Briefly . . .
Born writing--can't seem to stop.
Ph.D. in interdisciplinary humanities. Author of more than 300 critical and biographical essays, for ten different Gale publications. Currently writing four Substack newsletters. Soon to launch a new publishing adventure, and currently finishing my four-year passion project. Former consultant in data strategy and corporate communications. AI explorer/evangelist.
Persistently curious!
Less Briefly . . .
The toy typewriter pictured above resembles one I played with--probably in first grade. You turn the red dial to a desired letter and press down on the silver lever to print it. (The keys don’t actually work).
Before that unit, I had a rubber-stamp alphabet that could be used to put words on paper. When I was about nine (I think), my mom gave me a real Smith-Corona. And one way or another, I haven’t stopped typing since.
I never had a plan — just kept doing things as they came along. Not sure how I feel about that now!
But here’s what it looked like in practice . . .
1. As a student, from grade school through graduate school, I tried to grasp the assignment (what the teacher wanted) and go beyond it. Then I wrote a dissertation, and tried to balance research with original thought, while supporting everything carefully and avoiding the temptation to eloquence.
2. I wrote several nonfiction books, in which I tried to balance popular appeal with substantive information. I was moderately successful with a niche audience, but needed to make actual money, so —
3. Next stop, corporate life. As a technical writer/instructional designer, I tried to make things so clear that no one could possibly misunderstand. Then I moved “up” to corporate and marketing communications, where I tried to balance design with content, and make complicated things seem simple. It’s harder than it looks.
4. Along the way, I got my dream job: writing for Gale reference publications like Literature Criticism Online, Literature of War, 21st Century Novel, St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Worldmark Global Business and Economic Issues, and Energy in Context. Also, Chadwyck-Healey’s Literature Online series. I did this part-time or full-time for ten happy years.
5. Then one day in 2019, my dream job disappeared, thanks to a corporate merger. All of us who had been producing expert content for years became unceremoniously unemployed. So I took a deep dive into writing for Medium, and over the next two years, published more than a hundred really good stories. Which mostly didn't reach a lot of readers . . .
And now it's now!
You can still see some of those really good stories here--but many are gone, and the rest are leaving soon.
They will reappear, along with some new material, in a series of ebooks I'm publishing under the imprint Complexity Press. Here are the first titles:
Nothing Applies
Essays about Joan Didion and her accidental masterpiece, Play It As It Lays
The Tiny Kitchen Chronicles
An eccentric guide to living mindfully--thought by thought, and task by task
Coming in 2024. And in the meantime, you can visit my two Substacks:
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