My blog. Personal thoughts, anecdotes, and musings.
So you want to get good at something in a creative field like music, writing, or even coding? Folks might tell you that you need thousands of hours of study. But that’s not necessarily true. The key to getting good at something is to do it over and over while incorporating feedback along the way. Think of the one thing you’re amazing at. How long did it take you to get to your level of skill?
Every February, I participate in the RPM Challenge, a global event where musicians have the month of Febrary to write, record, and release music. This year you could choose to do a single, an EP, or a full album. I’ve completed a five song EP called “Spark”, and you can listen to it on Soundcloud. I’ve been participating in this challenge since 2011. You can find my other entries on the music page.
This week Pragprog.com is having their 40% off ebook sale. Use code turkeysale2020 to get your discount at checkout. This post will be all about some books you should buy for yourself or that nerd in your life. First, let’s get the shameless plugs out of the way. This year I wrote a book on making static web sites with Hugo which gets rave reviews. Build Websites With Hugo. I have a great book on using command line tools on mac, Linux, and WSL called Small, Sharp Software Tools.
Today marks my four year anniversary at DigitalOcean, working on the Community tutorials and the Write for DOnations program. It’s been a ridiculous four years. I started out in 2016 as a technical editor, working with external authors to create tutorials that walk readers through installing software. It was the perfect opportunity to blend my teaching experience, systems experience, and editorial experience. I would work with the author on the topic and outline, review drafts, and ensure that the article worked as written by testing out every step.
My EPs “Red Zone” and “Hack to the 80s” are available on Spotify, Apple, and Google Music.
My new book “Build Websites with Hugo” is available today in electronic format.
I’ve been working on a new tune for a few months, and today I finally had the time to finish it off. It’s got a nice mix of crunchy guitar and classic 303 sounds mixed in with more heavy drums and synths. Happy with how this turned out. Give a listen!
I’ve been working on a new tune. I decided to capture myself doing some improv with pieces of the tune.
When I was in college, I spent hundreds of hours using ReBirth, a music-making app that emulated two Roland 303 bassline synths, an 808 drum machine, and a 909 drum machine. Rebirth also had a number of effects and filters included. Unfortunately, support for ReBirth died many years ago. It doesn’t even run on macOS. If you were lucky enough to buy an iPad version a few years ago, you can still use that, but it’s no longer supported since Roland threatened to sue them so they took it off the store.
About seven months ago, I began moving this site from a WordPress setup to a static site using Hugo, which I’m writing a book on right now. There’s still a ton of work to do, but it was bugging me that I didn’t have my own place to write. I’d been delaying writing a ton of content because my site wasn’t “ready”. But “ready” is a relative term anyway, so I pulled the trigger and made the swap.