Two upcoming Austin events. I’ll be at the University of Austin on January 13 at 1pm for a public event, speaking with the film producers who are adapting my book Troubled for the big screen. If you’d like to attend, please register here.

Figured while I’m in town it would be a good idea to have a meetup. January 15. 6pm. Register here.

Discussion topics:

* How the job of a writer has quietly changed—if you want to write full-time, you’re now expected to run newsletters, manage multiple social media platforms, and talk about your work

* Why building an audience becomes a full-time job—the work bleeds into everything. Every conversation, every idea, every moment becomes potential material

* As a writer, the readership you build will either pull you upward or drag you into slop

* People who post viral rage bait are often ruthless students of attention—nothing is random, and everything is tested

* My snobbish irritation with the bookstore “f*ck shelf” (i.e., the seemingly endless book titles with the word “f*ck” in them)

* The secret behind “writing fast”: the typing is quick, but the thinking has been marinating for weeks, months, sometimes years

* Why writing a solid essay that lands with readers feels far better than posting a viral clip that racks up likes

* The truth about the attention economy: even people who follow you closely will miss what you think is obvious

* The loudest dating fights online are often just coordination problems: when no one knows the rules, everyone invents rules in private and punishes strangers for breaking them

* Customs and norms as Schelling points: they reduce friction, require deviations to be clearly explained, and prevent every interaction from becoming a referendum on unspoken preferences

* A historical example showing how elite taste constantly shifts once the middle and lower classes copies it—and why “basic” is modern slang for “vulgar.”

* Cross-national marriage patterns: women who marry abroad tend to marry “up” in country wealth, while men more often marry “down” or equal

* Much more

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You Get the Audience You Deserve