Don’t blame me, they’re are only song parodies — With all due respect to Don McLean, music didn’t die at all in 1959 (the tragic plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valen), or in 1971, the year he released his historic hit “American Pie.” And it will probably go on for a long, long time, despite how strongly readers may feel that I’ve killed music with my song parodies, including a great collaboration with Mike Range in which “American Pie” takes on a whole new meaning.

For everything else, blame Mitch McConnell — I belong to the writing school of be careful what you wish for. So I was minding my business in my little corner of anonymity, not even paying attention to notifications anymore. What’s the point if all you see are people clapping for your comments? I am no longer even the literary equivalent of chopped liver. But there’s this guy, Michael Burg, MD…

Will history view the Supreme Court’s partisan decision as the day we finally went to the Dark Side? — On Twitter the response to Friday’s Supreme Court decision played out like a national Rorschach test. One famous sports writer called it “One of the worst American days of my lifetime.” Immediately, someone replied, “9/11 was worse.” The debate continues and will only get uglier. Since abortion evokes such powerful emotions, I wondered if there was a way to objectively determine which was worse, Friday’s court…

Since the media won’t own up for their bad predictions, let’s hold their feet to the fire. — With the NBA Finals complete, the media talking heads are focused on the draft to avoid their collective brain fart about the Boston Celtics. Boston had a historic mid-season turnaround where they had the best record in the league for the last three months of the season. But there were basically a .500 team against other elite teams during their hot streak, and this pattern continued in the playoffs.

Archives, lists, and email subscription promos — This is part of an occasional series giving you the inside scoop on getting the most you can from Medium. As you can see from the image above, it can feel like your writing gets flushed down a never-ending virtual drain pipe… As I wrote in last year’s art review of the Medium Writer’s Challenge logo: “If you still believe they value your work, look no further than this logo.”

Could you enjoy the same boost in 58 days?¹ — DISCLAIMER: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Individual results may vary, and testimonials are not claimed to represent typical results. Ask your writing coach or therapist if online writing advice, hacks to increase readership, and other assorted snake oil salesman offers are right for you. Side effects are common…

Why spend money on your appearance and clothes if the first thing people see is a crappy, cookie-cutter website? — I just spent three weeks designing a website for a client and feel like I wrote his biography. Because the site is for an award-winning author, we crafted every bit of text: headlines, author bio, book overviews, and choosing the best review blurbs. I suggested he write a bio for his most well-known character so new potential readers can jump into any of the books and not feel…

A song parody of Dancing Queen by Abba — The shit show that was the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2021–2022 season has come to a merciful end. Never had I hated the team I’ve loved my entire life, until this season.* This one’s for you, Russ. Drama Queen A song parody of Dancing Queen by Abba Ooh Watch him prance See him drive Crushing our team’s playoff lives Ooh, see lips curl Screw his team Dig it the drama…

Can you tell the difference between great authors and content creators? — After a particularly dumb week of stories dominated by Will Smith and Vladimir Putin, I needed a stay-away-cation. I revisited some of my favorite books and my brain rejuvenated like that wilted plant on youtube.com. I feel fresh and alive again, eager to do what I do best: ranting. So here’s the question of the day, dear reader: