Where are we going?
Everything written for this site can be read in any order.
Read any article at random.
It’ll lead somewhere.
If it makes sense, keep going.
If it almost makes sense, keep going.
If it doesn’t make sense at all, you’re exactly where you should be.
Keep going.
Or…If you want things to make sense quicker…
Things make a lot more sense when you start reading those first.
If you’re not sure why any of this matters, start here.
Or start here. This is closer to what it feels like.
If you’re wondering what this is, this is where it starts.
If you want to get somewhere in a hurry…
Just take your time when you get there.
You can also check out the obligatory About Page
If the writing resonates, there is also an Old Fashioned Letters Page, where you can sign up to hear when there's something new to read.
Read Everything
For those that don’t need categories: All essays, stories and ideas — in one place.
The beauty and power of words part 7: When is the perfect time to write?
Waiting for a headspace that may never come along is not writing.
More Fun with Franzen and Oprah: False perceptions of the Perceived Reader
With a lack of evidence of real readers to draw on, all we are left with is assumptions of who we perceive a reader to be. This is where I coined the phrase, "Perceived reader."
Why you shouldn't trust me
The whole promoting yourself part of "producing content" is not the same thing as writing.
No one would actually take a ride in the Millennium Falcon
Packaging, in the real world, gets us every time. It’s about making something look desirable. Desirable is not always the gauge we can reliably use to measure quality.
I'm thinking you have to be ok with cutting off at least one finger to be the best that you can be
Sacrifice and suffering do not create art. There’s this idea that if you put enough suffering into your work a masterpiece will be the result. I think there’s more suffering in the world than there are writers for that to be true.
Fun with Franzen
There was and maybe still is a marketing and publishing blindness to the idea that you could start publishing novels that will appeal to male readers. Where’s our new Fight Club? Or Catcher in the Rye? Or Catch-22? In the world I see you’re reading these books, perhaps in a carpool lane of some abandoned superhighways, regardless of your gender.
The beauty and power of words part 6: Who the hell am I to be writing any of this?
If you ever get to a point where you’re asking, ‘Who the hell am I to be writing any of this?’ you may as well stop.
Could an AI do this?
I don’t always know why I choose the words I choose.
But I can’t pretend it doesn’t matter.
The beauty and power of words Part 5: Picking the right words
It doesn’t have to be the wrong word.
Just the wrong way of saying it.
The beauty and power of words Part 4: There are no rules, but people are still going to ask, “How do I become a writer?”
It doesn’t have to be right.
It just has to sound right.
The beauty and power of words Part 3: Writing is its own language
You can know the rules and still not be a writer.
That’s not where it comes from.