Matthew's Blog
Prepping for The San Francisco Writers Conference: Agent Meetings
I am meeting with three literary agents at the upcoming San Francisco Writers Conference. My manuscript is two months away from being submission-ready, so this is not a formal pitch; for me it’s just an opportunity for me to get the lay of the land. So, is it silly...
WEBB Watching
I took an hour out of my day yesterday to watch the first images from the WEBB telescope revealed. I am well aware of the ongoing social and political issues of today. I understand the issues surrounding our current political, economic, and physical climate. Yet,...
Judging A Pizza (Book) by It’s Box (Cover)
There's an old saying: Don't judge a book by its cover. For the most part—when it comes to people—I think this holds true. But when it comes to books (and pizzas) the cover (box) is probably the strongest indicator of the content inside. Why? Because the quality of...
Laptop Stickers
The stickers placed on a person’s go-to laptop—or the lack of them—tells you a little something about the user. I'm hoping mine suggest a sense of intellectual and creative playfulness.
Negativity, Disinformation, And Twitter Networks
We know that false news spread faster than true stories online ( Study: On Twitter, false news travels faster than true stories). We also know that negativity spreads faster than positivity online (Outrage Spreads Faster on Twitter: Evidence from 44 News Outlets). So,...
Squareness: Life Is Better In Flip Flops
I picked up this small piece of handcrafted art in Hawaii. There’s not much to it— a square, white frame, a square, yellow mat board with a handwritten quote, and a square, hand-drawn image with sparkles. Oddly enough, I love it. But why? Well, after some thought, I...
The Danger of Curiosity
There are so many things I’m curious about, that I want to learn about, that I want to read. A short list: I want to study theories of causality. I want to learn Ancient Greek. I want to read all of Nietzsche. I want to be familiar with each of Plato’s works. I want...
Caution: Misattributing Quotes
I love the quote: You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.Plato The only problem is, there's no proof that he ever said or wrote these words. ( For more info about this, check out the excellent blog post by The Quote...
Why—as a Writer—I Spend Time on Flickr?
Why do I, as a writer, spend time on Flickr? There are a few reasons: I love creating black and white photographs, and Flickr is a means of sharing these photographs. Engraving the habit of publishing and sharing my creative projects is a great habit for any creative,...