Masters of Minutiae
It was another day at the office, in the Year of Our Lord 2012, and it was truly the end of the world. At least it seemed that way, especially being yet another one of those days where the universe seemed to conspire against me. My inbox overflowed with urgent emails, my phone buzzed incessantly […]
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 […]
It’s Not What You Know, It’s What You Share That Counts
“Your value will be not what you know; it will be what you share.” – Ginni Rometty This quote was suggested to me yesterday by the Stoic journaling app I was suggested on the Apple App Store. It’s a great guided journal app, which is something I need lately, since I have a whirlwind constantly […]
How the Fast Food and Fast Living Culture of the Postmodern Era is Destroying Our History
Recently, my wife and her friends Luke and Lucas from the YouTube channel Luke Explores checked out the now long-abandoned I-86 Diner in Parksville, New York. It’s a relic of the grand tradition of American dining—one of many across the nation buried beneath the weight of greasy takeout bags and UberEats orders. Thanks to what […]
How Society Has Normalized Bullying
A society that normalizes bullying is no society at all. But here we are, in the grand age of progress, where we’ve apparently decided that bullying suddenly isn’t that big of a problem—it’s just an edgy personality trait for future leaders of our nations. It’s as if we took all those anti-bullying campaigns from the […]
To Be a Shaker
If my life story were to be published as a paperback novel, it would unfold as an epic tale of drama, strife, and an endless struggle to survive. It would unfold as a riveting saga filled with triumphs, heartbreaks, and an uncanny ability to trip over my own feet at the most inopportune moments. Even […]
How Becoming a Better Editor Made Me a Better Writer
Since the 2020 pandemic, my primary focus in my life was to make the best of my writing archives. As of September 2022, however, my focus has shifted slightly: make my writing archives better. This is, in fact, a very straightforward process. Find the posts that used to get love and improve them, then find […]
Before You Become a Great Writer, You Must Write Badly
When I was growing up in the nineties, grunge was king, the internet made a noise like a dying robot when it connected, and people weren’t afraid to tell you the hard, sometimes brutal truth. I miss that brutal honesty the most. Back then, getting to the top of your class involved being really bad […]
Mistaking Round Numbers for Milestones
Perhaps I have always been a bit too obsessed with round numbers, those symmetrical, whole figures that seem to promise completion, contentment, and ever-elusive satisfaction. I know I’m far from alone in being struck by this notion. In the online world, round numbers are extremely sought after, especially when they count followers, subscribers, or page […]