Writing is a Real Job and an Occupation—Here’s Why
The Age-Old Debate of Writing as a “Real Job” Even now in 2024, I feel like so many folks still see writing as a lovely little hobby where you scribble down your thoughts, sip tea, and wait for inspiration to strike. Meanwhile “real adults” do real jobs like constructing skyscrapers or assembling Chinese-produced IKEA furniture. […]
In Defense of Chronic Idea Hoarding
It might surprise you to learn that I’ve abandoned my writer’s notebooks. You know, those sacred, spiral-bound graveyards of half-baked epiphanies and plot twists that seemed genius at 3 AM but regrettably pedestrian in daylight. Not so long ago, I once clung to those pages like they were a lifeline. For me, they served as […]
Learning the Delicate Balance of Challenging the Reader
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my career as a writer—aside from the grim reality that nobody really cares about how clever you think you are—it’s that there’s an art to making people feel just smart enough to keep reading. It’s a very delicate balance, though. As the wordsmith, I must double as a […]
Confessions of a Content Creation Connoisseur
Why do I subject myself to this madness of content creation? It’s simple, really. I’ve been in the trenches of creativity long enough to have accumulated a decent stockpile of experience, insight, and a few war stories to boot. But I don’t think of myself as a ‘guru’ or ‘influencer.’ Perhaps I’m more like the […]
If You Blog, Will They Still Show Up?
I grew up in the golden age of blogging, that glorious time when you could scribble a few thoughts on the internet, hit ‘publish,’ and suddenly find yourself the authority on just about anything you please. Yeah, I remember those days fondly. Back then, the most intense competition was between you and that one overly […]
What It Takes to Be an Essayist, According to E.B. White
Writing is a shape-shifting beast. You can be “good” at it in a dozen different forms and still feel like you’re chasing your own tail. For years, I fancied myself the next great novelist — imagining a future where my name graced the bestsellers list, sandwiched between the latest dystopian romance and whatever Stephen King […]
How Criticisms of Literature Often Have an Agenda
As a former English major in university, I’m well acquaintance with the supposedly noble art of literary criticism. It’s a realm where words are dissected, meanings are invented, and authors are turned into unwitting co-conspirators in the critics’ elaborate game of “Guess What I Think You Meant.” If you’ve ever had the pleasure of reading […]
The True Value of a Writer
Why is it that we writers often find ourselves at the bottom of the corporate food chain? It’s almost as if the world collectively decided that writing is some kind of frivolous hobby. It’s like stamp collecting, but without the hope of ever striking gold with a rare find falling into our hands. No, writing […]
How Revision Reveals the Artist Within
“The first draft reveals the art; revision reveals the artist.” — Michael Lee You know that saying, “the devil is in the details?” With writing, the devil and I have become good pals. There was a time when I felt like a failed writer, adrift in a sea of half-formed ideas and clumsy sentences. In […]