region, this lake is surrounded by birch and pine, underpinned by the heavy, flat bedrock of the Canadian Shield. A small grassy lawn surrounds the house, illuminated by daisies and orange hawkweed.

It’s beautiful here, in the stark, almost frantic way of northern climes in summer. The sky warms around five o’clock in the morning and doesn’t fade until almost ten at night. Local wildlife takes full advantage of the long days, and I try to do the same.

Speaking of local wildlife, in addition to the usual chipmunks, rabbits, hawks, etc. I have seen the following in northern Ontario:

  • tortoises (tortii?)
  • loons
  • beaver
  • elk (ok, just tracks, but still)
  • hummingbirds (brave little adventurers from the southern reaches of the continent)
  • wolves (including one gorgeous specimen with russet fur)
  • deer, a.k.a. walking wolf lunchies
  • moose, female or juvenile male, large (hey, it’s a moose)
  • mosquitoes (forget cicadas, these monsters should be the next major food group)
  • It’s raining now, providing me with the perfect reason to stay in and keep working. But even work is better in the woods!

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    In a broader sense, all science fiction prepares young people to live and survive in a world of ever-continuing change by teaching them early that the world does change.… In a more specific sense, science fiction preaches the need for freedom of the mind and the desirability of knowledge; it teaches that prizes go to those who study, who learn, who soak up the difficult fields of knowledge such as mathematics and engineering and biology. And so they do! The prizes of this universe go only to those able and equipped to reach out for them. In short, science fiction is preparing our youngsters to be mature citizens of the galaxy… as indeed they will have to be.

    — Robert A. Heinlein (in “Turning Points: Essays on the Art of Science Fiction” by Damon Knight, ed., pp. 26-27)

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    Check out io9’s entertaining new list of classic speculative fiction novels originally rejected by publishers. It’s like a mashup of English reading lists from school and some of my favorite books.

    Just goes to show, eh? Keep writing!

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    “To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.”

    — Mark Twain

    We spent the weekend refinishing the deck. The wood was a mess, half covered with multiple layers of thick, splintering stain and half exposed to the elements. It was time. The only problem was that I’d never refinished a deck before.

    Did I let that stop me? Nope. It helps that Mr Man is ridiculously handy but still. I took Mark Twain’s quote to heart and jumped in, and now, days later, the splinters and uneven steps and flaking are no more. I learned how to use an industrial sander, tons of power tools, and now know that Onion Goggles are perfect for jobs that result in large clouds of airborne particulates. The wood is now smooth, the finish even.

    Is it perfect? Well, no. But it’s done. And that’s much better than not doing anything at all.

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    David Bowie’s Space Oddity, as sung by Commander Chris Hadfield on the International Space Station.

    Hadfield is returning to Earth today after five months of service in space. Thank you, Commander.

    May 13, 2013 Update: Permission to post this version of Bowie’s song was granted for one year. Sadly, that year ends today, but it was great to see.

    November 4, 2014 Update: After some legal finagling a new agreement has been reached. It’s back!

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    Just finished Ottawa Comiccon and it was a blast! Saw LeVar Burton, missed Billy Dee Williams because they moved his panel up at short notice 😦 but did get to see Jewel Staite, hear Summer Glau (lost passport = sad pandas but the apology video and panel call-in were nice touches), Nathan Fillion, and Wil Wheaton, all of whom were terrific.

    The Con organizers did a good job this year, and thankfully had a huge tent waiting to protect us all from rain. Way to go, everyone, had a great time:) And as it is Mother’s Day, let me just say thank you to to my own mother, who helped me become the sort of person who spends Sunday mornings with people who dress up in tights!

    I’m so going in costume next year.

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    What’s happening? Ottawa Comiccon, that’s what’s happening!

    In a few short hours my weekend will start and I’ll be off to bask in the glories of my fellow geeks. Just skimming the headlines, tonight it’s Billy Dee Williams and LeVar Burton, tomorrow it’s Jewel Staite and Summer Glau, then Sunday it’s Wil Wheaton and Captain Tight Pants Himself, Nathan Fillion🙂 And more, so much more, plus a posse of costumed people sure to bring cheer to even the rainiest of days.

    Does it get any better than this? Nay, I think not.

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    I’m still busy, mostly with non-writing work, and that makes it harder to focus on being creative than I’d like. That said, you just have to knuckle down and do it. Even when you’re stuck. Even when your work is hard.

    Queue this quote. As the Harvard article cited below says, Maya Angelou has been a “cook, streetcar conductor, waitress, singer, dancer, editor, teacher, civil rights organizer, and actress” and oh yes, a writer. If anyone knows how to live a courageous life filled with productive creativity, she’s it.

    I realized that one isn’t born with courage. One develops it by doing small courageous things—in the way that if one sets out to pick up a 100-pound bag of rice, one would be advised to start with a five-pound bag, then 10 pounds, then 20 pounds, and so forth, until one builds up enough muscle to lift the 100-pound bag. It’s the same way with courage. You do small courageous things that require some mental and spiritual exertion….

    I understood early that not everything I did was going to be a masterpiece, but I would try to do it the best I knew how. I’ve listened to an inner voice and had enough courage to try unknown things.
    — Maya Angelou

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    Today I’m going to pass along a great piece of advice from Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn series and many other excellent books. It helps when I don’t feel like writing (or more likely this month, when I think I have too much to do).

     

    “Sit in a chair and write,” Sanderson says.“Ignore this thing they call writer’s block. Doctors don’t get doctor’s block; your mechanic doesn’t get mechanic’s block. If you want to write great stories, learn to write when you don’t feel like it. You have to write it poorly before you can write it well. So just be willing to write bad stories in order to learn to become better.”
    — Brandon Sanderson (as quoted here)

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    Last night I was facing down a story that’s had me stymied for a while, a tedious rewrite I wasn’t sure was going to work. That uncertainty took up so much brain space I didn’t have the energy to actually write. I finally remembered that the best way around that sort of questioning is to turn off my critical brain, or at least keep it busy in another room. So I put on some music, loud, and sang along while editing.

    That’s how I finished my dissertation. Something about the singing ties up my internal editor; he’s too busy trying to get the song words right to nitpick over the written words. There’s probably a neurological explanation for this but whatever, it works for me:)

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