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 […]
Setting the Bar for My Writing
One of my greatest difficulties is setting the bar for expectations in my work much too high. It’s as if unless I produce a masterpiece daily, then I failed not only myself, but everyone who has and ever will read my words. Of course, whenever I try lowering the bar, I find myself producing nothing […]
Are Poems Reflections or Distortions of Life? (Or Are They Both?)
While I’ve written hundreds of poems over the years, I have always found myself rather disconnected from pursuing the art on a regular basis. I’ve long reserved poetry as a means of expressing thoughts, emotions, or ideas. At times, I have some jumbled thoughts that seem to loosely fit together, but wouldn’t be easily put […]
Creating a (More) Perfect Sentence
The concept of a “perfect” sentence is as elusive as a mirage in a sprawling desert. We chase it, knowing full well it recedes from us with each step we take forward. As a writer, I’ve come to recognize that while there may be objectively bad writing, the art of composing sentences is profoundly subjective. […]