Anna Lovind

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, May 13-19, 2018

/ Melanie Marttila

Another week has passed and, look, you’ve survived Monday. Good on ya 🙂 Have some informal writerly learnings as a reward. You know you deserve it.

K.M. Weiland lists five lies writers believe that actually hold them back. Helping Writers Become Authors

Jenny Hansen shows you how to use the twelve stages of physical intimacy to build tension in your fiction. Writers in the Storm

Margie Lawson encourages you to go deeper than the cold, hard stare. Writers in the Storm

Scrivener guru Gwen Hernandez explains how to save every word using Scrivener’s snapshot feature. Writers in the Storm

Annie Neugebauer helps you find the best readers for your novel at every stage. Writer Unboxed

Porter Anderson watches the Canadian problem with Access Copyright with interest and alarm. Authors I know whose work was copied for academic packages used to get paid. Universities rebelled and now they get nothing. Advocacy and authors. Writer Unboxed.

Nina Munteanu: science fiction asks, are we worth saving?

Jami Gold helps you figure out if your writing is any good. Later in the week, she wonders how much of yourself in in your writing?

Brenda Joyce Patterson explains why your writing should invite readers in. DIY MFA

Gabriela Pereira interviews Dharma Kelleher about transgendered characters in literature. DIY MFA

Sara Letourneau offers some advice on conducting informal interviews for story research. Writers Helping Writers

Janice Hardy helps you take away elements to fix a problem scene. Fiction University

Mira Singer reviews three movies with the wrong main character. Then, Oren Ashkenazi says that “historical accuracy” isn’t a reason to exclude diversity. Arguments I wish I’d had when I tried to present my secondary world fantasy to my MFA class for critique. #mistakesnaivewritersmake Mythcreants

Joanna Penn explains how to monetize a creative podcast in her interview on the Podcraft podcast. The Creative Penn

John Koenig’s The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (is back!): Silience.

 

And Pâro.

 

Anna Lovind discovered that in order to nurture her dream of writing, she had to give up something else: knowing when it’s time to let a dream die.

Anika Burgess reveals the artful imperfection of medieval manuscript repair. Atlas Obscura

Andres Liptak reports on the new documentary that will explore the life and legacy of Ursula K. Le Guin. I’m looking out for this one! The Verge

And that was Tipsday.

Be well until Thursday rolls around and then come back to get your weekly dose of thoughty 🙂

tipsday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Feb 18-24, 2018

/ Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

Here are a few links to get your mental corn popping (making creative connections).

Anna Mehler Paperny begs your attention: no, Canada does not spend more on refugees than on its seniors. It’s a big misunderstanding that needs correction. Global News

Adam Gopnik: four truths about the Florida school shooting. The New Yorker

Ed Brayton says, the problem is toxic masculinity, not mental illness. Patheos

Peter Kruger cribs from The Princess Bride. Why does the NPR station have so much propaganda against Trump? Quora

Elizabeth Chuck reports on women, harassed in medicine, await their #metoo reckoning. NBC News

Olga Khazan examines a paradox: the more gender equality, the fewer women in STEM. The Atlantic

Rachael Stephen describes the cognitive behavioural therapy method in this next instalment of her series on mental health.

 

Phil Plait: Osiris-X looks home from far, far away. SyFy

An amateur astronomer spots a supernova, right as it begins. Ryan F. Mandelbaum for Gizmodo.

Megan Senseney surveys hygiene practices of the middle ages. Healthy Way

Anna Lovind writes an ode to winter.

Enjoy the evocative work of women artists of the Canadian Inuit. Women Arts Blog

Chris Wright wonders, can you hack coral to save it? Outside

John Vidal: a eureka moment for the planet; we’re finally planting trees again. The Guardian

Andy Coghlan reports how trees have been seen resting their branches while they “sleep.” New Scientist

Ephrat Livni: heart of barkness. Japanese “forest medicine” is the art of using nature to heal yourself, wherever you are. Quartz

Bored Panda shares Grace Gogarty’s hilarious guide to dog breeds.

