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Posts Tagged ‘writing’

NaNoWriMo 2015, A New Beginning

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Am I doing NaNoWriMo this year? Yes. Am I doing it the way I have for the past several seasons? I am not. Here’s why I think that we should all feel ok about making NaNo into whatever works for us.

Reason One: Because why not? This whole endeavor is borderline batty anyway (in a good way!), so if you aren’t doing it for yourself, why do it at all?

Reason Two: NaNoWrMo is a tremendous opportunity to start something, and to finish something. That does not mean that we all do those things the same way or that we are all at the same stage in our particular journey.

For example, I have managed to hit my word count target every year. Yay. So I know I don’t have a problem with word production at the most basic level. Given that, it strikes me as sensible to ask how I can use this time to address some of the other issues popping up along the way.

So that’s what I’m doing this year. I’m using the month of November to focus on what is giving me trouble. Word count just doesn’t happen to be one of those issues, so I’m not focused on it right now.

I’ve made a deal with my creative side: write a decent amount a decent number of days, get back into the habit of constant production, and let me know what you need to keep the awesome ideas coming. Seriously, chocolate cake, sunset-colored drinks with umbrellas, giant cups of tea lattes from the cafe around the corner, a detailed schematic of the Death Star, you name it.

And if I need to take a day to brainstorm and that day only happens to net me a thousand words? I’m ok with that. Heck, I’m more than ok, I’m pleased as punch, because it means I’m working on the solution, not just throwing more words at the problem.

Now, I’m hardly the first person to say these things. Check out the NaNo author pep talks or any of the multitude of related discussions and you’re likely to find bits on writing in ways that work for you.

Got news for you: You don’t have to do it that way. Anything that gets words on the page is the Right Thing to Do. — Diana Gabaldon

This is the first year I’ve given myself full-on permission to do it the way that works for me. I’ve got to tell you, it feels great.

However you decide to work this month, happy noveling!

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Mini-Break

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I appear to be in a fallow period. Scary as that might sound, it’s probably a good thing even though it means I haven’t written much in the past couple of weeks. There’s nothing wrong with taking a bit of a break, so long as it doesn’t become a habit.

Breaks can be useful because you can’t produce if you don’t take in. It’s good to refill the well, give your eyes a break, take a deep breath and head out into the woods. And it’s good because hey, it’s the end of October and NaNoWriMo is right around the corner!

I haven’t decided what I’m going to work on this NaNo but I will do… something. And however that project comes together, it will require focus, and stamina, and excitement.

So I’m going to take these last couple of days to rest up and make ready. Stock up on snacks and tea and various forms of adult beverage. Then I will write.

Here’s hoping you are rested and ready too, for whatever projects you are planning. What’s that, you could use a little seasonal inspiration? No problem, here’s my father in a super-cool White Rabbit bunny* suit on some long-lost Halloween. Because awesome:)

BunnySuit

* My father would like it to be clear that he in no way neglected the Lewis Carroll portion of my education;)

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New Story At Terraform!

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I’m very pleased to announce that my new story “The NuCorYou Guide for New Corporate Persons” (complete with terrific animated artwork by Gustavo Torres) is now up at Terraform!

We say this all the time, but: ours is a science-fictional world. Those Democratic debates? Staged like the Thunder Dome, sponsored by Facebook, with candidates talking marijuana and the finer points of Democratic Socialism? Couldn’t have made that up. As for Bernie Sanders railing against the catastrophic effects of corporate personhood, well—have we got a story for you. —The Eds.

The story is free and available to all. Enjoy!

NuCorYouTerraform

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I Like a Little Fiction with My Science

Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I finally got to see The Martian this past weekend, and if you’ve been following the reviews at all my reaction will come as no surprise: it was great. What’s that, you’ve been busy/off the grid/media fasting? Here’s a trailer.

I read Andy Weir’s book last year so the specifics weren’t a surprise, but in this case knowing the story did nothing to detract from the experience. The execution, whether in terms of writing, acting, directing, or visuals, was a delight. The movie compressed the story in exactly the right ways, maintaining dynamism and tension in what could have been a dull one-man alone setting.

Also, no stupid characters were required to move the plot. Yay! You may not agree with every decision, but at no point did the script make some hapless individual look down at a big red button under glass and say, “Gosh, I know they told me not to touch anything but I wonder what this does,” literally or otherwise. Also times two, smart, strong characters, women included. How refreshing is that?

 

A lot has been written about the movie, and about Weir’s journey from self-published indie author to Hollywood hit, and it’s both interesting and well-deserved (see here and here and here and here, for examples).

