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Posts Tagged ‘writing’

The Professor

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

You never know whose life you’re going to touch. I trace a line between my own love of reading and writing to a relatively obscure (at the time) fantasy series read to us by my father, back to his department secretary, and eventually to Oxford professor and World War One veteran JRR Tolkien, born 130 years ago today. 

Tolkien Birthday Toast: raise a glass to the Professor in honour of his 130th birthday

If book sales, movie earnings, popular culture and Peter Jackson’s knighthood are any indication, millions of other people also have a similar connection to an academic whose books were once dismissed as simple tales for children.

They were wrong about that.

Hobbits and hippies: Tolkien and the counterculture – BBC Culture

I’m taking this as a reminder to do my best. As a children’s author, chef, engineer, teacher or whatever else you may be, you never know what impact you may have.

For myself, I hope that impact stirs even a little of the positive impact Middle-Earth had for me.

The Professor!

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Photo by Nikhil Prasad on Unsplash

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Thanks for Sharing

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , 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. 

Almost there!

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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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Photo by Genevieve Dallaire on Unsplash

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Dare Anything

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , 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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Photo by Theodor Lundqvist on Unsplash

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Comfort and Defend

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , 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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Photo by Roger Bradshaw on Unsplash

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Can’t Be Serious All the Time

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , 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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Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash

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Getting There

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , on December 12, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I wrote a thing, didn’t like it. Wrote another thing, didn’t like that either. Thought for a bit. Went off and made a mini version of this cool anti-gravity tensegriity thing. Came back and wrote a couple of new bits but nothing feels right. 

Some days are just like that. Must be time for a quote and a picture.

“So many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible.” 

― Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

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Photo by Charles “Duck” Unitas on Unsplash

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Gamgee the Wise

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on December 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »

“It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Photo by Angelina Litvin on Unsplash

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When Sharing Isn’t Caring

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 3, 2021| Leave a Comment »

As mentioned the other day, I recently read a book starring interesting and complex retirees.* It got me thinking, and now I have a new drabble.

Enjoy!

When Sharing Isn’t Caring

There’s a lot to be said for the “sharing economy.” 

My granddaughter DeeDee introduced me to the idea. Say, if you need to cleanup around the yard but don’t have all the tools. Because the neighbor is kicking up a fuss (and poor Mr. Kittikins), wasting Saturdays complaining about trees overhanging his fence.

And the things you can borrow these days! 

Order up a tool here or there, pay a reasonable delivery fee and voila, the item comes right to your doorstep.

Like this nice policeman.

“Such terrible news about the neighbor. And no, officer, I don’t own an ax.”

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* Disclaimer: I also happen to be related to a number of interesting and complex individuals of a certain age, but they are in no way associated with mysteries or mayhem!

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Photo by Liviu Florescu on Unsplash

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How to Win by Losing

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 2, 2021| 2 Comments »

To Whom It May Concern,

Enclosed please find my NaNoWriMo after-action report. Please be advised that this AAR is a summary document of an ongoing project and may be reassessed upon future review.

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Project: NaNoWriMo 2021, Modified Edition (a.k.a. NaYes, a.k.a. NaNoFinMo)

Overview, or The NaNo Plan-Mo

  • Goal, Part 1: Plan a story
  • Did I do this? Yes!
  • Goal, Part 2: Let’s just focus on Part 1, shall we?

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Analysis

Looking back, how did it go?

  • After years of NaNo pantsing,* was planning the story a good idea? Yes, to a point. It got me out of being stuck mid-month, but then I went a little overboard and realized that I was probably planning myself into a corner. Backing off, making sure I had a solid foundation under the piece, getting inside the heads of my characters, that made the most sense. (And that wasn’t always easy. One of the characters is an alien space mouse.)
  • Was I efficient? Not so much. Taking the word count pressure off was great in many ways, but also allowed me to spend too long vacillating about which awesome idea was the most awesome of all the awesomes. And then writing, backtracking, and writing some more. Not helpful.
  • Was I creative? Yes. See the aforementioned space mouse.
  • Did I accomplish more than a big fat zero? I did!
  • I began the month writing countable words and considered putting out enough verbiage to qualify for the formal challenge. This option was rejected because 50,000 words to no apparent purpose? No thanks!

Notes on the process, using previous related posts and their goals as guides:

NaNo or NaYes?

Yes, I took on the challenge. Go me.

NaNoFinMo

No, I did not actually finish said story. And yes, I will expect this fact to be reflected in my end-of-year bonus package. No need to remind me.

I’m Doing It Again

I am happy to report that I fixed the stopping and restarting problem, picked one idea and rolled with it for the rest of the month.

About halfway through the month I decided that project parameters be damned, I really didn’t care about the word count. At all. What I wanted was a platform to act as a springboard for next steps. So that’s what I did.

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Recommendations & Action Items**

What would I change for next time?

  • Skip the prep reading; it was helpful but now I’ve crossed it off my list.
  • Go faster, not spend the whole month on one idea, develop more stories, spend more time noodling, more wandering the neighborhood thinking up fun stuff.
  • I considered a reading hiatus but then all my library books arrived and I just didn’t want to, frankly. Probably would have helped, though!
  • Make December the official followup month, where actual writing shall occur.

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In Conclusion!

Experimental or not, this year’s NaNoWriMo actually went pretty well. My main takeaway is not to stress very much. Or at all. I’m much more productive when I’m having fun.

Because I didn’t bother with the 50,000 words I didn’t count this NaNo as a “win” in the formal sense. I do count it as a win in the “getting things done my own dang way, thanks very much” sense, so yay. 

I may be the only one in this particular race, but still. I win!

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Photo by Bas van den Eijkhof on Unsplash

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* A guide to NaNoWriMo strategies, including pantsing. I suppose you could say I’m a “plantser” at this point, but really, that’s a pretty terrible word.

** I just wanted to say “action items” because it’s ridiculous and fun.

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Ghosts and Fairies and Angels and A.I.

Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on December 1, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I’m a little too caught up in work to write the piece I was planning for today, so instead we have a free story via Slate’s Future Tense Fiction. It’s long, so save it for when you have time to do a little thinking about the environment, technology, and society.

“Ride,” a new short story about climate change, A.I., and social credit by Linda Nagata, with a non-fictional response by Henry Grabar, a journalist who reports on cities and autonomous vehicles.

Jasmine’s thoughts turned to the boy. He’d claimed he’d met someone on a shared taxi ride, a nameless stranger who’d told him about the Easter egg—a hidden bit of code embedded in the programming controlling the city’s autonomous taxi fleet.

Probably, the boy had been stringing her along. Yet there had been something about him, a sweetness, a rare sincerity that made her want to believe him—and anyway, what was the harm?

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Photo by Alessio Lin on Unsplash

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