Reflections on Writing, Grinding, and Money

The bottom line is that writing has enriched my life immeasurably, but the financial trade-off has been significant. My path has been one of compulsion, not logic.

I found a career groove that almost satisfies all 5 “salaries:” educational, social, psychological, freedom… the financials aren’t quite there, but they’re getting close. Even though I’m least inclined to treat a passion like a business, it feels important to get this right; it creates a baseline that everything else stems from. If I can make a con

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Neil Gaiman has two rules when he sits down to write:1. He doesn't have to write anything if he doesn't feel like it.2. He can't leave or do anything else until the writing time he set aside is over.(This comes from his appearance on the Tim Ferriss podcast - it's worth a listen.)

But I don’t think obsessive hustling makes good literature, or good writers, because writing is only the second part of the work. Most of the work is just existing. Writing, like, I suspect, any creative art, is just an attempt to transcribe infinity. And you have to sink into infinity slowly.

Because I work in tech, which is a grossly overpaid industry, for the past seven years or so since I started writing, I have taken 4-6 months off every few years between jobs to write. This is a huge privilege, obviously (and maintaining the ability to do this is one of many reasons why I don’t think I’ll have kids and also why I work in tech). But... See more

Many of us are wired to look at work as something that should produce monetary rewards. Or at least with writing, some amount of attention, or new followers. But on the internet, sustained attention may take years to materialize, if at all. And too many people are focused on short-term followers instead of the genuine credibility that can come from... See more

It reminds me of writing and how I wake up week after week and get stuck on the blank page again and again. How I always despair that I have no more good ideas and, even if I did, not enough eloquence to convey said ideas. But I love it still. I love how writing brings everything to the surface, how it generates and absorbs my attention. How it tap

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