For Writers
In a time when everything is a service (including this website!), it's rare to come across a piece of software that is A) free and B) so valuable that you actually want to pay for it. This year, two apps have met that criteria for me. The first
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"The old man is dying." Banks says this to me when I walk into his office in lieu of a greeting. No time for them, he once told me. As overseer of the second largest feed on the west coast, I couldn't blame him for being
For My Homeowners
Sometimes, when you're between jobs, paralyzed by anxiety, and staring down the barrel of yet another election season, you just need a distraction. Something productive. Something that keeps your mind off existential dread and the growing certainty that your career prospects might have better luck running as an
In no particular order except for Replay, which is my favorite all-time. * Replay, Ken Grimwood * Neuromancer, William Gibson * Altered Carbon, Richard K. Morgan * House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski * The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger * A Scanner Darkly, Philip K. Dick * Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov * The Martian Chronicles, Ray
Howdy, and thank you for considering me as the newest team member at your prestigious company! You've likely seen my resume and LinkedIn profile, so I'd like to take this opportunity to go into more detail about my experience, lessons learned, and some of the projects
The independent publishing world has changed so much since I joined it in 2004, but one thing that has remained constant is the immeasurable value of support from friends and family. Year after year, decade after decade, my work has been sustained by the efforts of others, from purchasing and
Oh boy, I've been holding onto this one for a long time. Almost 20 years. I'd always hoped to turn it into a full-length novel someday, but I ran into two problems. First, it's a tight novella. Making it longer wouldn't have
What a busy month! We're doing all sorts of things to move some books in July, so hopefully, one resonates with you. Whether you're struggling to be more productive, need help losing weight, or are gripped by a general malaise, these books will absolutely cure every
With the rise of ChatGPT and other pseudo-AIs that scrape the freely available content on the web to sell back to us, some authors have started moving their short stories and scratch writing behind a free paywall, which I guess is just a wall. 🧱 Anyway, I'm one of
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Howdy, Carl! Have I ever told you that sometimes, when I'm writing and a little stuck, I like to imagine writing directly to one of my readers sitting in their easy chair at home with a cute little pug in their lap? It's true! And since
Last month, as I was tending the grounds (walking in my yard), I noticed a shiny cylinder standing upright on the stylish concrete block that holds my air conditioning unit. Upon further inspection, I realized it came from a small valve on the AC itself. When I tried to replace
In February 2021, like many Texans, I learned that our statewide power grid is not connected to either of the national grids. So when Winter Storm Uri hit, and temperatures plunged, we were unprepared for the surge in demand and how the extreme cold would affect the energy infrastructure, leading
It was a mess the next morning. Muriel and I watched some of it from our balcony, behind the safety of some bamboo shades that her parents had bought us for Christmas. At first it was just the odd apartment dweller out for a morning amble, walking like a half-drunk
In today's rapidly evolving World Wide Web, protecting intellectual property has become more challenging–and more important–than ever, especially for authors. Generative AI is promising to write your resume, respond to your emails, and help you come up with an assortment of social media posts that are
The advertisements for Metro Futurology featured a cavernous lobby full of glass and metal in a building that resembled the Tower of Babel stretched too thinly toward the sky. The sleek videos boasted finely appointed rooms with climate control, memory foam mattresses on the bed, and enough square footage to
In no particular order except for Replay, which is my favorite all-time. * Replay, Ken Grimwood * Neuromancer, William Gibson * Altered Carbon, Richard K. Morgan * House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski * The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger * A Scanner Darkly, Philip K. Dick * Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov * The Martian Chronicles, Ray
Howdy, and thank you for considering me as the newest team member at your prestigious company! You've likely seen my resume and LinkedIn profile, so I'd like to take this opportunity to go into more detail about my experience, lessons learned, and some of the projects
I don't have a very high opinion of the so-called "AI" that has come to dominate every aspect of our lives, from regurgitated content on social media to AI-first initiatives from every CEO with a Fortune subscription. Furthermore, as a writer, I'm firmly against
I never joined a hacker collective when I was younger, mostly because I wasn't a hacker. But I did have a dope-ass handle... XRISIS. Unpronounceable like my last name, Xrisis became my mask of anonymity on the World Wide Web. And then social media came along and destroyed
When did this: I recently spoke with the CEO of a large energy company (that will remain nameless) about the value of generative AI in business. My opinions have always been very black and white: either generative AI is good, or it's the devil. After much discussion and
Open to work. What a strange phrase. It makes me think of "Work? Yeah, I've heard of it. Do it? Sure, I suppose I'd consider it." I see many posts in my LinkedIn feed of people who are not just open to work but
