Nothing good happens inside my head. Decent things happen here, on formerly blank pages and screens.
Read moreThis is a Bad Idea
This blog is a bad idea.
Read moreHiatus
Alright. It’s time for a bit of a break.
Read moreStory Spotlight: You’re The Worst – Part III
Clearly, I can’t get this show out of my head. And my motivation to write right now is that I won’t let myself watch the second season until I finish analyzing the first. But rest assured, once I schedule this blog to post, I’m diving right in.
Read moreStory Spotlight: You’re The Worst – Part II
In my last post, I started to dig into “You’re the Worst,” a half-hour comedy on FXX about two terrible people in a relationship with one another. In this post, I continue thinking out loud about the show
Read moreStory Spotlight: You’re The Worst – Part I
Last week, I discovered a new show and blew through the first season. (I love it when that happens.) The show is called “You’re the Worst,” and it’s on FXX. For whatever reason, I have been analyzing the hell out of it, and it is an incredibly well done show. Maybe that’s why I can’t stop analyzing it? Regardless, it’s an irreverent half hour comedy and I’ve been thinking about it like it’s the next “Breaking Bad.”
Read moreOn Your Mark, Get Set, Go
There is a huge difference between sitting down to write a blog “today” or “this weekend” or “tonight” and sitting down to write a blog in the next 45 minutes. What is that difference you ask? Well, at the end of 45 minutes, you actually have a finished blog.
Read moreThe Blossoming of Fear
Up until about 11 or 12 years old, I loved roller coasters. Just about whatever it was, I’d ride it. I got to ride roller coasters every year, because the camp I went to every summer would take us on a field trip to Dorney Park. I rode Steel Force. Which meant I could ride just about anything.
Read moreA Convenient (and Convincing) Lie
My constant challenge is to overcome the urge to quit. Not in a big, grandiose, “I’m done with this whole writing thing” sort of way (though that no doubt comes up a lot, just not constantly), but in a “stop, just for right now.”
Read moreGetting Organized
So if you want to be a professional, you’ve got to walk the walk, right? With that in mind, I decided to try and bring a little professionalism to my writing this week.
Read moreStory Spotlight – Locke & Key: Head Games
If anyone ever asks you if there’s more to comic books than super heroes, give them a copy of the first volume of Locke & Key, written by Joe Hill with art by Gabriel Rodriguez. Six volumes in all, Locke & Key is an excellent story, and one of my favorite in any medium. It’s a series I’ll likely come back to for more Story Spotlights in the future. Today, I’d like to look at a scene from the second volume of the series, “Head Games.”
Read moreThis Feels Like a Sham
I gotta be honest. Writing this blog feels like a sham. It feels like I am scooping out some shit from the back of my brain, and leaving it here for all of you (all five of you) to sift through. I am writing this blog tonight after laying on the floor and staring up at the ceiling, then promptly getting up and going to shave because the whole laying on the floor staring at the ceiling thing was a little too intense.
Read moreThe Clean Slate Mirage
Today is the first of the month. If you’re expecting it to impart some kind of magic, you’re going to be let down.
Read moreThere is Always More – Part 2: The Temptation of Productive Procrastination
“More” doesn’t just lurk in the empty space of blank pages. “More” is insidious, and it’s just as likely to stop you from ever starting your work as it is to convince you that the work you do is never enough. Just as there is always more to write, there is always more to do before writing.
Read moreThere is Always More – Part 1: Enough is Enough
If there’s one universal truth I’ve discovered in the course of endeavoring to do more, it’s this: there is always more to do. No matter how productive a day, a week, a month, or even a year may be, you can always take things further, accomplish more, set things up for the next go-round. It’s absolutely, positively maddening.
Read moreStory Spotlight – The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Story Spotlight will be a recurring feature on Nick Writes where I dive into a story I love, hate, or just find something noteworthy in. It’s a nice break from talking about my own experiences writing, and an opportunity to look a little more closely at other people’s work.
Read moreCHA-CHING
I had another topic cued up for tonight, but then something happened for the first time that seemed like a good subject for a Nick Writes post—I got paid! For writing!
Read moreDown to the Wire
If you consistently leave things to the last minute, eventually you're going to come up short and miss your deadline. After kicking Nick Writes off by having the first few blogs ready in advance, I fell into the habit of leaving them for Tuesday night. And I hit my deadlines. So I got cocky.
Read moreUsing a Hammer to Bludgeon Yourself
That the internet is a major distraction in modern life is not a surprise to anyone who’s spent more than five minutes with internet access. What’s truly shocking, however, is how wide a gulf there is between what’s possible with the internet, and what is actually accomplished.
Read moreQuestions
I ask a lot of questions. I always have. I like learning about new things, especially things I know nothing about.
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