I caved and re-labeled my novel middle grade, then resented every minute of it. Middle grade gets heard as simple, and simple gets heard as not worth an adult’s time. Here’s why that’s wrong, who the categories actually serve, and what I’d rather have instead.
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— Middle Grade Isn't Kiddie Lit →
Ever asked a simple grammar question online—only to get buried in bad takes and unearned confidence? In this writing-focused rant, I dissect a Reddit thread about em-dashes in dialog and the tidal wave of “well, actually…” comments that followed. It’s a love letter to clarity, CMOS, and the bliss of drafting in solitude.
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— You're Not Wrong—But You're Not Right Either →
We’ve all been told to be proactive—at work, with our health, in life. But what happens when the systems we rely on punish that effort or make it harder to care for ourselves in the moment? In this personal reflection, I explore the gap between the idea of proactivity and the lived reality of trying to plan ahead in a world that doesn’t always reward it. Maybe the answer isn’t more hustle—but more kindness.
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— Rethinking Proactivity →
Once upon a time, you could buy an appliance that just… worked. These days, it wants your WiFi password and a subscription fee. In this sarcastic breakdown of modern consumer tech, we’ll unpack how companies design for data collection, not for you. Spoiler: your smart fork has trust issues.
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— Purchasing Tech in the 2020s →
I believe there is a middle ground when it comes to AI. It is possible to see the value it can provide while also being aware of the harms it promotes, such as devaluing human input and the theft that many AI companies engaged in to build their models. I believe we should advocate for ethical use of AI models and seek to provide fair compensation to those who have been harmed by it.
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— To Ai or Not to Ai →
Ever been caught off guard by a change in schedule that ruined your plans? Ever felt a surge of unfairness mixed with annoyance and the reluctance to confront it due to the fear of being labelled a complainer?
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— I Hate the Internet Sometimes →
While I agree that the worst effects of AI are ahead of us, I do not agree that the concerns I have about AI are not valid. I got so annoyed at this article in Writers Digest that I had to comment on it.
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— Stop Giving AI Companies an Out →
Deciding to quit is tough for me. I was raised to believe that winners never quit. But in just the last few years I’ve realized that quitting things that aren’t working works for me.
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— Changing Focus →
I never used to like the phrase “it is what it is.” It seemed like something people would say when they were dismissing my very real anger or frustration. Or something they would say when they were trying to pretend they weren’t feeling anger or frustration themselves.
I know now that the reason I didn’t like the phrase was because I didn’t understand it. I hadn’t truly lived it.
Along came 2020.
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— 2020 is So Much Fun →
I’ve known this for a while. I first learned it when I was writing a test for my TEFL students. I had to figure out questions that were hard enough to demonstrate that they understood the material, but not so hard that they would be completely demoralized. I also had to make sure the questions were on the material the students legitimately should know, and not just on English language in general. When I started teaching HTML, I created a course, complete with an exam at the end, to demonstrate that students had learned something. The first iteration of the exam was fill in the blank. This made the test easier to write, but a lot harder to grade. So the second version was multiple guess. But multiple guess problems are hard to write because often the questions can be way too easy. For instance, how difficult would this be to guess the correct answer?
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— Writing Test Questions is Hard →
