Science fiction has tricky rules. You're making up science or imagining what it could be capable of by pulling the information out of thin air. The audience understands that it is fiction. But if you don't explain enough then it doesn't sound like science.

So you do your research and understand the where the math ends and the make-believe begins. Now your editor is asking "how" and "why" the make believe does what it does and you just want to say, "You got me! It's all pretend! I made it up!" But science fiction isn't about proving your story is plausible to physicists who know it is not. Writing is ensuring that the underlying logic is consistent. But how deep does that logic need to go?

The Niagara Event taps into my electrical engineering education and postulates that there's more to electricity than just voltage, current, and resistance. Perhaps Tesla discovered another aspect that had incredible side effects like changing the nature of materials. What if it builds up like toxins in the body until it creates a reaction? Instead of red hives from an allergen or slowly going mad to mercury poisoning, what if it finally jolts your system into reacting in a transformative way? Growing wings? Curing baldness? That's a leap, though, right? That's pretty fiction of science fiction. But what if?

Science fiction is more than just science for nerds though. It also taps into the social ramifications of scientific advancement. You look no further than Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot" for that. In the Niagara Event, that is where I wanted to live in the story. If some are special and some aren't, what do you do if you aren't? Or what do you do if you're EXTRA special? That story has been told many times, but seems to be with people who live in one world or the other. But what happens if puberty could dump you on the other side of the line...?

This is all to say that one of the reasons I have not been updating this site is due to the time spent devoted to editing science fiction. I had no idea the ripple effects small ideas would have in the fabric of the world building. Why would Lisa drink a coke? Aren't those irrelevant in the future? What about high rise buildings would make you want to sit on the veranda and sip coffee? Do you have any idea the kind of wind sheer you get at just forty stories? So on and so on.

Suffice it to say I have a superb editor who is ruthless in his quest for perfection which I love. Bear with me, readers, as I run quality check after quality check on the novel so that you will have a pristine and deeply fascinating story by the time I'm done. No, I do not have an ETA (as I've blown through the last few I've made). I do, however, have a promise. I will not quit and I will not stop until this is published. Thank you for your patience.

posted Feb 14 2025

Sometimes I am discouraged and think, "How can I possibly add 'author' to my identity when it is already full with technology professional, mother, wife, and the small tasks and titles that draw on my attention like grocery shopping and remembering to call my mother?"

We only have a finite quantity of time and energy to spend, so how should we optimize it and keep all the plates spinning?  The gold standard in this space isn't a blogger or influencer, but rather the husband and wife team of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth.

You might have heard of them if you ever read the book or seen the movie "Cheaper by the Dozen" (no, not the Disney one--that doesn't count). It was written by Frank and Lillian's children about growing up in a family run by efficiency experts during the 1920's.

Frank and Lillian conducted time motions studies which analyzed tasks across various industries. They would film people performing an action (like stamping records) and then break down how to do the task better, faster, and more ergonomically. They impacted multiple industries such as bricklaying, clerical work, manufacturing, medicine, and a host of other industries. They pushed nurses to lay out their tools a certain way and for foremen to arrange raw goods closer to workers. 

The Gilbreth's work laid the foundation for finding the best ergonomic way to do tasks and for continuous quality improvement. They looked for waste before "seven kinds of waste" was a thing. For anyone who has worked near manufacturing you'll be familiar with six sigma philosophies, lean manufacturing, and other methodologies to reduce waste, produce higher quality products, and increase the speed of production. Consider the behemoth Toyota and how they transformed the manufacturing world. All of that work was built on the foundations that Lillian and Frank developed.

The book, which I highly recommend, really highlights that Frank and Lillian simply thought about every task as something that could be improved and streamlined. How do you get thirteen people to shower quickly and efficiently? How do you run a household that involves so much coordination? Remember, credit is given not just to Frank, but Lillian as well. She continued their company when he died in 1924-- one hundred years ago. She was then a single mother running a business with her eldest child only 19 and her youngest only 2 years old.

If she could run a home with a dozen children and co-run a company before the invention of the microwave, somehow I should be able to write a book on the side while the laundry machine is running, my toaster oven is heating up pizza rolls, the dishwasher is cleaning up, and amazon is delivering disposable diapers overnight. 

So as I look to get the most out of my own time, I'll leave you with one of Frank's most famous quotes (that Bill Gates later repeated), "I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job, because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it." 

Read more...
Footage of time motion studies
Cheaper by the Dozen
More on Gilbreths

Fun fact: Lillian is credited with the development of foot pedal trash cans. 

posted Nov 2 2024