If you told the average person that you believed with near 100% certainty that intelligent alien life exists in the universe, they would consider you crazy. Yet the truth is that our universe is so incredibly vast, so full of Earthlike planets, that the odds that intelligent life only emerged here are low enough to… Continue reading Unthinkable truths
Tag: Thoughts and Reflections
Happiness is always a choice. So is being offended.
Happiness is always a choice. Always. So is taking offense. No exceptions. Anyone who says otherwise does not want you to be an empowered, liberated human being. They are teaching you to believe that you are a powerless victim, unable to control your own destiny. There are only two classes of things in this world: things that… Continue reading Happiness is always a choice. So is being offended.
Why I need a gun (and you do too)
If you had lived in Germany before the Nazis came to power and a time traveler had told you how history would play out, what would you have done about it? The nation was reeling from a massive economic depression after a decade of war exhaustion. In this troubled time, a charismatic democratic socialist ran on a platform… Continue reading Why I need a gun (and you do too)
Life without social media
It has been more than a week since I’ve posted here, which is a bit surprising. Then again, I did decide to take a short break from writing, which pushed blogging a little further down the priority tree. The much higher priority has been finishing my friend’s basement before his wife has a baby next week… Continue reading Life without social media
The Self-Sufficient Writer: Varieties of Collapse
What does a collapse look like? The first thing most people think of is the zombie apocalypse. Which makes sense, considering how popular zombie stories are. The signs of collapse are clear and present, with no room for ambiguity. The world has come to an end, and the only thing left is to pick up an… Continue reading The Self-Sufficient Writer: Varieties of Collapse
A political rant
There is no meaningful difference between Clinton and Trump. Both are narcissists. Both are habitual liars. Both are corrupt. Both have a tendency to blame others for their failures instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. Both treat the people underneath them poorly or with outright contempt. Both think they are above the law,… Continue reading A political rant
Thoughts on series and perma-free
For the last five years, the conventional wisdom among most indie writers has been to write short books in sequential series and make the first book permanently free. It’s a strategy that works, to a certain extent. It’s what got me from making pizza money on my book sales to making a humble living at this… Continue reading Thoughts on series and perma-free
Disagreement is not offensive
“A fool takes offense where none is intended, and a greater fool takes offense where it is.” -Brigham Young @MaryRobinette @AliRadicali — Joe Vasicek (@onelowerlight) August 26, 2015 Is it just me, or is there an increasing tendency in today’s world to misconstrue anything and everything as “offensive”? This is especially true of the campus… Continue reading Disagreement is not offensive
Giving Thanks
If there is any national holiday that is routinely overlooked, it is Thanksgiving. In our intensely consumer-driven society, Christmas looms ever greater, bringing with it the pseudo-holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Each year, the jingles of commercialism threaten to drown out the message of gratitude which Thanksgiving celebrates. So with that in mind, I… Continue reading Giving Thanks
A blast from the past: predictions from 2011 on how the ebook revolution would turn out
While cleaning up some of the unpublished drafts on this blog, I came across this interesting post which I wrote in August 2011 but never published. At the time, I had just published my second novel, Bringing Stella Home, and was very much committed to the indie career path. Self-publishing was still a very new thing, however, and… Continue reading A blast from the past: predictions from 2011 on how the ebook revolution would turn out