From the good folks at xkcd, a lesson for anyone with a seemingly impossible project or an unwieldy to do list.
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Posts Tagged ‘inspiration’
Be Unstoppable
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, Thoughts on June 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The Lost City in the Basement
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, history, inspiration, Thoughts on June 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I could go into a whole thing about history and how it’s cool, or ancient civilizations and how they are cool, or uncovering architectural ruins that were foundations for lives lived once upon a time (and how that’s cool), but as I’m on deadline at the day job I’ll just leave you with this:
How Civilizations Built on Top of Each Other: Discover What Lies Beneath Rome, Troy & Other Cities
The idea of discovering a lost ancient city underground has long captured the human imagination. But why are the abandoned built environments of those fantasies always buried? The answer, in large part, is that such places do indeed exist under our feet, at least in certain parts of the world.
And it’s not just places like Rome or London. Cities like New York and Paris also have underground layers, and some cities were built in or under the earth.
I also enjoy this image of a cross-section of the A303 in England, which runs from Hampshire to Devon via Stonehenge (or so Wikipedia tells me, I haven’t been!).
In case you, too, have always wondered about the history beneath your feet!
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It’s You!
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts on May 30, 2025| 1 Comment »
“Do. Not. Forget. how special and bizarre it is to get to live a human life. It took 3 billion years for the Earth to go from single-celled life forms to you. That’s more than a quarter of the life of the entire universe. Something very special and strange is happening on this planet and it is you.”
— Hank Green, 2025 Commencement address, MIT
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In Perfect Balance
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, traditional craft on May 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »
It’s overcast and rainy today, and the kind of quiet that lends itself to creative thinking, at least for me. The perfect sort of day to learn about a new art, like kumiko and mageki.
What, you may ask, are those? A kind of magic balancing geometry and nature.
Kumiko Woodworking and Mageki Woodbending
Thin pieces of Japanese cedar or cypress wood are shaved and shaped precisely before fitting into delicate patterns. No nails are required. The art of Kumiko woodworking blossomed during Japan’s Asuka Era (600-700 AD) and “has since been refined and passed down through generations of craftsmen who are passionate about the tradition…”
(This sort of thing appeals to me on a lot of levels. Not only is it an amazing craft, but it gets my creative mind thinking about interesting story ideas.)
No nails. No glue!
Just precision and symmetry in perfect balance.
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Make Them Bloom
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, change, inspiration, Thoughts on May 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?”
— Thích Nhất Hạnh
I’m not arguing that we should ignore the many bad things currently happening in the world, especially not when we have the power to change them. But balancing the bad with the recognition of what’s good?
I’m in.
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Don’t Stop Believing
Posted in Other, Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, censorship, creativity, future, graphic novels, history, inspiration, space, Thoughts, Writers on May 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
A couple of years ago I wrote about NASA’s excellent graphic novel encouraging folks to imagine themselves on the moon: First Woman: Dream to Reality.
There was a second issue, too, called First Woman: Expanding Our Universe. Both were free and available to the public on NASA’s site. (Which makes sense, because NASA is paid for by US tax dollars, including mine.) Sadly, both have now been removed.
But good news, aspiring explorers! As highlighted over at Space.com, both issues are still available via that bastion of awesome, The Wayback Machine:
Issue #1: Dream to Reality follows Callie’s trailblazing path as the first woman on the Moon. Callie and her robot sidekick, RT, overcome setbacks, disappointment, and tragedy along the way. From her childhood dreams of space travel to being selected as an astronaut candidate, Callie takes us on her journey to the Moon.
I don’t always take the time to update older links, but I thought this one was important.
Because if humanity stops inspiring the next generation, humanity stops.
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Only Sky
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, inspiration, life, Thoughts, Writers, writing on May 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Into the Quantum
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, inspiration, poetry, quantum, Writers, writing, writing contest on May 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
2025 marks the one hundred year anniversary of the development of quantum mechanics, and has been named Unesco’s International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.
It is also a good time to mention a poetry contest I came across, from Brilliant Poetry. I haven’t participated in it, but perhaps it will interest you? The contest goal is to “express scientific wonder and discovery through verse” and poems “must find inspiration in the quantum.”
Do I know what that means? I do not, but it might be fun to let my creative voice play with the idea. Hang on, here’s a quick related video.
And this is a much longer explainer: Physicist Brian Cox explains quantum physics in 22 minutes.
Ahem. Now that you have a bit of background, let’s get back to that poetry contest.
What are the rules?
Contest tradeoffs:
The upside is that there is no entry fee that I can see, and there are cash prizes. Good.
One downside is that by entering, “you give the organizers the right to publish your poem both online and in printed media.” In other words, you’ve essentially given away first world publication rights, so keep that in mind. (On the other hand, the limit is maximum 40 lines, so it may not be a big investment if you’re interested in some experimentation.)
Does this concept tickle your imagination? Submissions close June 20th so you’ve got a bit of time to consider the options, and get into the quantum.
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Well, When You Put It That Way…
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, action, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on May 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“You can either be judged because you created something or ignored because you left your greatness inside of you. Your call.”
— James Clear
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Happy Mother’s Day, Mothers!
Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, Mother's Day, mothers, Thoughts on May 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Here’s to moms, those all-too-often-unsung heroines out there doing motherhood every day.
Unsung Heroes of Motherhood by Wendi Aarons and Johanna Gohmann
… Amanda Hill, who took her rage at trying to reenter the workplace as an older mom and being told they “just aren’t hiring women in your stage of life right now” and funneled it into a brightly colored, expletive-laden cross-stitch project.
Happy Mother’s Day!
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