Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, interviews, Thoughts, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on January 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »
My interview with the lovely Kim Lengling of the Let Fear Bounce podcast is live today!
We had a great time discussing writing, creativity, my experience with Writers of the Future and many other topics, and I hope you enjoy it too.
Check out the interview on YouTube or Spotify, and enjoy!
Pen to Paper: Navigating a Writer’s Reality – Author J.R. Johnson
Let Fear Bounce – Tossing out nuggets of hope | Podcast on Spotify
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, Alex White, definitions, genre fiction, learning@lunch, words, Writers, writing on January 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »
When I’m reading and see a word that’s unfamiliar, I like to look it up. This weekend, that word was “tonitruous.” I ran across it while reading book three in The Salvagers series by Alex White: The Worst of All Possible Worlds.
Never heard of it? Neither had I. Neither had my Kobo’s dictionary, which is unusual. It was time to dig deeper.
Tonitruous Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster
tonitruous from Latin tonitruum thunder
English use of the word was first documented in “The Challenge of the Knights Errant” by William Drummond in 1606.
And now I’m delighted to say that I’ve learned something new.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, quotes, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything. To “Why am I here?” To uselessness. It’s the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it’s a cactus.
— Enid Bagnold (1889–1981), British novelist, playwright
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Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf34, AI, genre fiction, inspiration, research, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on January 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Fellow Writers of the Future winner (2018) N.R.M. Roshak has started an excellent weekly newsletter on AI. Check it out if you’re interested in what’s happening in the field, how this tech is influencing social, business, and other arenas, or why I post results like this: Bright Colors, Happy Tone.
View back issues and subscribe here: Newsletter: AI Week.
It’s not for experts and it’s extremely readable. It’s really aimed at science fiction writers and readers: non-experts (like me) who are interested in the impact of this tech on society.
Enjoy!
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, Anne Lamott, creativity, genre fiction, hope, inspiration, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don‘t give up.”
— Anne Lamott
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Posted in Funny, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #notwriting, AI, genre fiction, Thoughts, writing on January 17, 2024| 1 Comment »
I’d hoped to carve out some writing time today but instead I’m dealing with a lot of weird tech issues, some of which are concrete problems and some just disappointments.
Here’s an example of the latter. Note the prompt.
No, AI. Just… no.
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, on writing, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »
One day in this writer’s life: reading, modifying a recipe for white chocolate and lemon truffles (thanks, Aunt C!), making notes on the inklings of an idea for a space saga, and a walk in the snow surrounded by tiny snowflakes drifting quietly down.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, activism, centenarians know better, inspiration, politics, quilting, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »
How much do I love this?
101-Year-Old Grace Linn: ‘Banning Books and Burning Books Are the Same’
“Banning books and burning books are the same. Both are done for the same reason: fear of knowledge,” Linn said. “They’re afraid that people will know better than they did.”
But each generation should know better, do better, and be better, Linn said. Society can’t grow and evolve without the education and empathy-building that come from the free exchange of thoughts shared through books.
All the hearts, forever.
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Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf39, free fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on January 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Good news, fellow seekers of good fiction, my fellow Writer of the Future David Hankins has made his award-winning story “Death and the Taxman” available free for this week only! If you haven’t already read it in Writers of the Future Volume 39, I highly recommend it.
The story is funny, well-written, and the springboard for his upcoming novel (I supported the highly-successful Kickstarter; the book will be widely released on Tax Day because David’s sense of timing is as on point as his humor!).
Enjoy!
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, free fiction, genre fiction, Uncanny Magazine, Writers, writing on January 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »
An ode to the stories I want to read but haven’t quite managed, yet.
The Coffin Maker – Uncanny Magazine
Every so often, audio crackles through the room, too loud, and the crowd stills and quiets as one. Stephani knows that they are all like her, waiting, waiting, waiting to find out how this mission will fail, hoping it will be a small thing with no ripples, praying they won’t have to hear it, knowing they will listen if a surveyor’s last words are broadcast across the ship.
Have I read this? I have not, but Uncanny stories are always high quality and often hopeful (if sometimes disturbing; fair warning in case this story turns out to be one of those!). Perhaps you will have more time today than I do.
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