For my mother and anyone else facing a challenge today:
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
― Confucius
Posts Tagged ‘quotes’
Encouragement
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #HipsShouldBeUnbreakable, Confucius, encouragement, family, finishing, inspiration, Motivation, perseverance, persistence, quotes, Thoughts on March 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The Power of Fiction
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #ThingsILike, Andy Weir, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, awesome, books, creativity, DIY, Fiction, Golden Age, innovation, inspiration, JK Rowling, NASA, Popular Science, quotes, science, science fiction, sff, space, speculative fiction, Thoughts, Tyler Jacks, Weasley clock, Writers, writing on March 4, 2016| Leave a Comment »
A friend with a shared love for Harry Potter sent me a link the other day. Some creative and determined person decided to make a Weasley clock.*
The magical ‘Harry Potter’ location clock exists in DIY form
For those who may have missed this detail from the HP book and/or movie, the Weasley clock is a magical JK Rowling invention that tracks each Weasley family member’s location and displays it on an antique clock face.
Rowling thought it up, and a Muggle made it real. How cool is that?
So with thanks to my friend, today’s installment of #ThingsILike is the real-world power of fiction.
*
“If you just focus on what you know, you’re blinding yourself to new opportunities.”
— Tyler Jacks, MIT
There are a lot of discussions of this topic out there, both contemporary and historical, but it’s a point I like to touch on periodically. A writer imagines a thing and someone else finds a way to make it real.
That’s magic right there.
This applies to specific items like the clock but also to everything from emotional states to broader goals. Want to generate ideas, stir up communal interest, and apply creativity to complex problems like living in space long-term? Tap the power of fiction:
The White House Wants To Use Science Fiction To Settle The Solar System
How to get into space? Excite the minds of young (and not so young) people with stirring tales of adventures in space. This applies to stories from Asimov, Clarke and other Golden Age of Science Fiction authors, but also to more recent blockbusters like Andy Weir’s The Martian.
The latter was particularly good at building future versions of current technologies, and NASA was happy to help Weir build his fictional (for now) world from the Popular Science article on the support NASA gave Ridley Scott as he turned the book into a blockbuster movie:
If you want to understand why it is that NASA loves The Martian and is so gung ho for this movie, you have to realize that this movie more or less presents exactly their future vision, minus all the drama.
*
I’ve cited this quote before but it’s so fitting I’ll use it again:
If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
That’s the power of fiction.
———
* There may be other such clocks out there (in fact, I hope there are) but this is the version that caught my attention. Feel free to build more!
Wisdom for Wednesday
Posted in Likes, Science!, Writing, tagged #crapweek, #emergencycake, #FeatheredFrangolianFlowersofPlanetP, #healthforwriters, @docmikeevans, @jasperfforde, advice, bacon, exercise, funny, health, Jasper Fforde, quotes, science, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on January 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »
“Okay, this is the wisdom. First, time spent on reconnaissanse is never wasted. Second, almost anything can be improved with the addition of bacon. And finally, there is no problem on Earth that can’t be ameliorated by a hot bath and a cup of tea.”
― Jasper Fforde
I love Jasper Fforde‘s work, and some days a good book filled with witty humor and amusing characters are exactly what one needs to perk up. But if the week’s been rough and a book (or bacon or a bath or tea) don’t work, here’s advice from someone who should know, Dr. Mike Evans.
Dr. Evans is a physician and scientist who also puts together terrific animated explainers on health topics for the rest of us. The one I’ll bring to your attention today, dear readers, is perhaps perfect for a Wednesday:
Now, my week is going ok. Or at least not bad. I’m getting things done (although not as much as I’d like) and I’m thinking hard about ongoing projects (why are they still “ongoing”? get to it, Johnson!) and charting out goals and cooking up ideas and recipes. (In fact, I’m so embroiled that I had a hard time settling on one topic to write about. Maybe tomorrow you’ll get that essay on The Great British Baking Show or the migratory mating habits of the Feathered Frangolian Flowers of Planet P;)
Still. Sometimes you just have a bad week. For those of us who spend a lot of time working in our heads, in particular, a little external perspective can come in handy.
