I owe you an explanation, and possibly an apology.
For several years before my second marriage, I was a political blogger. Not a small one. I had opinions, I had an audience, and I had a lot of energy to spend on topics that were, in retrospect, a useful substitute for conversations I couldn’t have at home. Arguing on the internet is surprisingly effective therapy when the alternative is arguing with someone who doesn’t argue back so much as they reload.
My first marriage was toxic, and my kids deserved better than I could give them. I was a blind stubborn jerk who wouldn’t let go no matter how badly it burned me. Part of that was growing up with “Failure in the Home” as a cultural verdict, not just a personal one.
Apparently some habits go deeper than you think.
I came to Substack with a clear purpose. My Substack presence was supposed to be about two things: the craft and business side of writing under Architecting the Writing Room, and the creative work itself through Vampires of Tucson. I had a pipeline, a vision, and a methodology I wanted to document.
Then I got sidetracked when I found out I could publish to ELFrederick as well. I had no plan for this channel, so I wrote whatever was on my mind. I fell back into the angry voice I had over a decade and a half ago. I don’t like that me anymore.
Shiny thing syndrome is the productivity consultant’s name for it. You start something with a clear goal, then something adjacent catches your attention, and suddenly you’re building a whole new thing and wondering why the original project stalled. The political/apologetics posts felt relevant. They weren’t.
This is the apology. Not for having opinions (I have plenty and I’m keeping them), but for losing the plot. The apologetics posts were the internet equivalent of reorganizing your desk instead of writing.
Growing pains, orientation issues. I’ve removed them. I have more pressing and better things to talk about.
Trying to be man enough to admit when I’ve fucked up.
Going forward this is about Vampires of Tucson and the methodology that produced it. It’s about what human-AI collaboration looks like when you refuse to accept mediocrity. That’s the mission. Consider this the course correction.
Claude has instructions to slap me around with a large wet trout if I go off the rails again.
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