Tag: Thoughts and Reflections

Why I am not afraid of the Noise part III

These days, it seems as if everyone is terrified by the fact that anyone can publish a book.  Indies, self-published writers, authors with traditional book contracts–it doesn’t matter.  Everyone is mortified by the sheer volume of crap books coming out nowadays, as if Sturgeon’s Law is a new thing.  The assumption is that all this… Continue reading Why I am not afraid of the Noise part III

Thoughts on Twitter

Oh man, I used to hate Twitter so much.  It’s amusing (and a little bit embarrassing) to look back on some old threads on the Kindle Boards and see how snippy I would get with everyone who raved about it.  I guess it’s just my contrarian nature. Well, in the last month or so, my… Continue reading Thoughts on Twitter

A not-so-obligatory New Year’s resolution

First of all, happy New Years!  I hope you’re all looking forward to 2013 as much as I am.  Last year was full of awesome life-changing experiences, but I have a feeling that this one is going to be even better. So after chatting about resolutions with some old friends, I’ve decided that a good… Continue reading A not-so-obligatory New Year’s resolution

A Letter From My 2013 Self

So shortly after writing up my last blog post, I got an email from myself marked December 27, 2013.  How freaky is that?I don’t know if it’s a glitch or a feature, but apparently in 2013, you can use gmail to send messages back in time. In any case, the letter is pretty interesting, so… Continue reading A Letter From My 2013 Self

A Letter To My 2011 Self

Dear Joe, Well, 2011 has been an eventful year, hasn’t it? It sure didn’t feel like it when you were down in the trenches, but now that it’s over, you’ve got to admit, you sure came a long way. You’ve discovered a lot of things about yourself since January. In your quest for economic security,… Continue reading A Letter To My 2011 Self

Some thoughts on internet access, self-discipline, and productivity

As many of you probably know, for the past four months I’ve been living in a small Georgian village in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains.  It isn’t as remote as some places in this country (like Tusheti, where some people still practice pagan animal sacrifices), but my internet access has been limited, especially compared… Continue reading Some thoughts on internet access, self-discipline, and productivity

Some new thoughts on productivity

I’ve been thinking a lot about writing and productivity, mostly because I seem to be struggling a lot with it lately. With nanowrimo just starting, this is a pretty topical thing to blog about, but I also want to look at it from a long-term career perspective, since that’s what I’m personally more interested in.… Continue reading Some new thoughts on productivity

Trope Tuesday: Mentor Occupational Hazard

Being a mentor to the hero can be a pretty tough job.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the tvtropes page: If you don’t have to convince The Chosen One who just wants to be normal to grow a spine and accept the Call to Adventure, you have to convince your blindly excited and dangerously eager young pupil that You Are Not Ready to learn the Dangerous… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Mentor Occupational Hazard

Trope Tuesday: A Man is Not a Virgin

I’m back from vacation, but I’m going to take a break from the Hero’s Journey trope posts to talk about something that I really feel passionate about.  I hope you’ll forgive me if this turns into a rant, but I think this is an important issue that has some very dangerous implications that need to… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: A Man is Not a Virgin