by MP MacDougall | Lifestyle Design, Writing
The following is a post I wrote in December 2011, and then promptly forgot in an obscure folder on my computer. It was originally intended for my previous blog, but I thought it might fit in here as well. It’s interesting to read what was going through my head more than a year ago, and to measure that against steps I’ve taken since then. Read on…
I have been richly blessed for the past two plus decades to have a career that I honestly enjoy, and that to this point has had the benefit of being different most every day. I work with people who generally share my sense of humor and sarcasm, which goes a long way toward relieving any potential tedium. I am lucky enough that my lovely bride is able to stay home and nurture our two children, which is one of the great dreams of my life – being able to partner with my wife to raise our own kids without having to hire someone else to do it. We have a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, and (at least in my irritatingly obvious case) more than enough food to eat.
Which begs the question: (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Editing, Writing
When I was in high school (about a hundred years ago) I was forced against my will to read many of the “classics” of American literature. Unlike most of my friends at the time, I loved reading, but like most high school students of any era, I hated being required to read books that I never would have picked up on my own. One book that caused me more irritation than most was Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.
I distinctly recall having heated verbal arguments with my English teacher along the following lines: (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Productivity, Writing
Nick Thacker at Live Hacked has a great post about how Scrivener can help writers to organize not only their thoughts, but their projects as well. Nick does a much better job explaining the capabilities of Scrivener than I ever could, so check his post for all the details. For the condensed version, suffice it to say that I bought the full Scrivener program after using the 30-day free trial for just two days. I would have bought it after the first day, but I got distracted by something or other (LOOK! A SQUIRREL!!! Dang adult ADD). (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Lifestyle Design, Writing
Sometimes I really hate myself. Not in the sense of “My butt is too big” hate myself (my butt is perfectly sized for sitting on), or “Why can’t I be six-foot-five?” hate myself (I already have enough knee problems, thank you very much); but something more along the lines of “How did I let myself get this comfortable?” hate myself. My particular strain of disappointed self-loathing stems from the fact that in the quest to be a good provider for my family, I have fallen into the age old trap of “A Good Job with Retirement Benefits.” It occurs to me that although securing oneself on the all-important career path may seem like an appropriate exercise for anyone with any shred of responsibility and/or ambition, in actuality it is easy for that same career to become much like a narcotic, preventing a person from taking any sort of risk and ensuring that he stays on that career track to the exclusion of other less lucrative, secure, or dare I say it, fulfilling life choices. (more…)
