I build my books using Pandoc these days. I used to use LaTeX directly, but Pandoc is better because I can write in markdown (clean+easy) then compile to epub and pdf for ebooks and paperbacks (pipeline). Even though I’m writing in markdown, I can still use an include for custom LaTeX packages and configuration. This is very cool, because I can customize the paperback PDF to look really great. The problem is, I forget all the cool LaTeX I’m supposed to use. ...

I saw this tweet go by a few weeks back: For aspiring writers: Your ultimate goal isn't building a writing habit. It's falling so in love with interesting ideas that you can’t help but tell the world about them. Writing is the medium—not the objective. — Julian Shapiro (@Julian) February 23, 2025 Specifically the line: It’s falling so in love with interesting ideas that you can’t help but tell the world about them. ...

My wife and I were talking to our eldest son about plagiarism, e.g. copy-paste from chatgpt. Not that he does it, but he was arguing that “no one can tell”. We talked about how it is an easy thing to do right now but it will hurt you in the long term. I blurted out: “easy now, hard later” Very nice, I thought to myself. So self-satisfied :| I then linked it to many things in his life: ...

I am playing around with LLMs as beta readers for my novella. It’s really fun. But they are way too nice. I upload the entire text, give them a detailed persona and books they like that are like my story and then ask for good/bad/etc feedback on each part/act/chapter/etc. The personas are coarse-grained. More “people who like these books and movies…” rather than a specific personal history. I used thinking models, specifically I tried grok3+thinking and gpto1. ...

I’m a big fan of British TV show Utopia (2013). I’ve seen it 3-4 times by now. I can’t say why. I think it’s the color, the music, the earnestness. It’s probably the opening scene of the first episode that really hooked me. The two killers (Arby and Lee) let themselves into a closed comic book shop. One (Arby) asks the clerk questions, the other (Lee) calmly walks from person to person, killing them. ...

I’m editing something right now. My mantra is: “Remove the boring.” I read the piece again and again and again. As soon as my attention starts to drift: “Boring!” I start skipping over lines: “Boring!” I detect any repetition in the immediate vicinity: “Boring!” I then come back and cut. Hack. Slash. Trim. Nothing is deleted. Instead content is moved to a scratch document. It may be resurrected in the future. Who knows? ...

I’m a fan of Solaris by Stanisław Lem. I’ve probably read the book a dozen times. Here’s a terse synopsis from Grok3: Solaris by Stanisław Lem is a science fiction novel published in 1961. Set in the distant future, it follows psychologist Kris Kelvin, who arrives at a space station orbiting the mysterious planet Solaris. The planet’s vast, sentient ocean possesses the ability to probe the minds of the station’s crew and materialize physical manifestations of their memories and subconscious desires. For Kelvin, this takes the form of his deceased wife, Rheya, forcing him to confront unresolved guilt and grief. ...

I read a lot of books, but yesterday, I was thinking that I read too much. I finished reading The Invisible College by Jacques Vallée. Now, he’s a hard scientist and pretty critical, but he still says wild shit. But rather than get all riled up, I just shrug. In fact, I’d be happy to read more of his books. I see it all as entertainment. Something to consume and think about. It may as well be a scifi book. ...

The Netflix mini-series Midnight Mass was fun. I like pretty much everything that Mike Flanagan puts out. The midnight club was probably better, the fall of the house of usher was probably not quite as good. And on. But my favorite part of Midnight Mass? It was when we see how the old priest meets the “angel” in the desert. From R1: Pruitt, who is much older and suffering from dementia at the time, is on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. During a sandstorm, he becomes separated from his group and stumbles into a remote cave. Inside, he discovers a strange, winged creature that appears both angelic and monstrous. The creature is pale, emaciated, and has large, bat-like wings, but it also exudes an otherworldly, almost divine presence. ...

I re-read House of Leaves over the last few nights. Not all of it, just Navidson’s story as told by Zampano and as put together by Johnny. I skipped the footnotes, I skipped Johnny’s story, I skipped the Whalestoe Letters. Navidson’s story is fun. It’s also a quick read. If it were a novella, it would be great. Maybe the experts have other options, but I don’t think the footnotes of fake academic citations add anything. I don’t think doing fancy tricks with the text helps (well, maybe on the first reading). ...