Blog: 28 Slightly Rude Notes on Writing

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#16:

I worked in the Writing Center in college, and whenever a student came in with an essay, we were supposed to make sure it had two things: an argument (“thesis”) and a reason to make that argument (“motive”). Everybody understood what a “thesis” is, whether or not they actually had one. But nobody understood “motive”. If I asked a student why they wrote the essay in front of them, they’d look at me funny. “Because I had to,” they’d say.

Most writing is bad because it’s missing a motive. It feels dead because it hasn’t found its reason to live. You can’t accomplish a goal without having one in the first place—writing without a motive is like declaring war on no one in particular.

I recommend this entire thing.

This week’s wall picks. Added that Slick Shoes and Lagwagon album to the collection last week. Lagwagon binge hasn’t subsided.

May’s grid addition is a whole lot of running. Hannah convinced me to sign up for a 5K as part of this whole be healthier/improve cardio kick I have been on. Only goal was to finish and to not embarrass myself. I feel pretty good about the results; the sun got to me a little on the last mile.

May 2025

Yeah, it was a whole lotta Lagwagon this week. Started late last week and then just didn’t let up. Something about the sunny weather and my mood this week just had me continually going back to that well.

Probably from around 2006/7. While I was wrong about this band ever blowing up, I wasn’t wrong about the songwriters! Seeing what Nick and Ryan have gone on to do has been incredible to follow. “Siren on the 101” still shoulda been a smash though.