Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, June 23-29, 2019

Happy Independence Day to my friends south of the border! Take some time to feed your brain and get your mental corn popping!

IndependenceDay

Robin Hammond presents Stonewall at 50: stories of resistance and resilience. National Geographic

Mia Jensen interviews Cathy Mulroy about her career as a woman miner and her upcoming memoir. The Sudbury Star

Ahem. Yeah, I shared one of the cited articles (the BBC one) a couple of weeks ago. Here is the awesome debunking of that study on how technology influences the human skeleton and all the reportage it received. I am duly reminded that correlation is not causation. Thank you, SciShow. Seriously.

Simon Makin: better memory through electrical brain ripples. Scientific American

SciShow Psych discovers that alcohol may enhance your creativity in some respects, but not others.

Joyce Cohen: for those with hearing impairments, restaurant noise isn’t just an irritation. It’s discrimination. The Washington Post

Brene Brown talks to Oprah Winfrey about the six types of people who don’t deserve to hold space for you.

Jill Paider lists 20 sublime retreats you need to visit for creative inspiration. Dwell

Bryan Bender: a new moon race is on. Is China already ahead? Politico

SciShow answers the question, what makes soft things soft?

Dr. Suzanne Hoffmann and Professor Manfred Gahr have discovered that the brains of birds synchronize when they sing together. How did the do it? With transmitters weighing 1 gram that recorded the brain waves of the birds. Max Planck Gesellschaft

Katarzyna Nowak reveals the daunting task of wildlife crimefighters in the Alaska-Yukon wilderness. National Geographic

John Nova Lomax reports on the flight of the Texas fireflies. Texas Monthly

And that was thoughty Thursday.

This weekend, I’ll be assembling my next chapter update for June 2019. Until then, be well!

ThoughtyThursday2019

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, June 23-29, 2019

Welcome July! We’ve finally hit summer up here in northeastern Ontario. And it was just Canada Day (yesterday)! It’s time to celebrate with some informal writerly learnings 🙂

CanadaDay

Nathan Bransford explains how to handle multiple protagonists in a query letter. Later in the week, he shares a list of character strengths and weaknesses.

Julie Duffy says, creation is messy—and that’s okay. Barbara O’Neal is writing the next book. John J. Kelley lauds stories that liberate. Writer Unboxed

Abigail K. Perry examines James Scott Bell’s signpost scene #12: mounting forces. Brenda Joyce Patterson takes a deep dive into historical poetry. DIY MFA

Lisa Hall-Wilson wants you to make your setting real with strategic description. Tasha Seegmiller explains how to survive a writing crisis. Laura drake talks ideation: where do ideas come from? Writers in the Storm

Jenna Moreci lists ten reasons you’re not “making it” as a writer.

Again, Alexa Donne riffs on a similar theme: five reasons fiction writers quit.

K.M. Weiland shares four ways to write gripping internal narrative with the help of a brave critique volunteer. Helping Writers Become Authors

What does “plot reveals character” mean? Jami Gold has the answer.

Orly Konig proposes mind mapping as a pantser’s path to plotting. Fiction University

Oren Ashkenazi looks at six stories that focus too much on side characters. Mythcreants

Molly Templeton: YA Twitter can be toxic, but it can also point out real problems. Buzzfeed

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you found something you need to help move your current creative project forward.

Until Thursday, be well, my friends!

Tipsday2019