Category: post

If you were looking for a needle in a haystack, how would you make that job easier? Would you remove some of the hay or would you add to it? Of course, you would take some away. The more you take away the better the chance of finding the needle.

Now, what if your job was to find needles in haystacks? And, what if I told you the more hay you had the more needles you would find? Well, then, you might opt to add more hay. In fact, if you believed that finding those needles was a life-or-death matter, you might be inclined to add as much hay as you possibly could to increase the chance that more than one needle might be there.

Finally, what if I told you that, really, your job was not to necessarily find the needles? It was only to plant the seed of possibility that the needle might be there simply because it has been proven that a needle exists anywhere a big pile of hay does? All you have to do is collect as much hay as possible so that, should a needle be suspected, there is sufficient hay to back it up.

Now, if you watch the video on this page, at the 7:30 mark, this guy will tell you why the size of the haystack does not matter, what matters is that there is enough hay to prove a needle exists.

As a teen, I published my first book. It was a book of the most painfully bad and emotional poetry that, thankfully, few have (or will ever have) seen. Yet, having re-discovered a copy recently, I realize how important it was to my path. That the seed of selling my writing — that one really could do such — was planted. That, even if not perfect (or even really that good), people who want to support you, your work, your further development, are out there. They are paying as much for the poetry now as the poetry they know could come.

I love good poetry. I, thankfully, live in a city where poetry is respected. Thanks to an active sidewalk poetry program, I encounter it unexpectedly and often walking the streets. I encounter it at bookstores and stenciled on walls. I sometimes see it on bus stop posters. I even spot the occasional and unintentional haiku in a sign or flyer.

Though I write poetry much less these days, and share it even less than that, I still find that it often stops me in my tracks. When very good or, especially, when unexpected it has the power to change me. To change my notions about the world or even those I know. To stop me in my tracks and shift my direction. Any good writing can do this, yes. But a good poem can get to places inside you no other words can.

Everyone |iberz|referrer|atist
can see it. We think they can’t. We usually do the bare minimum. To maintain the appearance of caring. But everyone can sense the struggle we go through just to do that. They know when you stopped caring.

It shows in your relationships. It shows in your home. It shows in the job that you barely do. Everyone can see when the fire is out. When the spark no longer ignites the flame to make it. And when you no longer have the passion to strike the match.

The signs are seen not just in those who’ve stopped caring but also in the things they’ve stopped caring for. The work that is just now OK, yet used to meet a higher standard. The shine that is just a bit more dull. The home full of people living within that has no life. Everyone can tell.

They can tell on a larger scale too. The neighborhood that lacks it’s friendly charm. The school that lacks the excitement of learning. The town that is missing its sense of place. The nation that has lost it’s pride. All of these are due, in large part, to those who’ve stopped caring.

Yet, all it often takes to change it is one person who cares despite it all. One person to decide they are going to do just a little bit more. The one person who stands up with passion amongst the apathy is the one that stands out. The one willing to give a damn when no one else will.

Of course, if one person has the courage to care perhaps others will be inspired to care too. Then, those things they begin to care about will be better for it. The relationships will be that much stronger. The homes, that much more full of life. The neighborhoods more welcoming. The towns and cities will blossom. And a proud nation will rise up from it all.

And, everyone can see that too.

Life has been getting in the way of the writing recently. Life can be like that some times. That said, there are a number of items that I run across in my travels that I wish to share some thoughts about. Far too often I park these and wait to do a full fledged post of a single one. This often ends up with me sharing nothing at all.

Therefore, I thought I would try to correct this by doing a regular series I’m dubbing Items Of Interest. My thinking is to offer some short commentary on a number of links in a kind of traditional weblog style. I hope this is useful. Here we go…

The Last Ice Merchant (El Último Hielero) is one of the nicest short films I have seen in a while. It’s about the last of a generation of ice harvesters on Ecuador’s Mount Chimborazo.

