Small things you can do quickly — At the time of writing this post, I’ve passed 26,000 unread emails on my phone. I have 32 Chrome tabs open, 49 of my iPhone apps are waiting to update, and there are 8 people awaiting a reply back from me across my social apps. I also have 6,936 pictures…

And it doesn’t matter — All right. Now that you’re here, I’ll qualify my statement — nobody knows what the hell they’re talking about for the most part and it doesn’t really matter. I hope that that is enough a compromise that we’re on the same page. I recently had this thought that if my…

And why I’m okay with that — If I could have a conversation with 18-year-old me, this is how I imagine it would go: Younger Allison: So . . . what do you do? Me: Well, I only have a very part-time job as a writing tutor. …

Relatable but terrible tendencies — You’ve probably read plenty of articles detailing how to be a more productive and successful person in today’s world. I don’t know about you, but the main thing these articles make me feel is shame. I am not inspired when I read about how great other people are doing. …

She sat in the same spot every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for our Physics II lectures, two rows in front of me and three seats to the right. I half-listened to our severely balding professor drone on about circuits while trying not to look at her. I didn’t know her…

A poem inspired by Answerthepublic —

And no, I’m not including Pinterest — I recently turned to the Apple app store for writing inspiration. An unconventional source, maybe, but I’m also a newbie user of Pinterest and I’ve found its endless stream of ideas to be very inspiring. In my tinkering, I’ve found three apps that I think I’ll continue to use AND…

Sometimes the crowd is right — I’m the type of person who, while I crave inspiration as much as anyone else, will have a knee-jerk disgust reaction at the first sight of an inspirational quote. “Hang in there!” Yeah, right. Emphasis on the hang. Yet as I grow older, I find that some of these quotes…

Concerns about editing algorithms — There’s a lot to be said in favor of meticulous editing and proofreading your work. I myself want to be a copy editor for my career. But there’s something insidious lurking behind some editing software out there. Or, more accurately — there’s something insidious in our over-application and dependence on…