Dad | Writer | Farmer | Tech Guy
Howdy, I’m J. Scott—tech guy, part-time coder. More importantly, I’m a dad, a never-ending gig. And I write about morality and ethics using fairy tales (The Dark Harp and Reaper), entrepreneurship drama (The Day Life Breaks), and kids playing baseball while angels and devils watch from above (Knights of Legend). Those in my stories often make poor choices. And try to overcome impossible odds. Sometimes, they manage. Other times, they don’t. Yes, life is a journey.
Tech Industry
I can’t remember how old I was, but my parents gave the world’s greatest Christmas gift. A Tandy computer. This was the golden age of personal computing with Commodore, Apple, and IBM vying for business and consumer’s hearts. This computer changed the course of what I wanted to do in life. I coded. Wrote stories. Played cutting-age sprite games. Really, I could do anything with these new fangled boxes, which have far less computing power than most phones we have in our pockets. Microsoft wanted a computer in every home. Apple upped the ante by putting a small brick in our jean’s pockets.
The industry always had this hacker, mostly hopeful, vibe; I truly believe you can do anything with a keyboard. Often, I lose myself here, typing away for hours building, or writing, who knows what. And I’ve had the pleasure of doing that for the past 30 plus years, working at large enterprises and start-ups. I’ve been fortunate to run the gauntlet. That being said, the industry is at a cross roads; our AI overlords have to show leanness by cutting. If Big Tech can’t use AI to offset, how can another industry, focused on energy, or consumer products, or automobiles, do the same?
Yet, ethics matter in this world.
I don’t mean to quote Spiderman comic books, but with great power comes great responsibility. I’m not sure we’re living our best ideals with how we are going about these changes. I do remain hopeful because the employees in these organizations can still make a stand, holding on to those values I remember when the world was at my fingertips. They won’t disappoint me.
On Writing
It’s both an itch and curse. I published my first novel, Knights of Legend, under my name after eight years of work in 2012. The hardest part might not have been the writing. To think, 500 words per day translates to 180,000 words a year–the length of two full two-length novels. For Knights, most of the time I spent in the editing process, there were twelve drafts, maybe more. This was a long road. And I have many people to thank, including friends, family, college professors, and an editor who trimmed about 50,000 words out of the book. This book is lean and mean.
But in the end, compared to the writing process, the confidence of putting yourself out there is the hardest part of the work. Since then, I’ve kept up the habit finishing the Dark Harp. A tale of a King, Queen, Dark Wizard, and two magical instruments that changed the Kingdom of Silver Throne. The Day Life Breaks. A cursed parable about life and work. And Reaper. A retelling of a classic Grimm Fairy Tale.
I also journal, write articles, and keep a newsletter (do yourself a favor and subscribe). And I have a few new projects in the works. There is joy in writing; keep it going.
A Certain Style
I write about time—how we spend it, waste it, and occasionally make the most of it. My top subjects? Books I’ve read, work I’ve done, years that mattered, and days worth remembering. I’m drawn to the intersection of thinking and doing, finding patterns in my own self-inflicted chaos, and using what I’ve learned to build something better. My articles cluster around eight themes based on my machine learning algorithms: life and philosophy, business and productivity, writing and craft, history and speeches, pop culture and nostalgia, technology and ethics, sports and competition, and music. But mostly, I write about what makes things good, border-line great, and how ordinary people chase excellence in their corner of the world.
My style?
Short sentences. Clear ideas. Accessible language. I ask questions to keep you engaged, write with a hesitant conviction, and believe the best stories come from showing up, doing the work, and paying attention to small details and finding what matters. Over 300 plus articles later, I’m still figuring it out.
Scope Creep
There are days I decide to tinker with other projects—I almost burnt the house down with an over-sized electromagnet. My wife made me abandon the forthcoming fusor project, but I’ll get back to it one day. My side hustles of late revolve around coding, which is just writing in another form. My go to language is currently Python, but I tinker with popular web formats (anything that starts with the letter ‘c’ remains a chore). But note, I only do this to finish a task, not to be an accomplished programmer so there remains a certain sloppiness in places. And over-engineering in others.
Anything Else?
Yeah, I still believe in the American Dream despite the naysayers, that baseball is the National Pastime, great speeches are history’s time capsule, and that telling stories remains an important part of our culture. Onward.