As an entertainment consumer both versions scored high for me. As a writer, I was impressed by Weir’s concrete attention to detail, his willingness to dig himself into seemingly impossible holes, and his facility at getting out of them in realistic ways. Drew Goddard did an excellent job translating the book into a screenplay (I’d expect nothing less from this Buffy/Angel/Alias+ alum) for Ridley Scott.

I came out of the theatre kicking myself for not studying more math in school. Astronauts are awesome, and while most of us will never make that exalted level, there’s nothing to say we can’t try. (Ok, fine, my eyesight is bad and I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that astronauts need to be able to do more than 10 pushups, but you get my point.)

Helping kids (and everyone else) see that science is about exploration, discovery, innovation, capability and (in this case) freaking outer space?

That’s exactly the kind of story I can get behind. Recommended.

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Getting Back to Writing

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Phew! I finished up a big project today and sent it off, hooray, and now I’d really like to get back to writing. Fun writing, instinctive writing, stories that make me laugh (and sometimes cry) as I write. Time to push those annoying shoulds into the background for a bit and do what feels right.

Like beautiful fall days and star-struck nights, new challenges and, of course, cake:)

* I planned to embed a photo from Yellowstone here but Instagram links aren’t working for me right now, and my brain is too pre-lunch post-project squishy to fix it. I’ll work on it later, probably just a bad motivator, but in the meantime… Want to see something amazing? Click here🙂
… insert muzak …
** Oh goodie, broken Instagram is all better now. Enjoy!

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Motivation

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Ok, so I guess I wasn’t completely 100% back. I’m better now, mostly. I still have an annoying little cough and the feeling that I could use three solid days of sleep, but mostly better.

Writing is slow. Lulls like this happen, I just have to remember that they fade. They can also be a useful, if tedious, way to refill the well, restock the larder, choose your preferred metaphor.

I made what I believe is my very first cheesecake (Grand Marnier with strawberry puree, delicious). I went for a walk in the countryside with Mr. Man. We had friends over and I was able to carry on whole conversations without pulmonary complications. And drink wine! Speaking of mood-altering substances, I had caffeine for the first time in a month (o blessed nectar of the gods). Cared for the lawn, wrote my city councillor (that’s how they spell it up here), and hit the library; all normal life stuff, and it was good.

I also started thinking about new projects. I checked out recipes for code and food, researched the microbiome, design techniques, medicinal plants, editing, and cosplay armor. It’s great to be pushing ahead.

So, illness sucks, but coming out the other side can be very motivating. Here’s to productivity, and creativity, and to turning the crazy dreams in one’s head into reality.

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So Glad to Be Back

Posted in Food and..., Writing, tagged , , , , , , on August 31, 2015| 1 Comment »

I wish I could say that I’ve been off researching the peculiar habits of hallucinogenic tree frogs, or scaling mountain peaks to gather the last of the world’s Fairie Floss Edelweiss (there is no such thing. I think), or developing new recipes for customized dreams. Sadly not. I did have one fine fall day of fishing for deep water lake trout (trolling, not downrigging, fyi) before it all came crashing down.

For the past week+ I have been doing my bit to support the world’s tissue manufacturing companies. Mr. Man and I caught a truly unpleasant virus and proceeded to blow our way through not one, not two, but three boxes of tissue.

IMGP3705

I lost weight, lost energy, and struggled to finish basic tasks (like cracking open yet another bottle of cough syrup). Writing was suddenly out of the question. Unpleasant. Poorly timed. And, in it’s own way, interesting.

I’ve learned that I have two scales on which to measure illness. The first involves books, and the second, food.

A typical cold is tedious and congested but I can still read. This past week I was lucky to be able to focus on a few pages at a time. Very bad.

Feeding a normal cold involves lots of liquids and spicy food. Whip up a quick Thai shrimp soup with glass noodles, lime, and chili sauce and enjoy. (It’s an excellent rehydrator and decongestant, by the way.) This past week, I could not cook. Flavors tasted off, my timing was a disaster, and I made (I pause here in shame) bad fried rice.

Bad fried rice! Unpossible! I’ve been making some version of this dish since I was in the single digits, and while it may not have always been great, it has never been distasteful. (Ok, there was that one time in junior high school but I still have questions about those bean sprouts.) That streak is over.

So, not the best week here at the chateau but! quite a lot of celebrating now that the end is in sight.

