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Wanted to share with everyone (or anyone) who is still somewhat interested: My book, Awakening, Quickening, is now for sale on Barnes & Noble! You all should feel very proud--without your comments and continued interest I sincerely doubt I would have ever completed it. ❤️ I hope someday in the not-too-distant future, I'll be at a book signing or something and see a familiar lizard lord or ancient falcon swoop down and say hello. Thanks for being my Muse. Here's to the Mighty Pen....may it never die... \ https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/awakening-quickening-helena-marfell/1146417668?ean=2940185888599

I have thought long about this. Cereal isn’t more than the sum of its ingredients, so it isn’t a soup. It doesn’t become milkcereal, but stays as discrete ingredients of cereal plus milk. Oatmeal raises some uncomfortable comparisons, though.

HELP!!! Just heard a question posed on a T.V. show and I can NOT stop thinking about it, here it is: Is cereal a soup?

*hugs*

Too relatable. The days are like ripples in a stream of similarity, and the water isn't clear. But I've found it is worth enduring every day to get to the next. Never know when a change is coming.

Reach out. I'm O.K. I tell myself. Another day. In my life. I don't know if I will be able to make it. Another day. Or any more. When every day. And all before. Are the same. When despite how I try nothing changes. Time to start. Another day. That's the same. Like all before. In my life. Just hoping I will be able to make it. One more day.

I find myself roaming the city late at night lately. Wandering the backstreets, seeing what I can see. I find violence and the outcasts mainly. Along with the lost and those, society would call freaks. Late at night, in the dark the city is another world At least, that's the way it seems. Filled with loneliness, reaching for someone to hold onto. A sadness, built on broken dreams. Beneath the neon, deep within the shadows is a yearning A reflection of what was or what could be. And though it feels as if an emptiness is seeping Somehow, I still feel it calling out to me. A solemn knelling that echoes through the city. One that rumbles low and deep. A Siren call that can't be fought as it entrances. A lullaby of a different sleep. It slowly fades away as sunlight seeks to wake the city. Mornings kiss, releases the city's hold, we are free. The city grows quiet, as the dark of night begins receding. A silent hesitation before the ending of a dream.

I got this from Dan Lewis' "Now I Know" newsletter and REALLY found it informative. No need to know WHY I find it informative - by the way, it didn't work (who'd a thunk that cats would pass out when dropped from an airplane!?) In the book "Nuking the Moon and Other Intelligence Schemes and Military Plots Left on the Drawing Board" by Vince Houghton, the historian and curator of the International Spy Museum explained how cat-guided bomb would work: The bomb was based on the undisputed premises that (a) cats always land on their feet and (b) hate water. The plan was to hang a poor kitty in a harness, from the bottom of a bomb, with some kind of device that allowed said kitty's movements to guide the bomb as it fell. If you dropped it in the vicinity of a naval target (such as a German battleship), then the cat's natural instinct would be to think, "Holy hell, I'm falling into water. I hate water, so let's try to land somewhere dry. Like that German battleship over yonder." And then BOOM! Suicide kitty is a martyr to the cause.

THANKS! That is about the best complement one can get. The fact that I just threw it together in order to figure out the cadence in my head and others say they feel it pertains to them, well, just thanks. It's even more amazing to me since I, myself, don't feel it pertains to ME at all, because when it comes to MY childhood dreams, up to now I have accomplished . . . hmmm . . . well . . . . . . aww, craps.

Hmmmm. Sounds remarkably like a more detailed take on the City mouse and the Country mouse story, each having their own set of dangers they're accustomed to, and which they feel 'aren't that bad'. Or maybe a cross between that story, Animal Farm, and a certain Dreamworks movie (Over the Hedge..)? Sounds like a fun premise, though. Also, black leather wearing critter MUST be a ferret. Aka Chaos noodle crack missile.

At Pere, Same, like....this could have been written by me personally? I also 'hear' a cadence to this, but probably not the same one you hear. 🫥😄

I feel oddly called out.

