I wrote an article about Tennessee moonshine for Bourbon+, and just for fun I wrote a sidebar about my own first encounter with moonshine. I offered it to them for free and their response was to pretend they never saw it. Here’s the text: Let me tell you my moonshine story: I was at an[…]
A few years ago I spent some time in Whitesburg, Kentucky, which is currently in the news because it flooded, horribly. I was there poking around a story that never materialized, but I met some good people and wrote a couple of possible ledes — which is what one does when one has rich material[…]
I’m writing a feature about robotic farming and I’m watching a demonstration of how easy one of the major systems is to use. It’s pretty impressive, with huge trays of plants beings raised into multiple layers so more can be grown on less land. A few minutes in I notice that, despite the narrator talking[…]
Writers don’t stop writing. Beware of the first novel onlsaught.
“So, you’re a writer.” “Yes, among other things.” “What do you write?” “Lots of different things.” “Like, plays?” “Not plays. Magazine articles. Speeches. I ghost some op-eds for politicians.” “I hate politics.” “A lot of people do.” “Not as much as me. You should write a thing about how much I hate politics.” “Really?” “Yeah.[…]
Here’s something I love that I haven’t been able to squeeze into anything: Lisa Carver, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Studies, Queen’s University, Canada. Earlier this year she published the results of a study she constructed to determine people’s estimates of how old they feel. That is, as[…]
I have a client who, among other things, publishes a health-related email newsletter. We were rolling through some open/click data the other day and a clear pattern emerged: the emails with uplifting subject lines got opened the most, but once inside the newsletter what really interested people was specific information about the most terrible health[…]
I had this client a couple of years ago, kind of a hip-pocket start-up I did some cheap work for. I wrote some web copy, designed a couple of ads, took some photos. It was maybe two days work and I liked what I did. When it came time to pay he called my[…]
My last blog entry discussed the heart-breaking act of PowerPoint suckery — of ignoring effect in favor of density of information. Yesterday, I went to a political rally. The rally was in support of the Affordable Care Act. Think what you want about the policy; there is no question that passions are running high. I’m[…]
