How to Bullet Journal: Cultivating Intentionality
Intention, to me, is simply taking stock of the way in which you spend your day, so that you end up spending your life the way you intend. Here’s how Bullet Journaling has helped me achieve that.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Today we’ll dive into my thoughts on Umberto Eco’s masterpiece novel The Name of the Rose. The Reputation of the Name of the Rose I’m honestly a bit shocked at how resistant I’ve been to this book the whole year. I knew it would be “hard,” so I kept putting it off. But I love … Read more
Don’t Sacrifice Prose for Voice
I often find some really bad sentences in books I read. I wanted to start a series in which we look at why they are bad and how to fix them. Unfortunately, I’m a bit stuck on how to proceed. I really want this blog to lift up excellent books and art. I don’t want … Read more
Are the Self-Publishing Gurus Out of Touch?
Let me start by saying that I appreciate all the free content the self-publishing gurus put out. It’s quite generous and high quality. There must be ten or more hours of podcasts each week that come to my phone, not to mention blog posts and youtube and e-mails. That’s just me, meaning it’s only a … Read more
The Character/Caricature Balance
Do you know the difference between character and caricature in writing? This article gives the distinction and a method for striking the right balance. Your characters need your help.
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu is Awesome
This article is part review, part explanation of some of the cool concepts in Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem (and, more generally, the whole of the trilogy: Remembrance of Earth’s Past). If you’ve been around this blog this year, then you know I fell into a bit of a slump. I was reading things, but … Read more
Aronofsky’s Mother! Explained and Review
There haven’t been a lot of movies I’ve seen in the past year or so that I thought were great. Last month I saw Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!, and it was awesome. Now, I’m not going to spoil the more disturbing things in this movie, so I don’t think I need a “trigger warning” for this … Read more
Maybe Infinite Jest is About Addiction
And so but I’ve been re-reading Infinite Jest in this strange, almost purely subconscious way, where I take on just a few pages (seriously, like 2-3 pages) every night right before sleeping. I’ve done the calculations, and so you don’t have to tell me it will literally take years to finish it this way. I’m … Read more
Kindle Unlimited
So, I hate to be “that guy,” but I thought readers of this blog might be interested in this. Here’s the shameless pitch: For Amazon Prime Day (in other words: this month), you can get three months of Kindle Unlimited for $0.99 (it would normally be $29.97). If you don’t know what this is, it’s … Read more
You’ve Got Mail: Why it Works
A series in which I oversimplify one concept from a work of literature to make you a better writer. When I came up with the idea to do a romance for this series, I was tempted to pick a modern romance novel, but thousands come out each year. Even looking at some “best of” lists, … Read more