O.K., I started to hear a cadence in my head. I was trying to figure out what the cadence was from, because it seemed so familiar. So, I put some random words to it and came up with this poem. It, kind of, makes sense. A bit jumbled and disjointed if you ask me and I, kind of, feel it's not complete but I'm just going to claim it's nuanced and evocative. And yes, that one word you think I misspelled is spelled correctly - told you . . . nuanced and evocative. Once I finished it, I stared at it for a while and suddenly it hit me, the cadence is from a song. It's not the whole song, just bits and pieces that repeat, instead of flowing in the proper order. I haven't heard it in years but must have recently heard it in the background somewhere. Once I figured it out, I started to think of different directions I could go, but decided to leave it as is because, right now, it's INSPIRED by the song. I believe a rewrite would just end up being a Weird Al-esque parody. Let me know if I've managed to write it in a way that lets you hear the cadence and figure out the song. Remember, it's just snippets that repeat and not in order. Hints: Pop; part spoken word; old but not an "Oldie" (Motown, doo-wop, etc.); singer-songwriter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We had dreams, when we were young. About all the things, we would have done. By now. As time passes by, dreams they die, And we find ourselves where we're at, Somehow. Childhood dreams are lost. Or simply fade away. We tell ourselves that it's o.k. They were only bits of childish games We once played. Late at night, When everything is still. An emptiness, deep inside. No matter how hard we try, We just can't feel. A lifetime spent, Seemingly lost And alone. A wasted life of wasted time Wasting every chance to find A home. We had so many dreams Once When we were young. Dreams of all the wonderous things. That By now We wish We had done.

Don't know the story, just the premise: A colony of lemmings are growing up on the mean trails while living on the wrong side of the fence. There's an old . . . rabbit? . . . maybe a mole or gopher? . . . I don't know . . . whatever, it tells stories about the times before the fence. Not sure which side is actually the "wrong" side. Is the outside free while the inside is like a prison, where there is constant fear of homeowners and pets? Or is it the other way around? Living outside is constant fear of coyotes or traffic while inside there's a garden and plenty of water? Just don't make it an Outsiders or even a Blackboard Jungle knockoff. Also, there CAN NOT be ANY character that wears a leather jacket, has sleepy eyes and is prone to brooding and angstingly (d*mn skippy I made that word up!) shouting phrases like, "You're tearing me apart!" NO REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE-ING! A nod to The Lords of Flatbush or American Graffiti would be acceptable, but just a nod.

I get a newsletter about getting published and, every now and then, leads are given, this last one has a Fellowship grant listed. Not sure if I should list the job leads, but figure the Fellowship is O.K. If anyone wants the job ones, let me know and I'll pass them on (not sure how long they'll be valid): Fellowship for the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers - "The Cullman Center’s Selection Committee awards fifteen Fellowships a year to outstanding scholars and writers—academics, independent scholars, journalists, creative writers (novelists, playwrights, poets), translators, and visual artists." If that describes you and you'd like $85,000 and full access to this New York Library's resources, submit your application here before September 27th at 5pm ET.

Snypiuers' Niece: Hi. As you know, my dearly beloved uncle made an unwise decision to eat a filet-o-fish sandwich that had been sitting on the table for 6 and a half hours, what you haven't been informed of is, the very next day, he made the equally unwise decision to eat a dozen shrimp left on the table for an unknown length of time but, to be honest, they were room temperature at best. Due to his ill-advised culinary decisions, there was a brief, but violent reaction. So, it is with a sad and heavy heart that I regret to announce that my beloved uncle Snypiuer has . . . Snypiuer: Hey, what'chya doing? Niece: Go away. Snypiuer: That a GoFundMe? What'chya making a GoFundMe for? Niece: Go. A. Way. Snypiuer: Let me see! *reads* HEY! What do you mean "unwise" and "ill-advised"!? YOU gave me them! And I feel great, I got the digestive tract of a vulture! Wait . . . is this a GoFundMe for my FUNERAL cost!? Are you trying to scam people by claiming I'm dead!? Niece: ARGHHH! You ruin EVERYTHING! *stomps away* Snypiuer: You can't kill me! Not the Kid! I AM IRONMAN BABY! Niece: *in another room* Mom! Take me to go find another fish sandwich! Snypiuer: You come for the King, you better . . . wait . . . what do you mean "find"? *follows niece* WHAT DO YOU MEAN "FIND"!?

O.o

O.K., one of my favorite books is Villains by Necessity written by Eve Forward (READ THIS BOOK - you can get a paperback online for, about, $40 or so, free if you have kindle - I think), or you can go here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71705/villains-by-necessity-redux which is her Royal Road site and she's rewriting it (slowly) and you can get a small taste of it. ANYWAYS . . . What would YOU do if you were one of the last evil beings in a realm where Good has won and sealed off the source of all evil - no more Evil gods, demons or corruption. Nothing but GOOD. All "bad" people have been given amnesty if they change their ways, "monsters" and evil creatures have all been hunted down and all "evil" kingdoms overthrown. Then there's you. Are you an Evil god or demon that hasn't been found yet? An assassin? Thief? Monster? Or just like kicking puppies? What is YOUR story in this situation?

