J.D. Moyer

sci-fi author, beatmaker

Why Small Repairs are Important

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On March 27

In Metaprogramming

Last week I fixed two things in our house:

  1. A drawer that wouldn’t open and shut smoothly
  2. A gate latch that tended to catch and get stuck

Each repair took less than twenty minutes, including cleanup and putting my tools away.

Both problems had been bothering me every single day, for months on end. Now, I revel in the smooth action every time I open or close the drawer, or latch or unlatch the gate.

Why did it take me so long to complete both repairs?

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What Is the Limiting Factor?

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On March 21

In Creative Work/Career, Metaprogramming, Writing

In terms of reaching your goals, or progressing in a given area of your life, what is the main limiting factor?

I think it’s worth spending some time and effort to consider this question. We might have assumptions about what’s limiting or holding us back that aren’t true, or are no longer true. And we might be missing problems that could be easily addressed, thus accelerating our progress.

Time and money are common limiting factors. If you want to pursue an artistic calling, how do you find the time? And since most art doesn’t pay right away (if ever), how do we survive and support our loved ones?

These are real issues for people who want to pursue artistic ideas, start a new business, contribute to their community, or do anything that doesn’t immediately pay the bills.

So sometimes people are surprised when life provides a window of time, with ample funds to boot, and the creativity or entrepreneurship doesn’t immediately materialize. Maybe the lack of time or money wasn’t the limiting factor after all.

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Low Risk, High Reward, Lots of Dice Rolls (or Act Smarter)

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On March 14

In Metaprogramming

Nothing in the universe is truly random; reality is governed by cause and effect (at least on a macro scale). But many aspects of life appear random because we don’t have infinite knowledge or perception. There are also domains that we understand but are unable to choose or influence (such as the genes we’re born with or the interests we’re drawn to), so they might as well be random.

Sometimes we refer to the random-appearing events that happen to people as luck. Everyone has good luck and bad luck. Bad luck might manifest as illness, relationships gone sour, unemployment, investment losses, or freak accidents. Good luck might manifest as marrying well, gambling winnings, a perfect job offer, an abundance of friends, or great genetics.

Looking at these lists, it’s obvious that at least some of these things are partially within our control. Good health habits can prevent or mitigate many illnesses. Good communication skills can save a marriage.

On the other hand, bad things do happen to good people making good decisions. People are born into bad situations (war-torn countries, abusive families, etc.). Natural disasters can occur out of the blue. A drunk driver might take you out on the freeway. Some things are just completely out of our control, like the DNA within our cells (at least until we enter the science fiction realm of genetic self-determination).

So how can we best navigate the realm of luck? How can we exploit that wiggle room between “clearly within our realm of influence” and “completely out of our control”?

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Blogging in 2021 and Beyond

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On March 6

In Metablog, Writing

I didn’t post at all in February, mostly because I was working on revisions of The Last Crucible, Book 3 of the Reclaimed Earth series, which is now turned in to my editor Don D’Auria at Flame Tree Press. The cover looks beautiful and I’ll reveal that as well as the release date in the coming weeks.

The recent blogging gap did make me reflect on blogging in general. A few factors have pulled me away from posting as much as I used to:

  • Sometimes I feel a sense of cognitive dissonance when I read older posts. I started this blog twelve years ago in 2009, and I don’t always agree with my past self, or relate to him emotionally. That sense of dissonance sometimes dissuades me from writing. Whatever I write, some aspect of it will seem foolish or incorrect in the future.
  • Generally I feel less sure of myself than I did five or ten years ago. Being a father, experiencing illness and death in the family, and undergoing various personal struggles have humbled me. Many of my past posts offered advice, but who am I to give advice? Every year I’m alive I become more aware of the vast number of things I do not know.
  • A few years ago the Google algorithm sharply reduced traffic to any website discussing health issues that wasn’t an accredited medical institution. This makes a lot of sense in terms of reducing the amount of health nonsense on the internet (some of which I’ve written myself). But it did reduce overall traffic to this site significantly, which was discouraging.
  • Now that I’m officially a novelist, most of my writing time goes into writing novels.

On the other hand, there are still quite a few positive aspects to blogging:

  • This site actually generates income. My friend Rob, who taught me a scalp massage technique that helped me reverse my male-pattern hair loss to a significant degree, decided to offer me a generous commission for a couple blog posts I wrote that link to his site. So that’s nice.
  • Writing about whatever is top-of-mind helps me sort out my own thoughts. That’s always been a huge personal benefit of blogging, and that continues to be true.
  • It’s useful to have my own place on the internet where I can promote my creative work, moderate comments to my own standards, and publish whatever the hell I like.

So I’m doubling down on blogging. I have to give credit to Steve Pavlina, who published a blog post every single day in 2020, for nudging me in this direction.

My approach to blogging in 2021 will look something like this:

  • Schedule a chunk of time most Saturday mornings to write a blog post or posts.
  • Write about whatever I have something to say about in that particular moment (less planning, more pantsing).
  • As always, try to write something that offers at least some value to the reader. I’ll continue to share whatever I’m experimenting with in my life, what I’m learning, what obstacles I’m facing and how I’m navigating those problems.
  • Do my best to put whatever doubts and hesitancy I have about blogging aside, and just keep writing and posting.

This feels doable. Writing a post a week is a reasonable commitment, and I expect the rewards will vastly outweigh whatever time and effort I put in (as they have in the past).

How Was Your Decade?

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On January 4

In Personal Updates

Wow — what a decade.

For me it was a fast ten years. My forties whizzed by. Mostly good. A quick review:

Highlights

  • Being a dad/watching my child grow up.
  • Staying happily married.
  • Developing a daily writing habit and improving my craft.
  • Becoming a published science fiction author.
  • Continuing to make music with my friends.
  • Recovering my physical and mental health after some rough patches (gastritis, insomnia, anxiety-depression).
  • Developing and implementing an investment plan and getting richer, achieving a level of financial security.

Self-knowledge/lessons learned

  • For me, slow and steady is almost always the best approach. Occasional sprints are fine, but only with sufficient rest and relaxation in-between. Trying to maintain a “push” pace for extended amounts of time isn’t worth it for me, and just leads to chronic stress.
  • I need a lot of exercise to feel my best. Multiple hours of walking every day, strength exercise almost every day, and ideally some kind of competitive sport at least once a week (the latter which I have sorely missed during pandemic).
  • What feels to me like a minor expression of anger can read much larger/angrier to others, so I need to carefully control this (especially around my kid — big parenting lesson).
  • Daily meditation, even for very short amounts of time, yields outsized results (in terms of emotional clarity, creative inspiration, and stress reduction).
  • Creative expression (writing and/or music) is essential for my mental health, regardless of if those efforts lead to any kind of external success (getting published, sales, reviews, etc.).

What I’m aiming for this coming decade

  • Being a good dad, husband, son, friend, and citizen (being loving, kind, empathetic, loyal, strong, helpful).
  • Getting better at writing and making music.
  • Creating one or more “hits” — creative work that deeply connects with a very large number of people.
  • Getting physically stronger, improving my health.
  • Achieving financial freedom (a level of wealth that enables more travel, majority of income from passive sources, ability to donate large amounts to favorite charitable causes, a few luxury items).
  • Doing what I can to improve my country (less political corruption, more public wealth/investment, more critical thinking and evidence-based governance).

What about you, kind reader? What were the highlights of your last ten years? How will you make the next decade a great one?

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