Art supply drive
Donate creativity and connection to the Red River Valley memory loss community This February, join us in filling the art supply closet at Memory Cafe of the Red River Valley. In doing so, you play a part in helping transform the...
When ‘good enough’ means something else
During the COVID years, K and I purchased two beautiful handmade standing garden beds from our carpenter friend J. At the time we thought growing our own vegetables, herbs, and flowers would give us the chance to bring some much-needed...
‘Useful passions’: Revisiting Simone de Beauvoir
“Freedom is the source from which all significations and all values spring. It is the original condition of all justification of existence. The man who seeks to justify his life must want freedom itself absolutely and above everything else.” (Simone...
If writing is butter, then A.I. is margarine
In 1869, Emperor Napoleon III dreamed of a fatty, meltable substance that could mimic the taste and texture of labor-intensive butter, only producible at a fraction of the cost and effort. With soldiers to feed and malnourishment rampant among citizens,...
How to swallow your pride as a writer (and get the feedback you deserve)
How to swallow your pride as a writer (and get the feedback you deserve) What they say: “I’m no writer, but …” What you hear: “This is the most flammable bag of poop we have ever read. You’re fired.” What they mean: “We’re...
‘Rate this article’ A.I. game uncovers fatal weakness
One of my favorite games I like to play with A.I. is “rate this article.” I copy and paste entire stories and out pops a rating, usually somewhere around the 8.8 to 9 range. It’s a fun way to help...
Why is writing so frustrating?
And how to make it less painful, more powerful, and way more purposeful If you’ve ever sat at your desk, stared at a blinking cursor, and seriously contemplated throwing your computer out the window, you’re not alone. As a professional...
Why your ‘viral’ content isn’t working
Researchers at the Department of Social Sciences and Economics in Sapienza University, Rome, studied post virality in four European countries over the course of five years and found that most viral posts on YouTube and Facebook actually do not significantly...
Is rule-governed writing ruining writing?
Larry McEnerney, Director of the University of Chicago’s Writing Program, led this fairly iconic lecture in 2014 to a group of medical students wanting to learn more about writing better research papers. Read the transcript. Do you think the more...
What happens when you choose rest over work?
Since my mom died in 2023, I took a risk as a writer. I stopped writing, only focusing my efforts on the clients who paid me to write for them. I hardly worked on “my book” and I stopped promoting...