“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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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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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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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on May 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I had a moment today where I got a funny idea and just started writing. It was ridiculous. It was grammatically incorrect. It was glorious.
Will this turn into a story that I will be happy to share? Maybe, but that’s not my concern right now.
Right now, I’m just putting one word after the other, because when you’re writing for fun, all words are good words. (Other times too.)
Don’t let fear of failure stop you. As long as you can, as often as you can, keep going.
“Failure is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign that you are alive and growing.”
— Buzz Aldrin
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, publishing, Thoughts, Writers, writing on May 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I just heard that one of my writer friends is in possession of a shiny new book contract! It’s all still super secret and hush hush, so no details yet, but I think it’s great. (They also read this blog and will know who I’m talking about. Hello!)
They are a fabulous person and a terrific writer. Can’t wait to read the book, and I can’t help but want to celebrate this kind of success… even if for the moment, I have to do it in secret.
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Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, history, Thoughts on May 8, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today I’m thinking about life, the universe and everything. Mostly good thoughts! I’m not doing a great job of articulating them all, though, so let me just take a moment to commemorate one key event on this day in 1945.
It’s Victory in Europe Day, and while the end of World War Two wouldn’t come for several more months, it marked a significant step on that path.
What You Need To Know About VE Day 8 May 1945
Millions of people rejoiced in the news that Germany had surrendered, relieved that the intense strain of total war was finally over. In towns and cities across the world, people marked the victory with street parties, dancing and singing.
As I’ve noted before (and no doubt will again!), the exceptionalism of humanity is our ability to accumulate and pass down knowledge, experience, and lessons from one person to another, one generation to another, one society to another. That’s the magic.
How we use it, however, is now up to us.
Winged victory waits
for the call of those learning
history’s lessons.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, habits, Thoughts, Writers, writing on May 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”
— Carl Rogers, psychologist
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, forest-bathing, inspiration, nature, Spring, Thoughts on May 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »
It’s Tuesday, ugh, but it’s also spring, so today I’ll be taking a moment to enjoy the bluebells in the forest of Hallerbos.
Join me!
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, difference, diversity, humanity, quotes, similarity, Thoughts on May 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“We talk so often about the differences between people, yet here in our country we find that, in spite of circumstances which create great differences, we have certain great similarities. Rich or poor, we want our children to be well educated. Rich or poor, we want them to do better than we have done. Rich or poor, we want the respect of our neighbors and perhaps their affection. Love and death come to us all, no matter what the circumstances of our lives. In the big things that matter, the similarities are far greater than the differences. If this is true at home it is true anywhere in the world. People want the same things. They strive for the same things. They suffer from the same things. The differences are important but often superficial. The basic things are similar.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt
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Posted in Entertainment, Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, george-lucas, inspiration, meaning, movies, myths, realities, science fiction, star wars, Star Wars Day, Thoughts, Writers on May 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »
It’s May 4th and you know what that means! It’s Star Wars Day!
Why is Star Wars Day celebrated on May the 4th?
Star Wars Day was created by fans as a sly nod to one of the films’ most popular catchphrases, “May the force be with you.”
And when does science fiction become science fact? A few examples:
Some ‘Star Wars’ stories have already become reality
…at least four important aspects of the “Star Wars” saga are much closer – both in time and space – than Lucas was letting on.
And while it’s true that we’re making progress on the scientific and technological aspects of the Star Wars universe, that’s not the reason we care so much about it.
Star Wars came to me at a difficult time, and has served as an anchor ever since. Why does the story resonate so strongly with so many people?
A force awakened: why so many find meaning in Star Wars
According to Lucas: “I became fascinated with how culture is transmitted through fairy tales and myth. Fairy tales are about how people learn about good and evil…it’s the most intimate struggle that we cope with – trying to do the right thing and what’s expected of us by society, by our peers, and in our hearts.”
These stories typically appear during times of doubt and can help viewers reclaim the goodness and innocence in themselves, reminding them they can overcome the evil they see in the world.
And while I normally ignore Episodes I, II and III (IV forever!), this quote from the script of III seems appropriate.
“In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.”
—Yoda
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, ephemera, ideas, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on May 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Every so often I run across story snippets, ideas or lines or just a mood that at one point I committed to paper or pixel.
They are a form of meditation, in a sense, and while some turn into stories or poems or posts, most are just my way of thinking. It’s constructive, but sometimes I find these fragments again and wonder, “What on earth was I thinking?”
And sometimes the idea sets off a new spark and triggers fresh ideas, along a different path. Here’s one such snippet.
When Fluffernutter, our cat of sixteen years, died, we buried her in a shaded spot under the willow in the backyard, down by the creek.
That was our first mistake.
Not checking the grave was the second.
And not warning the neighbors was our third.
*Note: No kitties were harmed in the making of this post.
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