I went looking for the history of the Yule log. I found cake. New WILF hit inboxes this morning! 📮

Final call for my Seasonal Review workshop. We start tomorrow. It's small. It's live. It's for writers who are done with the chaotic guesswork. Last chance to grab a spot if you want in.

The way I'm constantly wondering "Am I freakishly gifted with the power of déjà vu or is this a post I've already seen that someone copied and stole and published as their own?"

My writing workshop this Thursday is basically: We sit down. We look at the year. We say "huh" and "oh" and "right, THAT'S what happened." Then we make a plan that doesn't assume you'll turn into a different person in January. That's it. That's the pitch.

PSA: If you haven't done your year-end writing review yet, you're not behind. You're normal! It's December 17th, not December 31st. But if you'd like to do it, with a bit of structure and zero shame, we start Thursday: craftcontent.podia.com/the-seasonal...

Why do a year-end review? So you can start January (and the new year) knowing what you're working with, not just what you're working toward. craftcontent.podia.com/the-seasonal...

I don't want to "crush" my writing goals. I want to understand them. Maybe befriend them? Make them a nice cup of tea and sit down to chat a bit about how warm and cozy and delightful the world can be. Is that so weird? (If it's not weird, maybe join our quiet review this week.)

Well...that was a painful painful PAINFUL meeting with a business coach. Being told out loud that you are a failure, and that you need to just accept that and move on...it hurts. But, when you know it's true, I guess that makes it a little more bearable?

Alright, writers. Quick poll! If you had to sum up your 2025 writing life in one word right now, what would it be? 1. Blurry Chaos 2. Ugh, Stalled 3. Surprisingly ok? 4. Crushin' It, Bro (No judgment. One of my drafts simply says: "Crumbs")

I actually agree with the Word of the Year choices from Oxford ("rage bait") and Merriam-Webster ("slop") because they are important to describing what we needed to know about in 2025.

Y'all know that Bob Cratchit wasn't the example Dickens put forward for destitution, right? He was a middle class office worker. Folks were working in factories and fields for half his salary. Take a look at those two children in the robes: the results of a society running on Ignorance and Want.

“This project failed” is an event. “I am a failure” is an identity. But damn is it easy to slide into making that event your identity.

This week’s WILF tries to answer one question using a very old machine: how do you figure out where you are when you can't you fully explain everything around you? If you’re into mysteries, moon/sun/star light, or writers trying to make sense of their place in it all, the issue is in your inbox! 📬

I built this because I needed it. If your writing life needs more grace and clarity, join me. If you've got it all figured out, you wanna share that and a piece of gum with the rest of the class‽

We need an update to "Robber Barons" cause we don't really use the term barons anymore. I'm personally a fan of "Robber Moguls", "Robber Titans", or "Robber Shorties."

Your writing life is weirder, softer, and more alive than any productivity template. Let’s plan it accordingly, eh? craftcontent.podia.com/the-seasonal...

A strange little machine from a shipwreck has been whispering in my ear. It tracked cycles, predicted eclipses, and reminded its makers that they belonged to something larger than a single planet.

This is your annual reminder that writers have seasons… …and planning your year like a machine is a great way to burn out by February. Come do it the human way. ❄️

Microsoft Teams Wrapped 2025. You: 🖐️raised your hand instead of reacting 315 times 🙊 spoke while on mute 183 times 💻 spent 219 minutes trying to share your screen 🎙️ were in the top 2% of people who only unmuted to say "Thanks" at the end of meetings with more than 5 attendees.

Charles Dickens did not write "If they would rather die...they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population" in 1843 for us to be whining "Has any civilization had it as bad as MEEEEEE‽" in 2025.

Because I live on the edges of a Hallmark movie, I just got back from the area Christmas parade with fire trucks, the local civic clubs, the little league, and Santa on an 18-wheeler trailer covered in lights. 🤶

Weekend reminder for those who need it: Your mind is still writing, even when your hands aren’t.

Look, it's gotta be grEy not grAy, because the Grateful Dead have never led us astray before.

Shout out to all the folks so good at putting on a brilliant show with a smiling face; who have cycled through therapists and coaches that all shrug and say "But you seem to be doing so well!" while you hysterically sob and snot onto a Zoom screen.

If you’ve got two candles in the house, put them next to each other tonight and watch what happens. Then read tomorrow’s WILF to learn why. That’s all I’m saying. (Oh, also, I'm finally back on my WILF rhythm: www.craftyourcontent.com/wilf-newslet...)

