2025.08.DisappearingMoment
I hope there is something that you love to do as much as I love to write. For me, it is the perfect balance of difficult and rewarding.
Beth and I went to the Omega Institute earlier this month. While she took a workshop, I had a self-led writing retreat. It was a dream fulfilled.
We would arrive at campus by 7:45 a.m. and I would write until 5:30 or 6:00 each evening. I took breaks for lunch, meditated once or twice each day, and ran the Omega trails twice. Other than that, I wrote and edited short stories.
My goal was to complete at least one that I would submit for publication, and try to complete two. I completed three, and abandoned a fourth after working and reworking it for a day.
I set them aside when we got home. I revisited the three complete stories this weekend to ensure they're ready. I plan to submit them to journals this week.
The odds are against these stories. I learned near the end of my retreat that one of Beth's classmates at Omega has an MFA from an elite writing program. This writer said they average 90 rejections for every successful publication.
I look forward to having these stories get rejected. And others, many others. I want to write dozens of stories that I like and have each of them collect rejections, too.
Writing is the right balance of difficult and rewarding for me. Whether editors publish my stories is immaterial. I love writing things that matter to me.
What story could matter more to me, as a writer, than one that I would subject, if necessary, to repeated rejection? It isn't the rejection that I want. No one wants rejection. What I want is the confidence to know that I won't like writing any less if it happens. That I will do work that I like doing, even if it isn't what other people want to publish in their journals.
Welcome to August 2025’s Disappearing Moment, an inventory of my experiences. I hope you enjoy it.
Podcasts
Front Page Fitness (I Liked It): Eric Trexler is the Michael Hobbes of strength training. He and Lauren Colenso-Semple are developing a strong collaboration. And becoming some of my favorite teachers.
Nerdy Software
I write my notes, fiction, and Disappearing Moment in Bear. It works on my phone, iPad, and Macs, and it's accessible through browsers now, too.
Free Font
Vollkorn is a passion project. Friedrich Althausen “love(s) sailing, cycling, canoeing, choir singing and (his) kids.” Also type design: res ipsa loquitur.
Bougie Products
When I travel, I miss good toilet paper. Spending less on toilet paper is not how I want to save money.
Personal Finance and Investing
Most art is a bad investment, more burden than treasure. Increase your satisfaction by buying art, in person, from the artist who made it.
Reading
Brett Berk, “You Don’t Need A Full-Size Pickup Truck, You Need a Cowboy Costume” (I Loved It): “All Cars Are Drag”!!! If you drive, get a smaller, less expensive, unflashy car. Help the earth and make your life easier.
Philip Bump, “The Power We Use and the Power We Give” (I Liked It): Don’t follow writers who use Substack or Twitter, and avoid posts on either platform.
Ana Marie Cox, “I Wanted to Be Friends With You” (I Liked It): Parasocial friendships. People loving your art even if you don’t. Risking kindness, enthusiasm, and vulnerability.. These are a few of my favorite things.
António Guterres, “Secretary-General's remarks to the Informal Meeting of the General Assembly Plenary on the UN80 Initiative” (I Loved It): Doing bureaucracy well demands humility, discernment, sobriety, and vigilance. It’s tempting to be dismissive, to try shortcuts and hacks. Which always leads to catastrophe.
Dan Harris, 10% Happier (2014) (I Liked It): I started my ten days at Omega with a three-day meditation workshop with Jeff Warren . This book prepared me for the workshop.
Amy Amla Kartar, Toru Horinouchi, et al, “Neurobiological substrates of altered states of consciousness induced by high ventilation breathwork accompanied by music” (I Liked It): While I wrote stories, Beth studied breathwork. Altered states of consciousness, 30 students, 8 days, led by an ex-actor from Kentucky. What could go wrong?
Anthony Moser, “I Am an AI Hater” (A Personal Favorite): “Incoherent empty men want to sell me the chance to stop reading and writing and thinking… to stop choosing what I do or knowing why I do it.”
Iris van Rooij, “AI slop and the destruction of knowledge” (I Liked It): See also, “Gell-Mann amnesia effect.” Lie to me, Pinocchio. Lie. To. ME!
Timothy D. Wilson, David A. Reinhard, et al, “Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind” (I Loved It): Matt Levine’s favorite study. People will give themselves painful electric shocks to avoid sitting alone in silence. As a new, daily meditator, I relate.
