I went looking for the history of the Yule log.
I found cake.
New WILF hit inboxes this morning! 📮
20.12.2025 15:26
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I went looking for the history of the Yule log.
I found cake.
New WILF hit inboxes this morning! 📮
Final call for my Seasonal Review workshop. We start tomorrow.
It's small. It's live. It's for writers who are done with the chaotic guesswork.
Last chance to grab a spot if you want in.
The way I'm constantly wondering "Am I freakishly gifted with the power of déjà vu or is this a post I've already seen that someone copied and stole and published as their own?"
My writing workshop this Thursday is basically:
We sit down. We look at the year. We say "huh" and "oh" and "right, THAT'S what happened."
Then we make a plan that doesn't assume you'll turn into a different person in January.
That's it. That's the pitch.
PSA: If you haven't done your year-end writing review yet, you're not behind.
You're normal! It's December 17th, not December 31st.
But if you'd like to do it, with a bit of structure and zero shame, we start Thursday:
craftcontent.podia.com/the-seasonal...
Why do a year-end review?
So you can start January (and the new year) knowing what you're working with, not just what you're working toward.
craftcontent.podia.com/the-seasonal...
I don't want to "crush" my writing goals. I want to understand them. Maybe befriend them? Make them a nice cup of tea and sit down to chat a bit about how warm and cozy and delightful the world can be.
Is that so weird?
(If it's not weird, maybe join our quiet review this week.)
Well...that was a painful painful PAINFUL meeting with a business coach. Being told out loud that you are a failure, and that you need to just accept that and move on...it hurts. But, when you know it's true, I guess that makes it a little more bearable?
Alright, writers. Quick poll! If you had to sum up your 2025 writing life in one word right now, what would it be?
1. Blurry Chaos
2. Ugh, Stalled
3. Surprisingly ok?
4. Crushin' It, Bro
(No judgment. One of my drafts simply says: "Crumbs")
And yes, "rage bait" is two words. But together, they form what is called an "Open Compound." This is usually a noun that is comprised of two words separated by a space, but functioning as one word or concept.
Like high school, ice cream, common sense...the list goes on!
That said, Dictionary .com putting out the totally sloppish choice of "67" as their Word of the Year choice is rage bait...and you only recognize that if you have been paying attention to see why the other choices matter. 😉
I actually agree with the Word of the Year choices from Oxford ("rage bait") and Merriam-Webster ("slop") because they are important to describing what we needed to know about in 2025.
Y'all know that Bob Cratchit wasn't the example Dickens put forward for destitution, right?
He was a middle class office worker. Folks were working in factories and fields for half his salary.
Take a look at those two children in the robes: the results of a society running on Ignorance and Want.
“This project failed” is an event.
“I am a failure” is an identity.
But damn is it easy to slide into making that event your identity.
This week’s WILF tries to answer one question using a very old machine: how do you figure out where you are when you can't you fully explain everything around you?
If you’re into mysteries, moon/sun/star light, or writers trying to make sense of their place in it all, the issue is in your inbox! 📬
I built this because I needed it.
If your writing life needs more grace and clarity, join me.
If you've got it all figured out, you wanna share that and a piece of gum with the rest of the class‽
We need an update to "Robber Barons" cause we don't really use the term barons anymore.
I'm personally a fan of "Robber Moguls", "Robber Titans", or "Robber Shorties."
Your writing life is weirder, softer, and more alive than any productivity template.
Let’s plan it accordingly, eh? craftcontent.podia.com/the-seasonal...
Tomorrow’s WILF is all about that kind of orientation. The kind that helps a writer feel their place in time long before they can explain it: www.craftyourcontent.com/wilf-newslet...
A strange little machine from a shipwreck has been whispering in my ear. It tracked cycles, predicted eclipses, and reminded its makers that they belonged to something larger than a single planet.
This is your annual reminder that writers have seasons…
…and planning your year like a machine is a great way to burn out by February.
Come do it the human way. ❄️
Microsoft Teams Wrapped 2025. You:
🖐️raised your hand instead of reacting 315 times
🙊 spoke while on mute 183 times
💻 spent 219 minutes trying to share your screen
🎙️ were in the top 2% of people who only unmuted to say "Thanks" at the end of meetings with more than 5 attendees.
And while he said it more poetically (this is why we need artists and actual unique thinkers!), Dickens didn't just think that up on his own, he based it on a real person's comments. If you want to learn about a REAL piece of shit: economist Thomas Malthus
Charles Dickens did not write "If they would rather die...they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population" in 1843 for us to be whining "Has any civilization had it as bad as MEEEEEE‽" in 2025.
Welcome to the club!! It's the best. 💞 Do you have an auntie name yet? Or will you let the name find you?
Because I live on the edges of a Hallmark movie, I just got back from the area Christmas parade with fire trucks, the local civic clubs, the little league, and Santa on an 18-wheeler trailer covered in lights. 🤶
Weekend reminder for those who need it: Your mind is still writing, even when your hands aren’t.
Look, it's gotta be grEy not grAy, because the Grateful Dead have never led us astray before.
Shout out to all the folks so good at putting on a brilliant show with a smiling face; who have cycled through therapists and coaches that all shrug and say "But you seem to be doing so well!" while you hysterically sob and snot onto a Zoom screen.
If you’ve got two candles in the house, put them next to each other tonight and watch what happens. Then read tomorrow’s WILF to learn why.
That’s all I’m saying.
(Oh, also, I'm finally back on my WILF rhythm: www.craftyourcontent.com/wilf-newslet...)