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Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, June 20-26, 2021

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s the last tipsday of June 2021! The year’s almost half over 😦 Console yourself with some informal writerly learnings. They’re good medicine.

Carol Van Den Hende wants you to judge a book by its cover: how to SPARC great cover design. Then, Hailey Milliman helps you to improve the clarity of your writing. DIY MFA

Jill Bearup makes the perfect murder dress.

Vaughn Roycroft: the value of friendship in storytelling. Then, Catherine Adel West says, advocacy is not a bad word. Desmond Hall drops some writing wisdom. Writer unboxed

Princess Weekes: So, DC’s trying to tell us that Batman doesn’t eat out? (Yeah, it’s exactly what you think—but also a plea to see healthy depictions of female pleasure on screen.) Melina Pendulum

K.M. Weiland covers the flat archetype of the elder in part 20 of her archetypal character arcs series. Helping Writers Become Authors

Emily Zarka considers the urban legend of black-eyed children. Monstrum | PBS Storied

Susan DeFreitas outlines three strengths and three weaknesses of starting your novel with character. Jane Friedman

Kris Maze shares three steps to create write time. Then, Ellen Buikema provides some advice about using weather in fiction. Writers in the Storm

The rise of relentless optimism. The Take

Rayne Hall considers goal and motivation: what does your character want, and why? Then, Colleen M. Story poses four questions to help you determine whether your writing matters. Fiction University

Chris Winkle explains what redemption arcs tell us about forgiveness. Then, Oren Ashkenazi shares lessons from three bad fight scenes. Mythcreants

How the five stages of grief are misrepresented on screen. The Take

Ali Pitargue: BC authors reclaim Filipino folklore from colonial influences. CBC

Thanks for visiting! I hope you found something to support your current work in progress.

Until Thursday, be well and stay safe!

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, June 21-27, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Sorry this is late, but I had–HAD–to watch the final episode of Sense8. OMIGODSOGOOD!

And now back to our regular programming 🙂

Now let’s get your big squishy grey thing into gear!

The rainbow hued news of the week: The US Supreme Court makes same sex marriage a right, nation-wide. The New York Times. Then, of course, the fall out started and conservatives and religious fundamentalists declared they’d leave the country . . . for Canada. <Facepalm> Um, Dudes. We’ve had the right to same sex marriage for years!

These two grade eight students have been campaigning for consent in the Ontario sex-ed curriculum. Now they’ve created a documentary. And. It. Is. Awesome. Watch Allegedly. The Huffington Post.

Related: The next time someone says women aren’t victims of harassment, show them this. Tickld.

This short video is haunting and beautiful. i09.

Alan Watts on the acceptance of death.

The real boogeyman: serial killer Albert Fish. Creepy. i09’s True Crime.

Can climate be hazardous to your mental health? Psychiatric Times.

Sitting down for too long may increase anxiety. Just another reason to get an adjustable or standing desk. Discovery News.

First Nations lawyer will wear traditional clothing when she’s called to the Ontario bar. The Huffington Post.

At last! Vancouver company creates compostable G-Cups for Keurig Brewers. The Huffington Post.

The best weather photos of the year, collected for you by i09.

Canadians tweet amazing pictures of the Northern Lights. The Huffington Post.

Peter Ray Allison wonders if we will ever build ring worlds. BBC.

Sudbury’s regreening efforts were highlighted at an international conference. Listen to the interview on CBC.

IFLS shares an infographic that describes what happens to your brain when you don’t get enough sleep. See that one at the bottom right? It says BRAIN DAMAGE!

It’s okay to be smart looks into the reasons bees are dying:

A doggy retirement home! Love this idea. I heart dogs.com.

What Disney animals would look like if they were human. These are pretty good! Distractify.

Sophie Tweed-Simmons comes to Sudbury to film her first Canadian film. Seriously. They’re filming this right now. Great time of year to be doing it 😉 The Toronto Star.

A friend shared Johnny Cash’s cover of Trent Reznor’s Hurt and I remembered how much I love this version.

Now go be thoughty, and I’ll see you on Saturday for more Ad Astra reportage, the next chapter, and . . . a pupdate.

Thoughty Thursday

Sundog snippets: Hardy northern chick 1, winter highways 0

/ Melanie Marttila

Just a quick note about today.

I was on the road, once again, for work. And once again, I was headed for Toronto (I’ll be here all week). Driving. I like to be in control of my own destiny 😉

I’m going to observing a course with an eye to future delivery. I’ll blog that once the week is over.

The issue was weather. This morning, it was snowing and blowing and I was not looking forward to the drive. I checked out the Weather Network for all points. Parry Sound and Barrie are snow belt cities.

It looked like the snow was going to follow me all the way down.

I got stuck behind ploughs not once, but twice, and stuck behind a transport toting heavy equipment.

As soon as I hit the Parry Sound city limits until I reached the district of Muskoka, I was caught in white out conditions.

There was a bizarre accident. I think a transport had stopped on the side of the road because of the white outs and an SUV didn’t see it until too late, swerved, and ended up on top of the guard rail and snow bank.

White outs again around Orillia.

Then some mystery slow down just south of Barrie. I saw no evidence of anything that would actually slow anyone down. I think it was just a chain reaction kind of thing. That cleared up by canal road.

I still made it here in five and a half hours.

I count it a triumph 🙂

Sundog snippet