Snypiuer is about to eat a Filet-o-Fish sandwich that has been sitting on the table for the past six and a half hours (hopefully the microwaving helped). If you never hear from him again: TELL HIS STORY!!!🤪

I found this in Nature and figured I'd share it: CAREER FEATURE 13 June 2024 Twelve scientist-endorsed tips to get over writer’s block How do you get your creative juices flowing after spending hours, days or months looking at a blank screen? Researchers share their advice. By Emily Sohn Twitter Facebook Email Find a new job Credit: Getty Paul Silvia was trying to write his first book — about the psychology of motivation — in 2003. He had a publishing contract and a deadline that he had missed, and although he was churning out shorter articles, grant proposals and research papers, he was not making any progress on his book. At one point, he went nine months without “even doing the smallest thing on it”. He could not motivate himself to work on a book about motivation: “The irony of that was totally apparent to me at the time,” he says. Silvia, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, was dealing with writer’s block — the experience of getting stuck on a writing project. He started researching the habits of professional authors and asking colleagues about their writing strategies. Their insights helped him to finish his book, called Exploring the Psychology of Interest, which he published in 2006. He later published two more about writing in academia: How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing (2007) and Write It Up: Practical Strategies for Writing and Publishing Journal Articles (2014). One major lesson: there will never be a perfect time to write. “That was the first switch to really flip,” he says. Although writer’s block is common, it can come as a surprise to scientists, says César Soto Valero, a computer scientist at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He has seen many graduate students go days without getting any words on the page, and a few give up on academia as a result of their frustrations. Careers Collection: Publishing “Some people choose to do science because they want to do experiments, because they want to write code, because they want to try new things,” Soto Valero says. “Then, after they realize that the research is mostly about writing research papers, they struggle a lot because they find out that writing a research paper is very hard.” Soto Valero, Silvia and other scientists shared their advice on how to conquer the block and put pen to paper. Know thy enemy Writer’s block has a few main causes, Silvia says, and having the self-awareness to recognize which one is affecting you is important. One is a tendency to confuse worrying with doing. “If you’re thinking about something a lot,” he says, “that doesn’t really mean you’re working on it.” There is also the misconception that you need to clear your entire to-do list and carve out big blocks of time to get any writing done — a mindset that can become a form of procrastination, because it provides an excuse not to start. Silvia cites a prime example: stymied by lack of progress, an academic goes on a week-long retreat in a cosy rural cabin where they can focus solely on writing. But this can lead to disappointment when they end up wasting a lot of time in the local coffee shop instead of focusing on the task at hand. “The stakes are really high,” he says, “and if the first day goes wrong, you get really depressed.” Create routines Silvia recommends that researchers treat writing as if it’s a class that they have to teach: block out time for it on your calendar, and stick to the schedule. To get over his own writer’s block, Silvia designated 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. every weekday as writing time. He even chose a room at home for writing, so he had a dedicated workspace. Building consistency took a lot of pressure off. If the two hours went badly, he knew he would have another chance to write more the next day, and he was less likely to be discouraged or feel as if he had wasted a large chunk of time. Once he started making progress, he was able to write more. “Productivity builds on momentum,” he says. “It’s self-reinforcing to see something move along.” Clarify the message Andrea Armani, a chemical engineer at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, often sees students struggle when they sit down to write a paper, because they don’t know what they’re trying to say. She recommends that they ask themselves a few main questions: “What is the hypothesis statement? What is the point of my paper? What am I trying to prove?” Training: Writing a research paper Armani advises students to use their answers to develop a vision statement that articulates “the key discovery or accomplishment in a single sentence”, according to a 2020 article in which she outlines ten simple steps to writing a scientific paper. Keeping the main message in mind can get you past the feeling of being stuck, says Lynn Von Hagen, a conservation biologist at the Denver Zoo in Colorado. While writing a paper about human–elephant conflicts, published last year, she recognized that the most important point was that scientists need to engage communities when trying to understand complex conservation problems. She was then able to build each section around that idea. “A lot of times, scientific writing can be very rigorous,” Von Hagen says. “But one of the things you have to remember is that you’re still telling a story to the reader.” Plan first Inexperienced writers often jump right into new projects, says Silvia — leading them to forgo planning, scribble out the most obvious material right away and get stuck quickly. Developing a clear outline of a paper, chapter or book can help you to avoid that fate. There are many ways to create an outline, ranging from old-fashioned index cards or Post-it notes to software solutions. Armani’s strategy begins with storyboarding figures, graphs, data sets and results on digital slides. She uses presentation programs — such as PowerPoint, Prezi or Keynote — that make it easy to move slides around. Soto Valero plans out each paragraph by writing series of questions in his document. In a 2021 blog post about how he overcame writer’s block when working on research papers, Soto Valero gave an example of questions that guided his introduction for a study, published that year. The paper examined software bloat, a problem in which successive versions of computer programs become slower or use more memory. “What is software bloat? Why it is an issue?” he wrote, adding a written reminder to create a paragraph answering these questions. Next came: “What is the state-of-the-art of research on software bloat? What is missing?” Writer’s block often results from paying attention to the end goal but not the steps required to