I was in Brooklyn, New York the other day and walked my kid’s dog to the bodega to get a sandwich. If you’re not familiar, a bodega is a corner convenience store/delicatessen crammed into the smallest space imaginable. They offer one of everything in...
I’m writing you from Brooklyn, New York, where I’m visiting my kid. Things are strange here compared to the suburbs of Lansing, but the basics still work fine. Smile at someone’s dog as they walk by and you get a smile back, either from the dog or th...
A new book is making the rounds of popularity in the circles where I hang out (Twitter and Substack) as writer after writer proclaims the book’s awesomeness. It’s Slow Productivity by Cal Newport, and I’m never going to read it. It’s not that I think...
I try to plan my months, weeks, and days. Every morning, I pick out stuff to get done, and mostly I make progress, chipping away at my novels, humor, and essays. Then a tick walks across my face at three o’clock in the morning and my world quickly sh...
Last week, we saw a movie (Hey, Viktor!) at the local film festival and it’s a hoot. It’s about a child actor who has hit rock bottom in adulthood, acting in porn, alcoholic, and about to lose his family. It’s a dark comedy and the strong sense of hu...
This past week, I bought myself an Atari “Gamestation Pro.” It has all the old Atari 2600 games, including classics from the arcades, such as Asteroids. It’s a lot of fun and was pretty close to a no-brainer for me, as I bought an open-box at a steep...
It’s spring break for most schools here in Lansing, so it’s quiet at the office and quiet in the hood. A lot of people I know have traveled to Florida. Good for them. May they find fun in the sun, and enjoy a good book on the beach. Reading on the be...
On the evening of the most recent Picayune, exactly two weeks ago, I was in my basement exercising and threw out my back. It was a pulled muscle and I felt the fibers tear as the pain exploded and sent me to my knees. Luckily, I was near one of the s...
When I first decided to become a writer, at the age of 17, I suffered from Dunning-Kruger Effect about writing. If you’re not familiar, Dunning-Kruger means your ignorant about, or bad at, something, but you think you’re excellent at it. It’s a cogni...