Be well until the weekend.

thoughtythursday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Feb 19-25, 2017

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s time to pop that mental corn, people.

In the war between Baby Boomers and Millennials, we’ve forgotten the hard-working, hard-playing Generation X. Um, no. We haven’t. Interesting article nonetheless. David Barnett for The Independent.

Jon Brooks: Girl? Boy? Both? Neither? A new generation overthrows gender. KQED Science

How slavery changed the DNA of African Americans. Michael White for the Pacific Standard.

Sarah Dziedzic discusses African-Canadian history with Cheryl Foggo. Canadian Living

Tristan Hopper recounts how smallpox decimated BC. The National Post

Bruce Kasanoff: intuition is the highest form of intelligence. Forbes

Anna Lovind: what if you’re on the wrong train?

I love language, and so, when I saw this article on Queens, the linguistic hub of the world, I had to share. Thanks, Lori. You always post teh awesome. Gus Lubin for The Business Insider.

This makes me sad, though. Kat Eschner: four things that happen when a language dies. The Smithsonian Magazine

Elizabeth Kolbert writes about why facts don’t change our minds. The New Yorker

Phil Plait: SpaceX nails the landing after an historic launch. Blastr

Umir Abrar is slightly embarrassed. A giant, dark galaxy is orbiting ours, but astronomers just noticed it. Physics Astronomy

Seven Earth-sized planets found orbiting around a nearby (relatively speaking) star. Phil Plait for Blastr.

NASA presents a celebration of clouds.

Brian Cox explains how the Large Hadron Collider disproves the existence of ghosts. BBC

Healthy Holistic Living shows you how to make a bee waterer to help support pollinating insects 🙂

Lauren Cassani Davis: horses can read human facial expressions (more than dogs or chimpanzees). The Atlantic

Moby just released four hours of free music composed for yoga and meditation. Educate Inspire Change

Imogen Heap – Run-time.

 

I hope you’ve got some good ideas to fuel you through the week.

See you Saturday for my February 2017 update 🙂

Be well until then!

thoughtythursday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Dec 18-24, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

The holiday edition of thoughty Thursday will help get your mental corn a-poppin’ after your turkey coma wears off 😉

Was Hildegard of Bingen right about the herbal cures she proposed? Medievalists.net

Sarah Sloat reports on how evolution made really smart people long to be loners. Inverse

Lady Gaga opens up about her PTSD. Good Is

Anna Lovind: avoid the bad and you’ll miss out on the good.

The first female doctor in Britain spent 56 years disguised as a man. Lauren Young for Atlas Obscura.

Nicolas DiDomizio introduces us to the Purple-Red Scale, a new way to understand the sexuality spectrum. Mic

Mike Murphy reports on the world’s first solar panel paved road. Quartz

Las Vegas is now powered entirely by renewable energy. Avery Thompson for Popular Mechanics.

Apparently, there’s a massive metal dragon hiding inside the Earth’s outer core. IFLS

Bob MacDonald reports on climate change, as seen from space. CBC

Phil Plait wishes us a happy solstice with this video of 24 hours of light. Slate

And, for the non-science-y among you, here is the magical history of Yule, the winter solstice celebration.

Enjoy this lovely video by Angie Pickman: the longest night.

I must commend the Welsh for having some of the strangest traditions. A rhyming, skeletal horse comes a-knocking? Allison Meier shares the tale on Hyperallergic.

Hudson, a pup nailed to a rail road tie and abandoned, gets a prosthetic paw.

 

And just to end on a light note, here’s a golden retriever pup playing with a door stop.

 

Come on back on Saturday for my last post of the year. It’s all about class and equality in fantasy and science fiction. Yes, it’s another WordlCon 2016 report 🙂

Be well, be kind, and be loved. Virtual hugs!

thoughtythursday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Oct 16-22, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila

Let’s get that mental corn a-poppin’!

Carol Mulligan explores the lore of the pour. The Sudbury Star

What are dreams? Drake Baer shares five of humanity’s best explanations for dreams. Science of Us

Anna Lovind: the shameless introvert.