There’s still some time to get the Bomber Jacket Briefolio from Levenger for about $50.00 off the regular price. Those who have followed me know I’m a big fan of Levenger (and customer for over 20 years). That is because their quality and service are unmatched in a world where mediocrity is the norm. At only $79.00 for such a handsome piece that will last a lifetime, it is difficult to pass up. It would make a great Father’s Day gift.

Slip Notes look like a great way to manage your stack of index card notes. You do keep a stack of notes on index cards, right?

Of course, while we are discussing index cards, Noteboard is a pocket whiteboard that folds up into the size of one. It even comes with a handy dry-erase pen.

The link before last is thanks to my good friend and very talented human being Mike Rohde. Besides being in the thick doing illustrations for the next 37 Signals book, he somehow found the time to release what is, perhaps, the nicest handwriting font I’ve ever seen. Read all about how The Sketchnote Typeface came to be and buy the heck out of it. I already have at least one project I know I’m going to use this for.

This week, I had the pleasure of attending the latest Ignite 5 in Minneapolis. If you’ve never been to an Ignite event before, it works like this: 5 minutes, 20 slides, with each slide auto-advancing every 15 seconds. Speakers are selected from submissions and can be on just about any topic. It’s a lot of fun (I was a speaker last year). The talk that I think stuck with me the most this year was from Kevin Hendricks who read 137 books in one year and gave some real practical and actionable tips on reading books more. Of course, he wrote a book about his experience (and the Kindle version is currently free on Amazon for Prime members).

I’ve been becoming increasingly interested in online privacy. Towards that end, I’ve been using and recommending Cloak to others that are equally interested. Cloak is a VPN service and provides an easy way to protect yourself on public wi-fi hotspots and other places where you are unsure of your online privacy. The plans are pretty fair (as low as $1.99 a month) so it is a great deal too. Also, they just rolled out a new feature where you can make your connection country specific. This also means the ability to get around region blocks on certain content (BBC anyone?).

And, if you are really paranoid and value extreme privacy over browsing speed (because, well, freedom is never free), the Tor Project is for you.

Have a nice weekend.

I’m a full-time independent writer who works hard to bring you quality reading and ideas here daily. If you enjoy what you read here, please consider a free will donation of any amount.

There is something I have noticed the past few days that mirrors my own experience. Successful online writing is almost always measured in years. Sure, there is the rare overnight success. But, for the most part, if there is an online writer that you respect or whose name is recognizable in the circles in which you read, it is likely they have been at it for many years. Some examples…
In his wonderful, and I would argue essential, recent post — Designing blogs for readers — by Matt Gemmell, he mentions that he has been blogging for eleven years.
John Gruber, in mentioning his latest round of T-shirts for sale, mentions that he has been writing Daring Fireball full time for seven years. He has been writing online far longer than that.
Jason Kottke has been writing at kottke.org for fifteen years. But I started reading him online well before that, when he lived here in the Twin Cities and wrote a blog called Oscill8.
And, of course, the first post on this site is November, 7 2003 (going on ten years). But the blog had been one internal to my employer at the time for about a year before that.
My point being this, I get a lot of people who are relatively new to online writing asking me what it takes to be successful at it. I think one of the main things is simply showing up and doing it for a long time. Not only are you bound to get better at it from such constant long term practice, but audiences are built reader by reader over the long term as well.
This was just as true of all of the writers mentioned above. They all started with a single post and just kept showing up year after year. If you would like similar success, that is the place to start.
I’m a full-time independent writer who works hard to bring you quality reading and ideas here daily. If you enjoy what you read here, please consider a free will donation of any amount.

I don’t do a whole lot of self-promotion here. Largely because I think there are more interesting things to talk about than “me,me,me, sell, sell, sell” all the time. But a recent post about buying the books of your favorite bloggers by Seth Godin really resonated with me. Particularly this:

There are authors and actors who only show up when they have something to sell, who hit the road to briefly entertain us, pitch us and then leave. If you love their work, then by all means, buy it! But the frequent blogger is here for another reason. He or she has something to share and is relentlessly showing up to teach and lead and connect.
If you want that to happen more, if you’re getting something out of it, buy the book.