Once you’re back on track, Dr. Evans also has another great video useful even in weeks where things are going swimmingly:
Because health reasons!
…
And if none of that works, well, there’s always cake:)
Tips for a Tuesday
Posted in Writing, tagged artists, creativity, Elmore Leonard, Fiction, finishing, George Orwell, inspiration, John Cage, joss whedon, literature, Margaret Atwood, neil gaiman, P.D. James, persistence, quotes, rejection, Thoughts, tips, work, Writers, writing on December 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Today I ran across a collection of tips from master writers. The Gotham Writers Workshop includes tips for aspiring writers from Elmore Leonard, George Orwell, Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, P.D. James and more.
RULE SEVEN: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.
— John Cage
Every – every – story is a story about people, or it sucks.
— Joss Whedon
I’ve seen a number of these suggestions before but many not. And when it’s Tuesday morning and the tea has yet to kick in, I find that every little bit helps. Happy writing!
Happy Fourth of July!
Posted in Holidays, tagged awesome, fun, history, home, independence day, optimism, quotes, yay on July 4, 2015| 1 Comment »
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
— Preamble to the United States ConstitutionI stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States will endure, that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders will live on in our time.
— Barack Obama
Happy Canada Day!
Posted in Holidays, tagged awesome, Canada, Canada Day, fun, history, home, Jane Fonda, quotes, yay on July 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »
When I’m in Canada, I feel this is what the world should be like.
— Jane Fonda
https://instagram.com/p/xc5EUxwaiB/?taken-by=canada
Busy, Busy!
Posted in Writing, tagged #draftsaremultiplying!, Andrew Solomon, fun, gardening, persistence, Pulp-O-Mizer, quotes, short stories, speculative fiction, Spring, Thoughts, writing on May 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Between guests and work and the glorious arrival of Spring (finally!), I’ve been swamped. Now that the lemon thyme and rosemary and chives and tarragon and bush tomatoes and Scarlet runner beans and apple mint are planted and the fig trees are basking out in the sun and the lawn mowed (three times in the past week, three!), I may actually have a moment to edit the half dozen stories waiting impatiently on my plate.
Here’s a cover image I made for one of those stories (months ago, when I had time for such things), using the excellent and very fun Pulp-O-Mizer!
And here’s a bit of encouragement in case your life has been as busy as mine:)
I don’t know what you may presume impossible, but I can say that some of it will turn out otherwise.— Andrew Solomon [The Middle of Things: Advice for Young Writers]
Truer Words…
Posted in Funny, Likes, Writing, tagged artists, creativity, criticism, Fiction, Iain S. Thomas, learning, Motivation, persistence, quotes, rejection, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on February 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Vacation on Beautiful Kepler-16b!
Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged awesome, inspiration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johannes Kepler, JPL, Kepler Space Telescope, Kepler-16b, NASA, PlanetQuest, quotes, science, vacation, WPA on January 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Considering a weekend getaway? Check out travel posters for these new destinations, courtesy of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Kepler Space Telescope.
NASA made travel posters for real exoplanets, and they’re superb
I love the WPA-style presentation and terrific design sense. Want high-resolution versions to call your own? Check out the linked images in the engadget article or go to the NASA PlanetQuest Exoplanet Travel Series and click away.
Kepler-16b, here I come! (Now, where did I put my spacesuit?)
… the ways by which men arrive at knowledge of the celestial things are hardly less wonderful than the nature of these things themselves.
— Johannes Kepler
Things Going Right
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged Ann Patchett, inspiration, quotes, work, Writers, writing on December 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »
I have an extra busy day today so I bring you a quote and a pretty picture:)
Just because things hadn’t gone the way I had planned didn’t necessarily mean they had gone wrong.
― Ann Patchett
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