Suzanne Lucas to employers: please stop punishing your employees for being introverted. Inc.

UpWorthy recommends Marzi’s cartoons to help others relate to intorversion and anxiety.

The Born Again Minimalist examines the gaslighting of the millennial generation.

Transgender rights bill passes key commons vote and heads to committee. The Globe and Mail

Too sweet, or too shrill? The double bind for women. Shankar Vedantam hosts the Hidden Brain podcast for NPR.

The transformative power of Moko. Michelle Duff for Broadly/Vice.

Cath Pound considers the great women artists that history forgot. BBC

Artist Toby Allen, who suffers from anxiety, illustrates mental illnesses as monsters. Bored Panda

Regina activists place warning labels on indigenous Hallowe’en costumes. CBC

I’m just going to leave this here. To the new culture cops, everything is appropriation. Cathy Young for the Washington Post.

Avaneesh Pandey: self-awareness may be a side effect of the brain trying to maximize entropy. International Business Times

Ben Paynter shares news about how the world is slowly winning the fight against Malaria. Fast Company

Sarah Knapton reports on how tool-making monkeys are prompting scientists to reconsider human evolution. The Telegraph

Bec Crew: scientists accidentally discover the process that turns CO2 into ethanol. This could change the world. Science Alert

Ross Pomeroy explains why Bill Nye changed his mind about GMOs. Real Clear Science

The mystery of the Bermuda Triangle may finally be solved . . . by meteorology. Cory Charlton for The New York Post.

Loren Grush explains how the ExoMars spacecraft will make its way to the surface of Mars. The Verge

Catch Space.com’s coverage of the landing and other astro-news.

Maddie Stone: Pluto’s skies look more Earth-like than we’d imagined. Gizmodo

A spiral galaxy defies the cosmic flow. In an expanding universe, it’s actually getting closer to us. Also: how big is Proxima Centauri’s planet? Later in the week, we learn that the Schiaparelli lander (crash) site can be seen from orbit. Phil Plait for Slate.

Can the multiverse explain the course of human history? Andrew Crummey for Aeon.

Puppers! Buzzfeed

Alex and Jumpy, the parkour dog 🙂

 

Just a reminder, this is your penultimate thoughty Thursday prior to my #NaNoWriMo break.

I’ll see you next Thursday, but after that, you won’t get your weekly dose of thoughty until December.

Respect your priorities.

Be well.

All my (virtual) love.

Mel

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Sept 11-17, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila

Time to get your mental corn a-poppin’!

Anna Lovind wants you to find the vision that wants to be born through you.

Kristen Lamb takes aim at the fashion industry.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: we should all be feminists. TEDX Euston.

 

Illustrator Rasneth (Razzy) shows bros why everyone needs feminism. Bust

Daphne Patai: how diversity came to mean “downgrading the west.” Minding the Campus

Throat singer Tanya Tagaq combats indigenous stereotypes. Liz Przybylski for KCET.

Exorbitant food prices on the James Bay coast mean that children are going hungry. Olivia Stefanovich for CBC.

The Irena Sendler story.

 

Sweden is officially moving to a six-hour work day.

 

The wreckage of Sir John Franklin’s HMS Terror may have been found. Garrett Hinchey for CBC.

Phil Plait features Xkcd’s latest comic on global warming. Slate

Anna Nowogrodzki shares a first glimpse of a black hole being born from a star’s remains. New Scientist

Ria Misra reports on new evidence that points to a different theory for the moon’s formation. Gizmodo

The Martian landscape looks like Utah. Phil Plait for Slate.

Wasn’t sure where to put this . . . creepy. David Brown reports on the discovery of a skeleton that points to cannibalism in the Jamestown colony. The Washington Post

Photographer, Lorenzo Montezemolo, takes enchanting long exposure shots of fog over California. My Modern Met

Elyse Wanshel lists ten ways dogs show they love you. The Little Things

Hugs and stuff, ‘cause you’re all grand, you are!

