On Life

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January 8, 2014

Nerds & the miracle of human consciousness

“…because nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff… Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. Hank, when people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff.’ Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, ‘you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness’.” – John Green If you’re reading my blog, chances are you’re a nerd. I know I am. Hopefully you don’t hate this about yourself,...

September 6, 2013

The fool, the wise man, & time

“The fool will spend his money on worthless things. The wise will spend his money to better himself. A man’s worth can be measured by how he spends his money.” – Gin no Saji (Silver Spoon) A smart bit of wisdom from a wise old lady in a very good show. Take it at face value and it will serve you well. Let’s take it a bit further, though. Try replacing ‘money’ with ‘time’. Money is effectively infinite. Sometimes it’s difficult,...

August 6, 2013

To work, you must rest

It’s natural to want to work hard when there’s a project that’s important and difficult and potentially life-changing in front of you. And you should – just don’t discount the value of a good rest. It will help you more than you may realize. To be clear, I’m not talking about a quick 30-minute break, though you should take those too. There’s simply no substitute for taking a few days off to just relax. Just relax. No catching up on work,...

July 29, 2013

Loyal opposition

If you’re looking for proofreaders, editors, colleagues, or friends, here’s what you should look for: loyal opposition. Look for those who love you and look forward to your work and want you to succeed, but will call you out when you’re not giving your best, or if your best isn’t good enough (yet). Critics can be terrible, but you need them. Avoid are the trolls, those who will tear you down to make themselves feel better, those who lack empathy...

June 17, 2013

Disappointment

Today I disappointed myself. Don’t worry, it was nothing major, just the mundane kind of disappointment we all experience at least a few times a month – a chance arose that I didn’t leap at quickly enough, and I ended up regretting it. And afterwards, I could feel it overwhelming me. We’ve all been there before – as we dwell on this minor, unimportant mistake, it ends up swallowing more and more of our time. It consumes our mind, stealing...

June 13, 2013

You can’t compare your own success to others

I recently spent some time with my older brother, and I found myself reflecting on our varying levels of success. You see, by most people’s measures my older brother is a very successful man: a high paying job, a loving wife, kids who only drive him crazy most of the time, etc etc. I, on the other hand, am single and have a day job for which “high paying” would be an inaccurate descriptor. Even factoring in the years that separate...

June 7, 2013

Healthy body, sound mind, good art

I never cared much about being healthy until after I started writing seriously. In college and in all the jobs I’ve held since, I could roll into the classroom or office on half a night’s sleep and still take care of everything I needed to do. Sure, I wasn’t going to be the most agreeable fellow that day, but it didn’t matter because I got everything done. With writing though, if I’m too tired I will fall asleep. Not because I’m not enjoying...

June 3, 2013

A day unencumbered

Focus is such a rare thing. In this modern world, we prize multi-tasking. We prize being able to get a hundred things done, no matter whether those things are worth doing or not. What would happen if you just did one or two things? Today I will do a hundred different things, because I have to help my corporate overlords make money like the good little wage slave that I must be (for now, for now). Yesterday though, I did...

June 2, 2013

You know what you want, even if you won’t admit it

For the longest time, I wouldn’t admit that I wanted to become an author. No, that’s not it – I knew I wanted to become an author, but I wouldn’t admit that was all I wanted to become. I kept looking for other jobs, figuring that I should advance in my other career while I saw if this writing thing would work out. I kept working on Plan B and Plan C, at the expense of Plan A. I didn’t go...

May 27, 2013

Urgent isn’t the same as important

One of the watershed moments in my career was the day I learned the difference between urgent and important. Today my work email filled up with messages from customers and bosses (yes, I have multiple) about tasks they want me to deal with ASAP. They’re brush fires, and I could run around all day putting them out. It’s exhausting work…but at the end of the day, what would I have really accomplished? If you’re always putting out fires, you’ll never...