get there, Armani says. Breaking the process down, she tells her students, mirrors what they do when they’re conducting research. “All of my PhD students have really well-developed and well-honed skills on experimental design and how to break up an experimental challenge into biteable chunks,” she says. “But then once they get near end of a project, and they’re like, ‘OK, so now I need to write this up and have a paper,’ it’s like they’re walking into a murky forest without a flashlight.” Eliminate the blank page Soto Valero started writing papers as a university student in Cuba, with the goal of earning a PhD abroad. Because English wasn’t his first language, writing in it was laborious. “It took hours to write every single sentence,” he says. Because it is always easier to revise text than to write from scratch, he tapped into a template-based strategy to boost his speed and confidence. Using Google Scholar, a free academic search engine that indexes research papers, Soto Valero found examples of well-presented studies that he thought were explained clearly. He would create a similar structure, then iteratively paraphrase and reword the content, focusing on the insights and implications derived from his own data. He writes in English directly, but some of his colleagues use Google Translate to convert their Spanish into English. Some universities also hire proofreaders who check those translations. For Von Hagen, the first step when it’s time to write is to get something, anything, down on the page, even if it is a disorganized stream of consciousness that lacks structure or even punctuation. Even just creating a rough list of ideas gives her a starting point that she doesn’t want to walk away from. “If you get it on paper, and you have something to work with, then you can just edit and revise, edit and revise,” she says. “If there’s nothing there, it’s one thing, but if there’s something there, then it’s like, ‘OK, now my juices are flowing, the writer’s block is at least gone, and then I can make something out of it from there.’” Visualize Using mental strategies can help, Soto Valero says. Before diving into each section of a paper, he likes to imagine that the writing is done, which makes the blank page seem less empty. “After seeing something done, at least mentally, it seems easier to achieve,” he wrote. Strategizing about how to tackle the components of the paper reminds him of planning moves in a chess game: “Imagine the next paragraph is done, make your move, and then write it!” Write out of order It might seem logical to first write the title, abstract and introduction, but this can lead to blocks and rewrites later, Armani says. “You don’t know what your results section is going to look like,” she says. If you start at the beginning, “you’re trying to introduce something that you haven’t written yet”. After constructing a vision statement and making slides, Armani suggests writing the methods section first. You know what you did in the research, she says. “You can almost just dictate that and then clean up the text.” Next, she drafts the results section, followed by the discussion and conclusion, which generally summarize what she has already written. Finally, she writes the introduction and abstract and finishes with the title. Starting with the easiest part prevents blinking-cursor syndrome — staring at a page decorated only by a blinking cursor, because you cannot start writing — says immunologist Daniela Weiskopf at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in San Diego, California. “I want to start with something that I know I can do very well, like writing materials and methods,” says Weiskopf. “Then, you have one thing on your document” — and the thought of having to fill the page becomes less overwhelming. Give yourself extra time Because writing is hard work, it can help to build in a buffer, in case you need more time to meet a deadline than you’d originally planned. Armani advises her students to start writing when they’re about 75% of the way through the research. While doing her own work, Weiskopf makes notes of points that she might want to include in her paper. For Soto Valero, having extra time allows him to take a day or two to do nothing related to the project, which can fuel enough guilt to motivate him to sit down and write. “It seems stupid, but it really, really works,” he says. “You need to go through the pain of writing. You cannot avoid it.” Embrace collaboration Getting feedback on a draft can help you to overcome writer’s block, Von Hagen says, especially if the collaborator is a mentor or peer with more experience of the publishing process. Constructive criticism is part of the learning process. “There have been times where I’ve felt like, ‘I’m just not sure where to go with it. I’m not sure it’s encapsulating what I’m really trying to get across,’” she says. “Having someone else look at the work can help you get past the block.” Take the pressure off Sometimes, writer’s block emerges from putting too much pressure on yourself to be eloquent or perfect on the first try. Armani recommends keeping your goal in mind: you aren’t trying to win a Pulitzer prize, but to provide clear and concise scientific communication. “It’s not the time for compound complex sentences with introductory clauses, because you’re going to lose your audience. I tell my students: it’s a time to have a subject, a verb, maybe a direct object. But if you start having lots of dependent and independent clauses, nobody’s going to understand what you’re trying to say.” It might get easier, but don’t expect it to get easy Once you have a draft, Soto Valero says, you’ll have to do a lot of work over many iterations. “I have [spent] months writing papers,” he says. “It doesn’t come in one day or two.” After writing more than 200 papers, Armani has improved her ability to get organized and start writing. But every paper has its challenges. “It’s still just as hard because you want to make sure that your intention is coming across in what the words are actually saying on the page,” she says. “You can’t rush that process.” Know you’re not alone Weiskopf tells students and postdocs that most people are “masters in practice” rather than born experts, and that writer’s block is not a unique experience. “It’s not just them who don’t know how to get over this,” she says. “It’s important to share your struggles because nobody wakes up and is a master in writing papers.” Creating a small writing group can help you to build momentum and remember that you’re not alone, Silvia adds. He recommends holding a weekly check-in meeting with your group to discuss how work is going and share goals for the coming week. “Misery really does love company, and everyone struggles with their writing,” he says. “I have met so few people who think this is just natural and effortless.”

