Matt Shaw

Feed
(the short stuff)

  • I’ve got to let it go. It really, really bothers me. Annoys the heck out of me. But I’ve got to let it go. There’s nothing wrong with it. I do think it is sad — but gotta release it because it isn’t mine to carry.

  • Family walk. Late at night. All of us together! Delight.

  • Sometimes you get pulled back or held back. I get pulled back. Feels like I’m going in reverse, going backwards, not moving forward.

    But really you’re being prepared, regathering, realigning and posturing for great acceleration.

    Often the stone in the slingshot can’t see that it is about to fly forward. It only knows that it’s going backwards. But then suddenly: wow!

  • The meeting start time was running late, I had about ten extra minutes that I wasn’t expecting. So instead of filling it with noise, I paused, thought with my whole self, and jotted down some ideas and questions.

    Those questions turned out to be the best part of the meeting—they got us to the heart of the matter and maybe shone a light on the future.

    Pause. Notice. Dwell.

  • From Garmin. My favorite watch of all time…that I’ve ever owned.

    Powerful, tough, gray.

  • That thing is getting stale, I apparently said. Okay, fine, sure: it’s getting stale.

    So is that a death sentence or a declaration toward dissolution? No. It’s an opportunity—to imagine, to be curious, to grow as it grows.

    Opportunity everywhere! Unless you are blind.

  • I’d like to do some speck plucking when it comes to other people: their priorities out of whack, doing the wrong thing first and therefore never ever getting to the right thing.

    But I am the chief of sinners here.

    Being able to discern priorities and make hard, brutal decisions is a necessary skill for living a successful life. As someone who is unendingly open to possibility, this is a great source of tension for me.

  • Someone noticed that I had more than 1,000 followers on Substack. They complimented me for it. “You’re a stud,” this person said.

    First – those aren’t honest followers. They are imported email subscribers to a different list. Somehow they got linked to me. Whatever.

    But the compliment made me a bit sick to my stomach. Having a big platform (not that 1k is a big platform) is a dangerous, deceiving thing. Pursuit of platform and valuing people based on platform is the opposite of how I want to live or see.

  • Community is hard. People mixing together is hard.

    Even living with demographically-alike family members is hard! And the folks that attend Speak Up writing groups are a wildly diverse mix—age, gender, race, politics, faith, physicality, financial status. But that non-homogenous dynamism only works if there are clear points of alignment, focus, and safety.

  • Right now I’m sitting in a quiet room. I have 12 minutes before I need to move on to the next thing. Breathe. Breathe! Breathe…

  • Sometimes it is hard to pause. It is hard to notice. It is hard to think. I’m thankful for those spaces and times to pause and think and notice.

  • Noticing when people use AI to write and create. The AI-generated blog post graphics, the AI text in the social post. It’s gross. No offense, it’s gross.

blog

  • California Sun by the Rivieras for mood uplift

    I don’t surf or live in California (probably I belong in the west though) let’s groove! let’s dance! let’s run through the sand! 1950s beach movie. 1980s boombox. Beaded necklaces!…

  • Cycles with AI

    Three years ago I first started messing with AI — tried a bit of generative stuff just for fun. Wondered about equipping under-educated people to use it and amplify and sharpen…

  • three action steps

    Uno Build a consistent daily writing rhythm – writing every day for at least 30 minutes – aim to dial in a consistent time and place, prioritizing in my schedule, so…

  • Home

    Home is a shady tree. Home is a pen and notebook. Home is a grassy knoll. Home is realizing you don’t have anyone else to forgive. You’ve gotten to that…

  • Things that are cool

    Reading books is cool. Taking pictures and only sharing them with a couple people is cool. Physical photo albums: cool! Generosity is cool. Saying no is cool. Sometimes saying yes…

  • Bible College Lit Magazine

    It was absolutely a McSweeney’s knockoff. The design, the typeface, the snarky cleverness. No one had heard of Dave Eggers at the college that I attended for one year before…

  • Black and white photos

    Sometimes I just use the Noir filter on the iPhone photos app. Other times I use Halide III, a dedicated alternative camera app that offers a range of filters, including…

  • Matt Editorbot

    Someone has asked me to read the book that they wrote. I was happy to oblige. Nakedly obvious after several chapters that it was written by AI. The story is…

  • Consolidating

    One of my longtime problems with internet publishing has been the challenge of being spread too thin and being in too many places. At any given moment over the last…

  • Intentional AI Use

    I have an epic anti-generative AI rant that I wrote in a single flurry of inspired passion in mid-December and then read aloud that same day at an open mic.…

  • Today

    I’m thankful for community. I’m thankful for friends. I’m thankful for people who want show me things and talk with me. I’m thankful for people who want to watch a…

  • Funerals

    I was talking with someone yesterday about funerals. She told me that she didn’t want to go to a funeral. She explained that she doesn’t like them. She reminded me…

  • That’s a darn good beer(ish)

    I courageously, inspiring, and nobly quit drinking alcohol nearly three years ago. (Ha! There’s a story there, not so noble or courageous in its origins, that I’d love to unfold…

  • Let ‘em fall, baby!

    The implosion of the celebrity christian industrial complex continues with the dropping of more public figures. No surprises here. Thus sayeth the Lord… God told me… God told me, word-for-word,…

  • The internet is rotting your brain

    I was always an advocate for full information and full free expression. We should all have access to all of it. And all of us should be able to say…

  • We didn’t lose power. Sad.

    They forecasted a big storm. Ice. Snow. Buried and stranded. We might lose power for days, even weeks. Dire warnings abounded. People remembered the ice storm of 2015 or 2006…

  • Scariest thing that has ever happened to me.

    In fourth grade my younger brother and I were alone in the house. We heard noise and movement and had a strong sense that there was some presence in the…

  • Addressing my ankle

    Why do you still hurt? It’s been monthsand yet here you are— nay, years It’s been yearsand yet here you areplaguing me, sore, achy is this some grand cosmic lesson…

  • audience

    i wrote you some poemsthe best i’ve ever written only you will ever see thema collection of holy secrets just for us

  • things I’m considering doing as I face this thorny problem involving people and community

    talk about it (have been doing that too much) take a walk (preferred option) ruminate, mull, weigh ignore, distract, be busy meditate, abide journal And last but not last: preh

Recs
(what I like)

  • Claude Cowork
  • Nescafé Gold Blonde
  • Athletic Golden
  • Jalapeño Cheddar Biscuits
  • Mariposa 60
  • Superhuman
  • The Catcher in the Rye
  • Mica Basin Chair
  • Apple EarPods
  • Ivanhoe
  • Slow Horses
  • Kakwa 55
  • Singin’ in the Rain
  • Rear Window
  • Windmaster
  • iPod Nano 7th Gen
  • Rushmore
  • Foyle’s War
  • The Dog Stars
  • The Deer Hunter
  • The Offer
  • Interstellar
  • ATG Trail Jogger
  • Open Range
  • Fieldmaster
  • Falcon GV
  • Oppenheimer
  • The Beatles: Get Back
  • WordPress
  • Willow Voice
  • Thinlight Pad
  • The Pursuit of Happyness
  • The Studio
  • Turning Pro
  • Capacities
  • Calibre
  • Cambridge NASB 95
  • Earth Abides
  • Garden State
  • Good Will Hunting
  • Dead Poets Society
  • Shetland
  • Camp Snap
  • The Third Man
  • Ulysses
  • Seinfeld
  • The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
  • The War of Art
  • ARS Pruning Saw
  • It’s a Wonderful Life