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Notes on story, voice, and the market.

Recent essays from joanwestenberg.com, updated automatically as new posts go live. Written to be argued with.

  1. Essay

    The Heretic's Guide to Conviction

    Stop Selling Your Skills. Become a Heretic For Hire.

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  2. Essay

    I Deleted My Calendar Link. And I’m Never Going Back

    A Calendar Is Not a Marketplace

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  3. Essay

    5 Rules for a Second Brain You’ll Actually Use

    Tend a Garden, Don't Fill a Warehouse

    Read on joanwestenberg.com →
  4. Essay

    Heretics for Hire

    Stop Selling Your Skills. Sell Your Heresy.

    Read on joanwestenberg.com →
  5. Essay

    Why 500 Words Beats 5,000 in the Age of AI

    Short Is the New Long

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  6. Essay

    Your Book Body-Count Is Worthless

    Read Like It Matters (Because It Does)

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  7. Essay

    Never Let Yourself Graduate.

    The Most Dangerous Thing School Teaches You: That Learning Ends

    Read on joanwestenberg.com →
  8. Essay

    You Are a Peach Tree. Beareth Thou Peaches.

    Your Creative Anxiety As a Gardening Problem

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  9. Essay

    You Won't Make It. It Makes You.

    In Praise of the Day-to-Day Crap

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  10. Essay

    The Case for Minimum Viable Faith

    Why We Convince Ourselves We’ve Missed the Window

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  11. Essay

    Avoidance Is a Short-Term Loan with Predatory Interest

    The 3 Horsemen of Not Doing S**t

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  12. Essay

    Stop Trying to Build a Unicorn. Start Cockroachmaxxing.

    My Mantra: Don't Die.

    Read on joanwestenberg.com →