I get money from advertisers. That’s how I feed myself and my wife. It’s scary. Especially when I lose an advertiser. Especially when tax season comes around and I have a big chunk of money to pay out of pocket. I’ve been freaking out a bit lately. I’ve been trying to sell a house that’s…
My wife lies to people. When they ask me what I do for a living, she either dodges the question or spits out a simplified answer. “He makes websites and graphics.” She doesn’t mean to lie. She just doesn’t want to take the time and explain what I do. Because, frankly, I’m not even sure…
I’m coming to a realization that almost everyone is bad at communication. I get emails – from allegedly English-speaking people – that I simply can’t decipher. I listen to preachers that lose me with their illustrations. I watch shows like Honey Boo Boo and rely heavily on the subtitles to follow the story (or lack…
Ya ya, it’s New Years Eve. Whoopdie fricken doo. I hate holidays. I hate Fridays. I hate vacations. I have work to do. And I’m excited about my work. Every day I’m supposed to relax is a day I can’t get things done. And that, my friend, is why I hate holidays. I’m convinced if…
Remember when I told you a couple weeks ago about my friend who said my writing was “mediocre at best”? He didn’t realize he was talking about my writing. But he was. And the thing that made this all so much worse is that this friend was my brother. My brother. The guy I looked…
When I was about seven years old I fell into a sewer. Really. I was hopping out of our 1985 Chevy Suburban, miscalculated my step, and fell into a ditch containing raw sewage. Was it smelly? Yes. In Guatemala, where we lived at the time, they ran their sewage through ditches on the sides of…
I just finished first drafts for two new books I’ve been working on. I didn’t plan for the two to happen on the same day. But I inadvertently scheduled it that way. And now is when the doubt sets in. Are these even any good? Is my head full of doo doo nobody wants to…
I have two fatal flaws. The first: I’m super sensitive. I was a cry baby as a kid. If someone said something that hurt my feelings, I turned into Eeyore in a few seconds. I’d cry. A dark cloud followed me around all day. It was messy. The second flaw: I can be super manipulative.…
Whether you’re young, new to the field, or new to your job, you may find it difficult to be heard as a creative. You may have great ideas, but nobody seems willing to listen. So how do you get heard as a creative? What steps can you take? 1. Be Available – Hang around and be…
Every morning at 9am my phone vibrates at least 20 times. That’s my to do list agitating my pocket, letting me know how much I have to do that day. It gets frustrating, because I really only need to do about 4 or 5 things each day to keep my sites running successfully. I need…