Season of Writing I: Personal Essays

May 2022 - June 2022

Say what you will about Annie Wilkes, but she gave Paul Sheldon plenty of time to write.

I've written online inconsistently for almost ten years. (Please hold your applause.) Here are a few examples of my "work," if you'd be so charitable as to call it that:

• A re-imagining of how the Bill of Rights was written

• An essay comparing Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel to Willy Wonka

• A fictional story about the Winklevoss twins meeting Armie Hammer

• A reflection on why I don't drink

• A story about a guy who travels back in time so he’d be really good at basketball

• A short story about what Bruce Springsteen would be like in the apocalypse

• A piece on race during the summer of 2020 for our small, predominantly white town

Do you see the common thread here? (This sets me up for many jokes.) If you do, please let me know, because I don't think there is one.

I used to not dwell on what I was writing. If an idea caught my attention, I gave it a try. Putting things out there sparked little conversations with people, even with my (very) modest readership. It felt good. But the last time I posted something was January 2021. I'm overthinking.

I admire writers who have a well-defined niche. Their own genre, style, channel. That's never been me. My "writing ideas" document looks like Kyrie Irving's Wikipedia history. It's all over the place. I'm interested in many topics, forms, and mediums.

By not committing to a single thing, it felt like I was leaving my options open — but in reality, over the last year-plus, I wasn't making progress in any direction, writing-wise. My desire to find a niche froze me from doing anything.

So, here's what I'm going to do, in an effort to reach whatever the writing version of product/market fit is, and get things moving again: for May and June, I've picked a single type of writing to focus on. I'm going to write for 30 minutes each morning and publish regularly.

My focus for the next couple months: personal essays. (I need something light as spring turns into summer.) I'll post at least 5 between now and June 30. After that period is over, I'll share how the work went, and pick my next writing focus. Hopefully, after a few cycles, something sticks, or I have a direction I feel good about.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and talk soon!

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Stories Posted

5/4/22 — “Wearing Sunglasses to the Hat Store”

5/17/22 — “Tales of a Kid Entrepreneur”

6/1/22 — “What Would Happen if the Patriots Played Football Against the Cast of Remember the Titans? and Other Imagined Scenarios”

7/27/22 — “Going to the Dump With My Grandfather” (published by Seacoast Online)

9/20/22 — “Adventures in Love and Student Journalism” (published by Seacoast Online)