See you Saturday for some movie madness and some series discoveries (midseason follies).

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Aug 28-Sept 3, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

It’s time, once again, to pop that mental corn!

Kristi Coulter gave up drinking and realized why so many women use alcohol as a crutch. Quartz

She doesn’t owe you shit. James Fell’s Body for wife blog.

Jim C. Hines: what is this “rape culture” we keep hearing about?

Chuck Wendig posts a public service announcement: dear men, it’s time we had a conversation. Terribleminds

Cree Summer talks about diversity in animation and the myth of the carefree black girl. Tahirah Hairston for Fusion.

Marie Solis introduces us to Moya Bailey, the woman who coined the term, “misogynoir.” Mic

Laura McKeon examines the Matilda Effect: the disappearing act. Hazlitt

Siobhan Fenton reports that even though period pain has been proven as bad as a heart attack, doctors continue to ignore it. The Independent

Marianne Moen of The Dangerous Women Project features women of the Viking age, then and now.

The safest possible route.* Anna Lovind on Annapurna Living.

Maria Lally introduces us to hygge, the Danish secret to happiness.* The Telegraph

How to be perfectly unhappy.* One of the many reasons I love The Oatmeal.

Deshun Wang – Be the fiercest.*

 

The Assembly of First Nations urges Canada to invest in safe drinking water. Michelle Zilio and Matthew McClearn for The Globe and Mail.

Doris Jean Lamar is the last living person who is fluent in the Wichita language.

John Horgan on the secret life of terrorists. Nova’s secret lives of scientists and engineers.

 

Amy Schlinger shares six health benefits of walking 1,000 more steps a day. Rodale’s Organic Life

Fiona Macrae reports on a revolutionary new drug that promises to prevent Alzheimer’s disease from developing. The Daily Mail

SETI is investigating a signal from deep space. Will it prove to originate from an extraterrestrial civilization?  Robin Seemangal for The Observer.

Jolene Creighton explains what the Kardashev Scale is and what it might mean for the future of the human race. Futurism

How do dogs “see” with their noses – Alexandra Horowitz. Ted.ed

 

What happens when otters see a butterfly – kawaii!

 

Nothing but thieves – Graveyard whistling.

 

*posts that comforted me this past week.

And that’s a wrap, people.

See you Saturday with the last of my CWS 2016 sessions, Grants for writers with Jack Illingworth of the Ontario Arts Council. It’s kind of timely. Deadlines are coming up.

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, May 15-21, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila

A small, but interesting assortment of goodies.

So this happened: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accidentally elbowed an NDP MP in the process of trying to escort a Conservative MP to his seat. Yes, he shouldn’t have done it. He apologized three times. Gabrielle Gallant explains why associating ‘elbowgate’ with violence against women is an insult to victims. The Globe and Mail.

Aboriginal children express their pain through art and story. Peggy MacDonald for CBC news.

Why we live in an age of anxiety. A special feature by The Guardian including pieces by Paula Cocozza, Lindy West, Chitra Ramaswamy, and Rhiannon Lucy Cosslet.

Anna Lovind searches for a simpler life.

Ruth Whippman says people with more money are less lonely. The Guardian.

The record-breaking temperature trend continues. Phil Plait for Slate.

Portugal runs for four days on renewable energy alone. Arthur Nelson for The Guardian.

Recyclable six pack rings could save a lot of turtles. Popular Mechanics.

What hiking does for the brain is pretty amazing. Michael Pirrone for Wimp.com

Yuval Harari’s latest book predicts the rise of the useless class. CNet.

From ‘little people’ to shape shifters, Lucy Tulugarjuk shares the encounters she’s had with some of the North’s most fascinating otherworldly entities. Edge North.

Dancing with the devil: the history of satanic burlesque. Dirge Magazine.

The Presets: Epic Fail. Shared by a friend following the previous week’s DIYMFA post 🙂

 

And that was your thoughty for the week.

On Saturday, I’ll be tackling the topic of resistance for DIYMFA.

Thoughty Thursday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, March 20-26, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Holy shemoley! Lookit all the Writerly Goodness!

