Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, possibilities, scifi, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn’t exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again. As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world you are writing science fiction. It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible.
— Ray Bradbury
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, cliffhangers, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today, Mr Man is out in the woods being woodsy, and his cell connection is weak at best. He called with a story about an adventure, full of drama and excitement, near misses and impossible tasks.
Ninety seconds into the tale, the call cut out. Oh no, I thought, he just set up the problem, how will he triumph? What happened next? I waited by the phone in anticipation.
Another call, another 90 seconds, another cut line, another moment of drama as he hung, metaphorically speaking, between victory and defeat. It happened again, then again.
I started answering his callbacks with “And then what happened?”
After many episodes I got the whole story, and it was a good one. Let’s just say that most of us would have found ourselves stranded in the bush waiting to become a bear’s dinner, but through creativity, deductive thinking and mechanical know how, he found a way!
And I enjoyed an excellent reminder of the power of suspense in story.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #QuittingIsForQuitters, creativity, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 17, 2025| 2 Comments »
The only guaranteed way to succeed is simple: don’t quit.
— Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, free fiction, jobs in space, sci-fi, Writers, writing on October 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today, a fun bit of free short fiction from Carrie Vaughn and Clarkesworld Magazine.
She hit send and hoped that this would be the last she had to think of it. Engineering would get the work order, run the diagnostics, the glitch would get fixed, all would be well. She was also very aware that this would probably not be the end of it. She couldn’t tell if the cramping in her stomach was lunchtime hunger or simmering rage.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #YouDoYou, chillaxation, creativity, Thoughts, writing on October 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »
We are all raised with ideas about what is worth spending our time on.
“Don’t waste your time [fill in the blank], you should be working on [fill in another blank]. If you have time later, maybe you can play.”
Thanks to some excellent teachers and super cool parents, I tend to think of this equation the other way around. There’s nothing like genuine interest to motivate. I’d put up with a lot of [math] in order to understand [orbital mechanics].
I also believe in the restorative power of doing things that remind me what I love about the world. I can’t work all the time, and if I try, both work and life suffer for it.
I mean, yes, do what’s necessary to graduate, keep a job, care for those you love, etc. There is real satisfaction in that. But I also try not to let anyone make me feel bad when I also [read/write/watch Star Wars] instead of doing something they consider more rewarding.
There are a lot of ways to be a good, capable, productive person.
Love what you love, and let it be your window onto the whole world.
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Posted in Likes, Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Whee, I just realized that our library has added two new libraries to its partner system and now I can haz alllll the books!
(Seriously, I can now check out something like 75 books at one time. I won’t, but I could!)
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Writers, writing on September 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »
For whatever reason, today I have nothing. I have an extensive folder filled with potentially fun links, ideas, quotes, etc. but none of them are catching my eye. So instead, here’s the first line for a little story I started a few days ago. It’s sitting open on my desktop, waiting for me to have time and bandwidth. I hope I get to it soon because I think it’s going to be entertaining.
You ever watch a movie where the bad guy is up on stage, monologuing for all he’s worth, and then look behind him at the B-team and wonder, “What the hell are they thinking?”
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, creativity, inspiration, practice, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Whether you want to draw, write, or some other creativity, this is pretty good advice.
The Artist Who Couldn’t Draw | The Kid Should See This
Roger didn’t like his drawings. He didn’t feel that he had any drawing talent. But then a girl named Zoe moved next door and handed him a magic black pen.
The lesson? Sometimes it helps to take things literally.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, inner monologue, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Don’t talk to yourself like someone you hate.
— Arthur Brooks
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, data, history, problem solving, sci-fi, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I like the data-driven articles from The Pudding, which include fun topics, great graphics and easy-to-digest research.
And hey, here’s one by Alvin Chang about science fiction!
I analyzed the top 200 sci-fi films and tv shows every decade from the 1950s to present day. What I found was that sci-fi narratives from yesteryear were quite different from today’s stories….
Sci-fi is an amazing genre.
It helps us explore our feelings about the unknown, the future, and the possible. It lets us imagine “what if” scenarios, and then build out rich worlds that our minds can occupy. It depicts dystopias we should fend off and utopias we should seek – and it teases us with the scintillating possibility that humans may actually be able to build the world we want.
But over the last few generations, it’s been harder for us to imagine this better world – and our sci-fi reflects that.
And while that may be so, sci-fi is also a critical part of highlighting society’s important problems. That’s the first step to finding a fix.
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J.R. Johnson 
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