Things that make you grow.
How much energy does it take to fuel an electric car? And is it really all that environmentally friendly?
Turns out there are studies of this, and the results are somewhat surprising. Check out the “energy needed to bring the electricity to the car” column… Read More
This is a long story.
It spans 10 years, a million words and about six kilograms. But first some background.
I am a middle aged gentleman on the wrong side of the middle. I’ve got two jobs, three kids have no time.
When I started being serious about my writing, wanting to take it from a dream to a career, I had to cut out something from my day. So I don’t watch TV anymore. I used that time to write.
I cut down on useless web surfing. Or I try. I do spend a bit too much on the YouTube science and writing channels. But I found those things that I could trim from my schedule, and used that time to write. Read More
I can’t code and write.
I can code well enough, and I can write well enough. But I can’t do it on the same day. Coding and writing fill up the same creative well in my mind.
It doesn’t really matter if I’m writing fiction or non-fiction, or whether I’m coding JavaScript or Visual Basic, or any other language. If I code I get the same creative kicks that I get out of writing. Read More
This is the most important writing and craft related article you will ever read. Allow me to quote from it:
So I change my students’ mindset to a reader/editor mindset. How do I do it? By giving them only three valid responses to something they’ve read:
- I liked what I read.
- I quit on page [insert number here].
- I liked what I read and I would have bought this.
We humans are pretty good at finding the negative sides of our lives. All the little annoyances that litter our days. Those tiny angers we encounter on the road, at work, at home.
We can’t avoid them, no matter how we try.
But that’s OK. Our brains are made that way. What makes life good is figuring out those parts that keep you afloat when everything else is dragging you down. Read More
Once upon a time in the dark ages of economic history, the human being was a rational agent.
We evaluated what we want, and found the cheapest way to get it. This, of course, had nothing to do with how humans act in reality. Instead, there came the much simplified theory of behavioral rewards.
It said that the brain creates neural pathways, using dopamine to reinforce or suppress them based on the rewards it’s received. This, too, proved wrong. Read More
There is an element of chance in everything we do. Call it chance, fortune, Lady Luck. Call it whatever you want. But it means that if you did great today, you’re doing worse tomorrow. Here’s why.
Imagine that you have an amazing writing day. Let’s say that you managed to type in 4000 beautiful words in a single afternoon, producing four times as much as you normally do. Everything is great. You’re totally on a roll. Read More
I’m not lazy, no matter what my father said during my teenage years. I like to work. I like to create. What I don’t like, is pointless busywork, or work where I feel I’m not making progress.
At those times, my pace slows down, and I don’t really produce anything. For a long time, when this happened, I would give up. Read More
I’ve been told that I am ambitious and having two day jobs and a third on the way, as well as my writing and game designing, I concede that there might be something in that.
There’s nothing wrong with doing lots of things all at once, as long as it’s fun. Everyone is happy, right?
Not quite. Read More
You’ve got to have hope.
Not blind faith. This business is way too influenced by luck for that. Not a realistic assessment of your chances. Your chances are way too uncertain for that. Hope.
Hope is the feeling that you could achieve something with a bit of luck, with a bit of skill, with a bit of perseverance. Hope is the feeling that what you do matters, that you can influence the world around you in a positive way. Hope is what makes life in uncertain times possible. It doesn’t really matter what your business is, how uncertain it is, or what you’re writing, or creating, or hoping for.
You need hope simply to survive. Read More