The majority of my income comes from my writing. My books are a key source of that. Purchasing my books is a direct way to support and insure the work I do here.
Toward that goal, I have recently cleaned up the book page and added all four of the books I have written to date. Please take a look
Perhaps you have purchased one or two but have not purchased the others. First of all, thank you so much. Secondly, please consider buying another if the subject interests you or you wish to simply support the work I do here. If you enjoy the work I do here (almost) daily, I’m sure you will find the value your receive from any of them is at least equal to the amount you give.
But, regardless of whether you buy my books or not, I can tell you there are a lot of great writers posting to their blogs regularly that would benefit from the same kind of support. If they have a book for sale, buy it.

I did not go looking for a notation system that worked for me. Instead my dash/plus system was simply an extension of something I was already doing. For as long as I can remember, I had been in taking notes in a outline-like style, with a dash proceeding each point. Therefore, since I was already in the habit of doing this, extending the functionality of that dash seemed the most simple and natural thing for me.
Also, for as long as I can remember, I have been making lists of what I needed to do on paper and placing it to the right of my workspace. I remember doing this as early as using such a list to enumerate my homework for the evening in high school (perhaps the preceding dash started here too). Eventually, I moved to doing this at work and for my tasks at home. Thus, my today card was born.
My point being that we are often quick to look outside ourselves for the answer to finding a trusted system that keeps us on track and drives our day. And, while one can certainly adopt ideas and make them one’s own, I would argue that the first, easiest, and most trusted of places to look might be an extension of something we already do. Something that can evolve and grow as we do.
Your kind donation of any amount helps to support a full-time independent writer. Thanks for reading!

I’ve been struggling lately. It’s not a depression per se. I know what that is. I’m not sure what this is. A low level malaise, perhaps. But not quite.
It basically is this, no matter how much I get done over the course of a day, no matter how productive I am, I still feel like I’ve gotten nothing done, am way behind, am dropping balls, and have no hope of catching up. And, like all such dark visitors, it has the effective self-fulfilling results of actually getting nothing done that I want to get done (despite my getting plenty done otherwise).
I write a lot but not what I wish I was writing. I check tasks off the list but not what I feel I should be checking. I get to the end of the day, look around, and can actually see my accomplishments, but all I can focus on is that which I did not.
I’ve taken to logging all of the things I do into Day One. I already am capturing and logging much of my online work and travels as well, thanks to Slogger. My hope was that it would provide an even better picture of what I’m up to. A lens of credibility and truth that would fight back and prove my feelings a lie.
Thus far, it’s not working. And I don’t have a Plan B.

While we largely think of the word ruminating as the art of thinking deeply about something, it has it’s origins in the act of digestion. Specifically in ruminant animals like the cow.
From Wikipedia:

A ruminant is a mammal that digests plant-based food by initially softening it within the animal’s first compartment of the stomach, principally through bacterial actions, then regurgitating the semi-digested mass, now known as cud, and chewing it again. The process of rechewing the cud to further break down plant matter and stimulate digestion is called “ruminating”.

Therefore, it should be no surprise that another common phrase used for thinking deeply about something is “chewing the cud”.
So, to recap, ruminating is the processing of nutrition that has already been processed once and needs to be further processed to be fully digested.
Now that we know the origin, and the process, of the meaning as it relates to food digestion, I’d like to take this opportunity to suggest we better apply this action to the digestion of information.
The thing is, that we are bombarded by so much new information that we simply “swallow” it and move on. Perhaps we think about it in the moment and think we have absorbed something of value. But, like a ruminant beast, such processing can not have the same deep nutritional value as ruminating on those same things. In other words, learning something, letting it settle in, then spending further time processing it again at a much deeper level.
So, instead of exposing yourself to the constant stream of new information and knowledge this age affords us, consider spending some time “chewing the cud” of knowledge you already have. Spend some time ruminating on it — breaking it down — and by doing so make it more digestible and, therefore, nutritional.
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