That’s where I’ve been and what I’ve learned. I hope you all had better days:)

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Sooper Secret Smoothie

Posted in Food and..., Likes, tagged , , , , on August 5, 2015| 7 Comments »

Today feels like a recipe day, so here is the ultra extra super top secret recipe for my favorite morning smoothie. It’s nutritious, and yes, it can taste a little like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I love it. It’s what I have for breakfast pretty much every day.

Ingredients:

  • Strawberries, frozen, 150 grams
  • Blueberries, frozen, 150 grams
  • Bananas, 2
  • Chia seeds, 3 Tbsp, 40 grams
  • Grape juice, 150 grams
  • Pumpkin puree, 0.8 cup, 200 grams
  • Peanut butter, smooth, 150 grams
  • Yogurt, plain, 2%, 750 grams
  • Molasses, blackstrap, 1 Tbsp
  • Cinnamon, ground, .5 tsp

Makes ~4 pint glasses worth, or enough to keep a writer fueled for most of the work week.
1. Let your blender save its strength; defrost fruit in the microwave.
2. Add ~half a cup of water to the chia seeds, stir to moisten.
3. All in, blend until smooth, drink.

Recipe Notes:
— I buy bananas in bunches, wait until they are perfectly ripe, then peel and lay them out on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet to freeze. Store hardened fruit in freezer bags for later. I also do this with fresh strawberries when I can get them. Of course, I’d use fresh fruit all the time if I didn’t live just south of the Arctic Circle (kidding, Ottawa, but you know sometimes it feels true;)
— I use organic chia seeds because they’re so water-sensitive there’s no way you can wash them. What’s on them is what you eat.
— We make our own yogurt (very easy, btw) because it’s a great way to know what you’re eating and so I can “cook” the lactose out of it by letting it ferment for ~20 hours. Because who wants to be popping lactase pills all the time?
— I’ve also started adding a dash of turmeric with a bit of fresh-ground pepper to bolster the curcumin, but that’s me;)
— Freezes well too, if you remember to leave a bit of room in your container to avoid, um, accidents. (Ask me how I know;)

SmoothieData

* Nutrition information calculated with SparkRecipes recipe calculator and may not match your specific ingredients (it didn’t match mine perfectly), so use for estimates only.

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Superhumans Are Real!

Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 31, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Wait, what?

Yep, that’s the takeaway from a recent Bloomberg article about humans with (very, very) rare genetic mutations:

These Superhumans Are Real and Their DNA Could Be Worth Billions

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the focus of the article is on drug companies exploiting such mutations to develop new blockbuster products, but let’s just take a second to look at the bottom line:

Rare mutations > affect a tiny percent of the human population = superpowers.
/enough said

Yes, it’s Unbreakable all over again, only this time for real. If there’s a way to convert such mutations into useful (rather than simply profitable) innovations, great. Without (hopefully) the evil mastermind willing to sacrifice innocent lives in the search for outliers.

Are there challenges to life as a “superhero”? Of course, the most obvious being the dramatic downsides for those with dangerous mutations like insensitivity to pain, but I have to say: I find this hopeful.

Why? Because it’s a reminder that there is no one “normal” and that the continuum of human evolution isn’t done with us yet, not by a long shot.

That the range of human experience is deep and varied, and that there is room in our world for everyone.

And that the impossible can, under extraordinary circumstances, become possible.

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Gleeful Exploration

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Apropos of my recent comments about Miss Fisher I feel it only appropriate to link to new fan fiction by the esteemed Mary Robinette Kowal. Her short story is a delightful combination of Marie Brennan’s Lady Trent and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries:
A Study in Serpents

“I’m dreadfully sorry to intrude like this, but we are in need of some particular expertise.” She turned, silk flowing around her and gestured to the Detective Inspector. “Would you mind terribly looking at a specimen, Lady Trent?”

While you’re exploring fanfic, you may also want to enjoy Marie Brennan’s take on Mary’s Glamourist Histories, in which she explores the uses of glamour for representing classical mythology and, well, what else? Genteel (very, nothing explicit to see here) porn, commissioned by none other than Lord Byron:
A Classical Education

“The delicacy is really quite remarkable. Just the faintest hint of a blush across her face and her — ah –” She faltered, then forged ahead, knowing there was more than a faint hint of redness in her own skin. “A student of lesser skill would have left her looking like a tomato.”

Both of these pieces were born with off-hand comments and laughter, followed by quick and gleeful explorations of another world. Delightful, and a good lesson for writers of all stripes.

Have fun if you possibly can:)

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