. . . wow.😲

"Have you ever realised that when a raindrop hits the ground and dissolves in a puddle it loses everything that made it unique? It just becomes a small part of a large ensemble. No more weaving between currents of air, no more unique shape, no more freezing into lovely six-sided shapes if ever the ambient temperature drops below freezing". She sighed, the three sentence monologue taking a lot more from her than she had expected. "The unique droplet meets its comrades-" she coughed, a slow, painful cough. "No...comrade is-" *cough* "-not the-" *cough* "-right-" *cough* *cough* *cough* "-WORD!" A few more hacking wheezes brought the sequence to an end and with it a few blessed moments of calm. "Where was...ah yes. Dissolving...the image of the death of a raindrop." A smile slowly spread among the wrinkles on her aged face. "Yes...dissolv-" *cough" "Losing that sense of-" *cough* "-self" "You have your stupid metaphor, the last drop...HA!...of wisdom you were expecting of me. Now...all of you leave...LEAVE! LEAAAAAAAAA-!" *cough*... *COUGH* "just go..." "please...let me go..." *cough*

So...this brain of mine These thoughts Scattered or collected as they may be... Words that you slowly align Just...connect...the...bloody...dots As simple as 1...2...3 Yet, some sequences sense do not make Slithery, slimy, blasted little snake These thoughts, as if flying off on the back of a drake Maketh sense is not always the thing that braketh A poem or a rhyme, but yet... Sense this doth not... Make! Create! Look outside the window ! Clouds...shapes, and a patch of blue ! See the beauty...or the ugly...or...just the dots that connect all! That hug...that big...that massive sprawl! Choose your inspiration ! Or don't...and just write Scattered or collected as they may be... Jumbled thoughts From this brain of mine

I left it there In the crack to the left! Yes, I do mean your share! Torturing me won't help! The crack on the left! The crack... Left... Please... Pl-... Next line : The loudest colour a blind man has ever touched

Forg(et) all you have ever known and embrace the sheep! Dismiss the count and slumbers' creep. Run! Run! Lest ye sleep! Close not thine eyes as darkness seeps. (Ig)snore the consequences and embrace the sheep! Feel the wool so soft and deep. Cuddle! Cuddle! Hear them bleat! Warm and fluffy creatures meek. (F)hear not the whispers and embrace the sheep! Reject the norm and difference seek. Quiet! Quiet! Your secrets keep! Turn away as watchers peek. (L)heave behind all you will ever know. Embrace the sheep! Next Line: I left it there