Day: October 30, 2025

Recently I began compiling all of my ‘On Writing’ posts into a singular file and processing them through Chat GPT to find ‘themes’. The goal here is to take another step towards writing my book on writing. No, I’m not successful enough to sell it. That doesn’t meant that I won’t try. There is a robust book economy out there on amazon that might earn me fifteen or twenty bucks for getting my thoughts together. Once I can get it all organized and laid out, I think there is enough there to start to build on those core ideas and posts to develop what I am ultimately after: A foundational guide on developing a writing life. This guide is probably going to have levels/sequels. I don’t think there is one writing life. I think it is modular and based on the time you have to devote to that sort of life. I don’t work at the level of King and I have still produced multiple novels, novelettes and novellas. I’ve even sold a few of them. So, it works for me. I think it can work for others.

I have a structure in mind of how to design/create these. Based on the feedback showing me what I most often talk about, it isn’t how to write but when and how often. That truism ought to be further explored over the next year as I develop this alongside the other five or six projects I have on my mind. In fact, today is largely about getting a schedule and putting in the time to develop a sense of when X, Y, Z, etc are going to be done, so I can ride the backtrail of that expectation to this singular point of origin, learning how these things are developed along the way.

If I can teach myself how to do it effectively, I can teach someone else. I know this, because I am a stubborn SOB who is often too smart for his own good. By smart I mean sly and contrarian. Just like my six shit-ass kids.

Some Thoughts:

1. Learning about the foundations of the writing craft reminds me that I don’t really want to learn about someone else’s foundations. I am not entirely clear on how that will help me at this point. Thirty years ago, sure. I’ve walked too far down the path to not have a solid starting point leading to my ultimate writing destination.
2. Two weeks of High School football left. @whee! I’m looking forward to it being in the past for now and for my kid to finally get a car so he can drive himself next season. It’s part of growing up. It is also part of not wearing me down.

I gotta say, the internet is a lousy place to spend your time. Sure, there is a ton of wonderful out there, but there is a lot more madness, despair, and straight up false information. That last bit is probably the worst. There is a long standing theory that most of the internet is bot activity–pre-AI algorithms roaming around and churning up madness. Maybe it wasn’t but with the proliferation of click farms and high end digital production, there is more fake than real. You can hardly trust the news anymore. In truth, you can decide what news you want to believe and there is a stream of it out there just for you. There is also a version of any reality you want to reside in. I’m not sure that is a bad thing, so long as you stay in that reality. This was, after all, the main idea behind Ready, Player 1.

The book (and later movie) told of a digital utopia masterminded by a singular corporation through an extensive online realm which simulated a living universe. The ‘verse had a world game built in where you could solve a puzzle and win, well, everything. However, it was the casuals (as it always is) who powered that world. It was the scores of players who didn’t play that world game and instead preferred to lean into different kinds of games and realities, escaping the dark and dreary one that they actually existed in. We’re not there yet. We have to get past this whole AR era, but that deep digital era is definitely coming. Art imitates life, some say. Art preludes life when it comes to science fiction.

Meanwhile, I’m thinking about the opportunity to buy a tiny house and power it through solar so I can escape into a space we control. That seems to be the only way these days… very sci fi.