Why I’m Here
I was asked to write the final poem in my high school yearbook. That was the moment I decided: I’m the writer. That’s the thing.
Twenty-something years later, I lead brand and content at a startup. I write Q&As for executives I haven’t interviewed. I approve copy I don’t feel anything about. I ghostwrite op-eds for people I haven’t actually talked to about the topic. Half my job is writing things that sound like someone else. Somewhere between the content calendars and the OKRs, I stopped writing. Not for work — for me.
I miss the messiness. The late-night stuff that goes nowhere but still feels like progress somehow. A few months ago I sat down, honestly kind of terrified I’d lost it completely, and wrote a song in one sitting. It was good. I just knew, the way you know when something’s actually good and not just fine.
So the thing’s still alive. It just needed somewhere to go.
This is that place. No content pillars. No SEO. No “5 Ways to Whatever.” I’m going to think out loud here about creative work, leadership, what happens when the guy shaping a company’s whole voice can’t find his own. Some of it’s going to be rough. That’s kind of the point.
And maybe, occasionally, a guitar metaphor.