Jamie Zawinski, “LOL Github” (I Liked It): “The Clown is just someone else's computer and they can and will fuck you.” See also, Gmail, Google Calendar, and, bless your heart, Google Search.
There were 10 responses to last month’s question, which was, “Do you like surveys?”:
“Yes, I adore surveys. I hope this becomes a regular feature.” (9)
“No. I never respond to them or care about others' opinions.” (1)
Words and phrases that I try to avoid: Compiled and Updated
Previously:
Do you know how I can configure an editor to notify me when I use one of these words? I’ve been working on this problem for a couple of years. My next experiment: Nova and Vale. (Thanks, Jenn, for suggesting Nova.)
100%
a-game
actionable
actually
adamant
advise
all right/alright
although
amazing
and more
antioxidant
anymore
anyway
articulate (meaning fluent)
ask (as a noun)
aura
baller
balls
barf
basically
belch
bitch
blessed
blow
boob
boss
busy
but
capitalism
cellulite
chef’s kiss
chick
chip
chit
circle back
civil (meaning polite)
clan
clearly
codependent
comprise
concerned (meaning bigoted)
contagious
content (meaning text, images, audio, video, etc.)
cool
cradle to…
creator
crepuscular
cringe
cripple
crushing
cuisine
cuss
damn
deck (meaning presentation)
deliverable
destiny
dialog(ue)
disrupt
done
douche
ducks in a row
dude
dumb
easy
eclectic
elucidate
emasculate
empower
enshittification
enthusiast
epic (as an adjective)
essentially
etc.
evangelist
exacerbate
execute
fake
fine
first mover
folks
forte
frankly
freshman or freshmen
from [X] to [Y]
from hell
game changer
generation
gentlemen
GOAT
god
gourmet
groovy
gross
guru
guy(s)
gyp
hack
hashtag
haunt
headhunter
hella
hey
hopefully
hostile
howdy
however
huge
ideate
impact
inconsiderate
inconsolable
individual
inflammation
influencer
innovative
insatiable
intellectual property
interesting
intimate (as a verb)
it is what it is
jam (indicating preference)
jawn
jell
jerk
jolly
jowl
just
karma
keister
key
killer (indicating superiority)
kind of
king
ladies
laid
lame
lean in
learning(s)
leverage
liberal
like
listserv
literally
lord
loser
mad
magic
maiden
manipulative
mankind
master
maximize
may or may not
ma’am
me and
meme
merry
moan
move the needle
musing(s)
myriad
myself
nauseous
needs (verb) (omitting the words, “to be”)
neoliberal (and neoconservative)
next generation
ninja
nowadays
obese
obviously
of course
offline
okay/OK
on steroids
opine
optimize
out of pocket
outside the box
oversee
overweight
pain point
paradigm
passive aggressive
patron
PC
per se
pimp
ping
piss
poop
porn
powwow
pray(ers)
precipitous
presto
pretty
primitive
proactive
prognosticate
puke
purchase
qi (or ch’i or karma)
quaint
quest
quite
random
reach out
reactive
regards
reimagine
reinvent
resonate
respectfully
retch
right size
robust
rock star
sacred cow
savage
savior
scrappy
servant
shitty
shoot
signage
simple
sir
sissy
slave
slut
so (meaning very)
sort of
spark
spearhead
special
spunk and spunky
stammer
stan
state of the art
stupid
suddenly
sugarcoat
surface (as a verb)
symbiotic
synergy
talent
tendril
thanks in advance
though
thought leader
tolerant
totally
totem pole
touch base
toxic
tribe
truly
trust me
truthfully
turd
turgid
tweet, tweeted, tweetstorm, etc.
um
uncertain(ty)
unique
utilize
unlock
veneer
verbiage
verbings (e.g. appending -ize)
vibe
viral
visionary
voila
vomit
warpath
warrior
whatnot
wheelhouse
wherewithal
whine
whinge
whore
witch
with all due respect
without further ado
woke
wordsmith
wuss
x-factor
x-rated
xenophobic
xerox (as a verb)
YOLO
you know
youngster
yourself
yuck and yucky
yule
yum and yummy
zaftig
zealot
zillionaire
ZOG
zOMG
Thank you for spending a few moments with me. I appreciate you and look forward to corresponding again next month.
Brett
Want to discuss this newsletter or anything else with other Disappearing Moment readers? Please sign up for Perpetual August. It might be fun.
No large language models were used in the production of the Disappearing Moment newsletter or website (inspired by RFC 9518 Appendix A ¶ 4 and Tantek Çelik).