Here’s hoping for a happier New Year!
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Posts Tagged ‘Thoughts’
Optimistic Me
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, optimism, Thoughts on January 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Sharon McCutcheon and Michael Fousert on Unsplash
Thanks for Sharing
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Thoughts, writing, yay on December 31, 2021| 1 Comment »
I began this year with the target of writing every day. It was a biggish goal for me, as 2020 put paid to a lot of plans and it had been a long time since I’d written as much as I’d hoped.
For maximum accountability, I decided to use the blog. There’s no cheating if your posts are out there for the whole world to see. It also forces me to have a beginning, middle and end to whatever it is I’m writing. More or less.
The goal was to use the daily post as both goad and guide. Write daily, yes, but about what? The resulting essays range the gamut from magic to writing to science, food, inspiration and more.
Here they all are, a map of both internal and external worlds: #365Ways | J.R. Johnson
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It’s the last day of the year and that brings me to a question: Now that I’ve established this daily habit, what next? Keep the streak going, shift to other forms of writing, all of the above?
Does the time and attention needed to write a daily post serve as a motivator, a distraction, or fuel for other writing? That’s to be determined but I won’t lie, crossing each day off the calendar is satisfying.
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We all have an outer face that we show the world, but the other day someone told me I resembled my blog, which is just about the nicest thing they could have said.
I’m not always positive, productive, happy or sweet, but I do try, and that’s what I’ve tried to share with you.
As we all know, it’s been a long, strange pandemic. While I haven’t learned another language, perfected my tango or taken up blacksmithing, I have managed to make progress on some fronts. More importantly, I’ve tried to find ways to help you look on the bright side of what has been an often dark time.
Three hundred and sixty-five ways, in fact.
Thanks for sharing the year with me. May our next one be bright.
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Dare Anything
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing 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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Map from the Past
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, future, inspiration, the past, Thoughts, yay 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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In Case You Were Wondering
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, NASA, science, Thoughts 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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Comfort and Defend
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Fiction, free fiction, genre fiction, sff, Thoughts, writing on December 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I just read half a dozen short stories looking for a piece to share with you today. All were excellent. All were depressing as hell.
This is story number seven.
GO. NOW. FIX. by Timons Esaias
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Boxing Day
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, community, home, Thoughts on December 26, 2021| 1 Comment »
Today is Boxing Day, a Commonwealth holiday unfamiliar to most Americans, and a national holiday in Canada since 1871.
And it has nothing to do with fighters in a ring with a bell.
While its history is a little fuzzy, traditionally Boxing Day was thought of as a time for alms-giving, and for lords and ladies to distribute gifts to household servants, dependents and the poor. It was originally known as Offering Day.
Fiction-related note: Charles Dickens mentioned Boxing Day in “The Pickwick Papers,” which was published as a monthly serial in 1836 and 1837.
These days, Boxing Day in Canada is more like a second Black Friday, an excuse for big sales and shopping shopping shopping.
I have no servants but as you may know, I like to contribute to the community and causes that matter to me. So today, I’ll help support some of the groups out there doing good.
No boxing necessary.
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Merry Christmas!
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, home, Thoughts on December 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »
A First
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, cooking, family, home, Marcus Samuelsson, Thoughts on December 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today is the first time I will be making Swedish meatballs for Christmas Eve. I’ve helped my father, many times, but have never made them in my own house.
The recipe we grew up with was my grandmother’s. Every year we would pull out the little wooden recipe card box and find a three by five index card in her handwriting, with my father’s annotations at the edges. You could tell which one it was by all the lingonberry stains.
I loved that it was a family recipe, and that every time we made it I remembered Christmas as a kid at my grandparents’ house in Chicago.
I will admit that I didn’t exactly love the recipe. A decade or so ago we all admitted that maybe, just maybe, the meatballs weren’t all they could be (sorry, Grandma!), and tried an alternative. Here’s what I had to say about that:
… a few years ago we made the shift from Grandma Johnson’s handwritten recipes (so homey!) for dishes like Swedish meatballs and limpa and roast pork to the spectacular versions of same in Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit. Yes, an Ethiopian-born immigrant throws down on traditional Swedish food and wins big. See what I mean? The food still says home, only better:)
— The Universal Language? | J.R. Johnson
So this year we’re doing the new old family recipe. It won’t be the traditional Christmas Eve smorgasbord with family, but it will feel like the holidays.
Mr Man and I have already made the quick-pickled cucumbers and are letting them steep (half the sugar though, and no apologies!). As soon as the juice is at full flavor it will be time to make the meatballs.
Until then we’ll kick back, listen to classic Christmas music and make the most of this Christmas Eve.
God jul everyone!
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Can’t Be Serious All the Time
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, writing 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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