In early 2020 we had murder hornets, and we're rounding out the end of 2025 with radioactive wasps. I'm hoping some timeline of chaos is officially bookended by these events, and we can finally move on from *waves arms around* whatever hell this has been.

Here's the thing with me. I will say "I think you might just be a writer!" when people write brilliantly online, but hedge it with that feels-safe comment of "I'm not really a writer, but..." because people need to know when they are creating word wonders.

I call my parents whenever I'm driving home if there's a beautiful sunset I want them to see. I don't know how many more sunsets we'll get together (years of them, I'm hoping!), but I don't want to miss seeing a single beautiful sunset "together" while I still have this chance.

"You block people for disagreeing with you?" My dude, this morning I blocked someone IN SOMEONE ELSE'S COMMENTS who was negging them for being happy and proud of teaching themselves how to make an eggnog latte. We just don't NEED that negativity in our feeds OR our lives.

My writing warm-up has nothing to do with words. It's closing 17 browser tabs, reheating my coffee for the third time, and staring blankly at the wall for 90 seconds (minutes.) Then I can actually dig in. But I'm working on it. 🤞

I wish more people admitted how often writing feels like controlled falling. You try to steer, but mostly you’re trusting that the floor will appear before you smash your face on a rock, all while trying to build yourself a parachute.

That cancelled TV show you'll never stop thinking about.

Freelancers and service folks who are nervous that December means no one is looking to sign on any new work for the year-end, I've gotten 3 queries on the website in the last 2 days. Apparently, folks are gearing up NOW to get ready for 2026. 🔥

Ok, I don't love it either, but here's what I'm thinking. They get a bipartisan bill before Congress (that has pretty much everything in the ACA) and name the new healthcare policy: The Reinvented Universal Medical Plan. That bitch will put his name on ANYTHING.

Not every thought deserves a full paragraph. Some are meant to be fragments. Sharp. Jarring. Unfinished. They're a stylistic choice, not a grammatical failure. Sometimes you have to let the sentence be as broken as the feeling it describes.

Some ideas won’t appear if you chase them. They show up when you finally stop obsessing, wash a few dishes, and let your brain idle like an old engine.

Revision is the art of cleaning up after the version of you who wrote the draft at 1AM, thinking it was genius. You weren’t wrong, you just weren’t done. Yet.

Writing after a holiday feels like trying to run a marathon through gravy. The mind is slow, the body is heavy, and all your best energy was spent on pie. (Which is honestly *the best* way to spend your energy. Don't @ me.)

Your assignment for today, should you choose to accept it: Open your document. Stare at it for 6 minutes. Write one single, possibly mediocre sentence. Close it. You are now officially done writing for the day. Congratulations! 🎉

Some sentences arrive like uninvited guests. Loud, dripping all over the floor, already rummaging through the kitchen. Total mess...and somehow, the best part of the party? The whole experience just becomes better because of them.

Forget the standing desk, I want gear for the *real* writing process. A helmet for all the facepalms. A pedometer for the 3AM existential pacing. A tiny, tasteful fainting couch for when you have to delete a perfect paragraph.

You can measure my stress levels by how many half-legible notes I’ve scribbled on receipts, envelopes, and one unfortunate takeout menu. Inspiration is messy, but so are writers.

The best ideas rarely arrive when you’re at your desk. They show up while you’re peeing or watching a pot boil, like they were waiting for your mind to wander far enough that they could sneak in.

Some days the words pour out. Other days it feels like you're trying to charm a feral cat with a single sardine and the promise that you really *can* be trusted.

The writing advice I need is not sexy. It's "Drink water after the third coffee." It's "Save the document before you rage-delete, just in case." It's "No, you cannot solve this plot hole by running away from your laptop and home while screaming 'Yiiiieieieieieieieieeeee' into the void."

"The truth is I’ve always loved writing so why the fuck not?" - Charli XCX

Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.

Perhaps it is because I am a delicate flower...or perhaps it is that I've been around this game long enough that I'm delicate like a b0mb...but if your pitch to me includes any whiff of a negging comment or manipulative selling tactic, I will "Mark as Spam" your message into oblivion.

The "...and here’s what it taught me about business" genre of posts aren't bad. They're just badly written.

🗝️ Glossary of the Forgotten: Veridical Ready for a word that calls out the truth without flinching, even when a lie would be more comfortable? 1/