Blog
Shorter posts on fiction, coding, tools, projects, and things I'm thinking about.
What’s the Point? A Buddhist Perspective on Shit Not Working Out
When the book doesn't sell, "what's the point?" comes easily. Desire isn't the problem; craving, the spiral of papañca, and the second arrow are, and promoting someone else's work is one way out.
Protecting Your Novel Against AI Witch Hunts
Authors are losing book deals over vague accusations of AI use. Free, well-established tools like git and OpenTimestamps let an honest writer document exactly how their novel was written, and when.
The AI Witch Hunt Starts With Us
Writers call AI-generated fiction both a threat and “slop.” That contradiction says more about our fear than about the technology, and it’s the fear that publishers are turning into policy.
Giving a Fuck Every Single Day Is Not Easy: On Equanimity
Perhaps we need to look closer when we struggle to give a fuck. When examining the causality chain that drives us towards reactive behavior, does a link in that chain point towards the equanimity we need to break free of it?
The CTF Event Toggle on kalachakra.world
kalachakra.world is a lore site that turns into a capture-the-flag event during promotions, then turns back. Here's how the toggle actually works.
Mindful Reading
It can be much easier to be critical of writing because the flaws are more obvious, but how can I be more mindful of what is working?
Optimism as Agency
Regarding rewiring your mind and actions with the choice of optimism.
How Meditation Informs Creative Work
An example of how my mindfulness meditation practice helps to inform my creative work and combat frustration.
Collaborating With Claude
A brief tour of the workflow I created using Claude and Python.
Building This Site
How I rebuilt bjbell.com as a FastAPI app with content authored in Obsidian and deployed via git push.