This is part 5 of a series about how I write and reflect using Obsidian, an extensible digital note-taking interface with some surprising and unexpectedly useful features. This post reviews the process I use to turn my ideas into prose for both short- and long-form fiction.
Writing and Reflecting in Obsidian — Writing Fiction
Writing and Reflecting in Obsidian — Fiction Planning and Incubation
This is part 3 of a series about how I write and reflect using Obsidian, an extensible digital note-taking interface with some surprising and unexpectedly useful features. This post reviews my workflow for collecting and acting upon story ideas, turning premises into polished prose.
Writing and Reflecting in Obsidian — Morning Pages and Daily Notes
This is part 3 of a series about how I write and reflect using Obsidian, an extensible digital note-taking interface with some surprising and unexpectedly useful features. This post details how I make use of plugins like Periodic Notes, Templater, QuickAdd, and dataview to manage my Daily Notes Page and Morning Pages writing practice.
Writing and Reflecting in Obsidian — From Evernote
This is Part 2 of a series about how I write and reflect using Obsidian, an extensible digital note-taking interface with some surprising and unexpectedly useful features. This post reviews my history with journaling and digital note-taking tools, accounting for how I arrived at Obsidian from my first digital database, Evernote.
Writing and Reflecting in Obsidian — Overview and Index
This is Part 1 of a series about how I write and reflect using Obsidian, an extensible digital note-taking interface with some surprising and unexpectedly useful features. This post serves as an overview and index for the rest of the series, which will explore in depth how I use Obsidian for note-taking, journaling, and creative writing.
A Quick Word on Scheduling
A few posts back, I mentioned that I would be posting a new essay here every week. While I did enjoy the rigor of that production schedule for a time, it quickly became an obligation that encroached on other projects I so desperately wish to complete. I strayed too far from my original intent for recommitting to my weblog, which was more to share my work process than grasp at finished thoughts to...
Parenting on the Internet
Introduction As you can probably tell, I don’t post about my son with anything but the broadest of strokes, and there are no pictures of him on my social media profiles. This is both a difficult choice and a deliberate commitment. On the one hand, I think he’s beautiful and wondrous to behold, and I want to share everything he does with everyone I can. On the other hand, I think there are some...
Explaining Santa Claus
The first question all of us kids asked each other when we were back in school was, "what did you get for Christmas?" If you or someone you know got a lot of awesome presents from Santa, it must be because you were good enough to deserve them. If you didn't get any presents, or you got bad, boring gifts, it must be because you deserved them as well—you must have been naughty throughout the year...
The Impact of the Attention Economy
I find myself looking up from one of my displays after scrolling for an indeterminable length of time and thinking, “What am I doing? Why am I doing this? How long was I out? What the hell just happened?” As it turns out, I am not alone. Over the past few decades, the attention economy has taken on a more prominent role in our society—both in the marketplace of ideas and the literal economic...
Felled
They came without warning, without provocation, and without mercy. I was spared, but not left unscarred. They came for my neighbors and my kin, all of whom were taken without a word of protest. We couldn’t understand what was happening—not at first. The first few fell flat on their back and just lay there, disbelieving, not wanting to believe what was happening. Then came the butchering. I...