Control what you can control. Let the rest take care of itself. — I came across someone on Tik Tok this week. They have 10 million followers. Ten. Million. They put on makeup and 10 million people pay attention. And someone else who has 1.5 million followers. They got a book deal. I’m not going to lie. It’s hard to look at my…

It’s time for the second annual Blog-Your-Own-Book Challenge! — Last June, I thought to myself — what if we challenged everyone to write a blog post a day for one month. That morphed into something more like what if we challenged everyone to write a blog post a day for a month and turn those posts into a book? …

Meet FRED . . . — FRED is the folder for reaching the end of your draft. And he is magical. This deceptively simple little tool keeps me on track, reminds me that I’m a real writer (when I need that reminder), and makes sure I actually finish my projects. He’s my accountability buddy— and he…

An essay by Sharon Astyk. — By Sharon Astyk First published on June 22, 2022 So, a really, really important paper came out last week in Science, and it is absolutely fascinating, and also really troubling. I want to spend a few minutes on this, because everyone here needs to know what it implies. The study…

An essay by Sharon Astyk. — By Sharon Astyk First published on June 10, 2022 [ed. note: Just because your predictions aren’t SURPRISING doesn’t mean I LIKE THEM, SHAH-RAHN. — Moriarty] This will be a quick one today (for me — like I ever write anything short,) but I just wanted to give people my general…

An essay by Sharon Astyk — From Shaunta: Read toward the end to see Sharon’s predictions from a year ago — and how spot on they were. By Sharon Astyk Originally published on June 6, 2021 Despite a million novels and movies and tv shows, the reality of an apocalypse for most people is a lot…

My plans for this summer’s Independence Days Challenge. — There’s something magical about preserving food, to me. I especially love putting up small amounts of food. Just a few jars. It’s not overwhelming. It’s not too time consuming. And it’s fun to experiment. You can pickle a pound of jalapeños if you find them on sale. Or freeze a…

My plans for this summer’s Independence Days Challenge. — Harvesting is so fun. It’s a little like magic. I had a pretty good-sized container garden in Reno and I’d go out there with my basket every morning and pick what was ripe. Every night for months, we ate fresh vegetables right out of my garden. I made pints and…

An essay by Sharon Astyk — [ed. note: If you’re anything like me, you get tense whenever you see a new essay from Sharon, like, maybe we should rename the blog What Fresh Hell Is Happening Now. But sometimes we get a break. Sometimes, we get a little moment of paradise, like when the heat breaks…