Ok. This is big news around here. Sudbury has a new poet laureate, and its first woman in the role, my awesome soul sister, Kim Fahner! The Northern Life. And here’s the interview she did with Markus Schwabe of the CBC’s Morning North. She had a cold, but it’s still a fabulous interview 🙂 She’s on her way to Banff right now to work with the wonderful Mr. Lawrence Hill!

Jane Friedman points out the pros and cons of maintaining a personal profile versus a professional page on Facebook.

Susan Spann advises us when a book is considered out of print. Writer Unboxed.

Jed Herne guest posts on The Better Novel Project with The Half-Blood Prince guide to question arcs.

Michelle Hoover writes an excellent guest post for Writer Unboxed on the duplicity of a character’s desire.

John J. Kelley explores the art of the plausible for Writer Unboxed.

Barbara O’Neal discusses the matter of talent. Writer Unboxed.

C.S. Lakin offers three ways to keep readers reading past page one. Live, write, thrive.

Tiffany Lawson Inman explains how to build dramatic momentum in fiction. Writers in the Storm.

Janice Hardy explores the ebb and flow of plotting a novel. Fiction University.

K.M. Weiland’s back with five more ways to trim your novel’s word count. Helping writers become authors. Later in the week, she helps us choose the right protagonist.

Kate Elliott gives us the tools to write women characters into epic fantasy without quotas. Tor.com

Awesome: How do we write about diversity when the word has lost its meaning? With Daniel José Older, Ashley Cassandra Ford, and Tanwi Nandini Islam. Elle. (Really? Yuh-huh.)

Steve Kettmann: On knowing what to leave out. Medium.

Victoria Mixon shares her super-easy formula for creating a blurb.

Ruthanne Reid points out the two most important words for writers: don’t quit. The Write Practice.

Kerry Lonsdale writes an open letter to writers at every stage of publishing. Books by Women.

Kameron Hurley ponders her sales.

J.K. Rowling shares rejection letters on Twitter to help beginning authors. The Guardian.

Jamie Raintree explores how to decompartmentalize your art.

Anna Lovind bares herself in this post on the process of creative transformation.

Dan Blank shares what he’s learned from 30 days of vlogging.

 

Thinking about a writers’ retreat? Sarah Selecky gives you a place to start looking.

Madeleine Dore offers 50 ways to take care of yourself in the arts. Performing Arts Hub.

Robert J. Sawyer shares his creative process with Inverse’s Lauren Sarner.

Where five Canadian authors read. The Globe and Mail.

Buzzfeed lists 21 German words we should be using in English.

Victorian doctors thought reading novels made women incurably insane. History Buff.

On the other hand, art is proven to have mental health benefits. The Butler Collegian.

National Geographic lists its top ten book stores in the world.

Daniel José Older: Notes on love and revolution. Guernica Magazine.

Brainpickings shares Charlotte Brontë’s love letters.

The Telegraph lists ten novels with titles from Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s skull stolen from grave. BBC.

15 Welsh myths and legends. Wales Online.

Michael Boyle and Daniel A. Kaufman wish Babylon 5 a happy birthday. This is one of my all time favourite series. The Electric Agora.

I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted!

See you Thursday 🙂

Tipsday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Feb 14-20, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Feeling light headed again this week.

Anna Lovind: When will you be enough?

The opposite of rape culture is nurturance culture. Dating tips for the feminist man.

This revolutionary cancer therapy yields extraordinary results in human trials. When are some of these therapies going to make it to the public? IFLS.

Irish Archaeology shares photos of Ireland in the 1930s.

Vikings didn’t dress the way we thought. With the return of the History series Vikings, this past week, this article caught my attention. EurekAlert!

Hunting with wolves helped humans outsmart Neanderthals. The Guardian.

The BBC presents striking images of our solar system.

Rosetta’s comet is ‘fluffy.’ Phil Plait for Slate.

And that is your teeny tiny thoughty Thursday.

See you Saturday, for realsies, this time.

Thoughty Thursday