A modest explanation for why it might seem as though I am writing less even though I am doing more At the height of my writing productivity, some years ago, I was publishing one to two essays a day on the blogging platform Medium. I was churning out work at…
Posts TaggedWriting
Daily Drinking And The Power Of Peripheral Thinking
I get bored with reality and I miss having a reliable mind-altering experience to look forward to at the end of the day. There’s only so many times you can dip into the coffee pot for your daily dose of a little thrill and there’s nothing waiting for you at the end. No little treat. How do you know when your workday is done if you don’t change your mindset with a little altered reality? That’s the real habit that’s difficult to break. This is why recovering addicts turn to sweets and nicotine. The lesser of evils, or so they imagine.
Separating My Politics From My Art
Back when I published a few digital magazines on Medium, it didn’t take long to learn that political writing didn’t fit all that well with my vision for what the magazines should be. Politics was an important topic to me, as it should be to everyone, but it was often so toxic and volatile that it contaminated the rest of the work. Ultimately, I created a separate publication just for my political writing, and opened it up to others. For a time, it was an effective outlet, then the country elected an orange buffoon and I put my head under the covers and stopped reading any news, or commenting on it.
The Taste Of A Dream
Before today, I couldn’t have told you what dreams tasted like. I could have told you what they smelled like. They smell of freshly mowed grass, sweat, oiled leather, dirt, stale beer, pine tar, and chewing tobacco. They sound like the crack of a wooden bat hitting a tightly-wound ball of string and leather, and the corresponding roar of the crowd as they cheer you round the horn.
The Downside Of Fulfilling Work
Learning to keep at least some of your creativity for yourself Presumably, the ultimate accomplishment in life is getting to a place where you get paid to do the thing you enjoy doing the most. Nothing to complain about there, one would think. But as I find myself doing work…
Everybody Loves A Good Bank Robbery
I’m a big believer that most ideas, even the good ones, don’t have a lot of value if you’re not willing to work on them. A lot of people think a good idea has some inherent value, some worth as a concept itself, but it does not. You cannot sell someone an idea for a movie without having to first write or make the actual movie. It’s always about the execution, never the inspiration. Ideas are a dime a dozen.
Reclaiming My Identity In The Online World
Enshittification (n): 1. The degradation in the quality and experience of online platforms over time, due to an increase in advertisements, costs, or features. 2. Any state of deterioration, especially in politics or society. The rewilding of our digital presence and a return to a simpler approach to an interconnected community…
Get Caught Trying
Learning to define yourself by what you like rather than by what you do not The comedian Tim Minchin once gave a commencement address at the University of Western Australia, wherein one of his bits of wisdom was that young people should avoid defining themselves simply by what they dislike. He implored…
Pacing The Cage
Supercharge your writing with a daily walk I have never been a fan of gratuitous exercise. If the options are sitting or moving about, I’ll go for sitting every time. I’m not lazy, exactly; I just don’t feel the need to run around to make myself look or feel busy. Sitting works…
When Food Writing No Longer Features Actual Food
The missing poetry, passion, and sensory exploration of contemporary food editorial.