Used Car Deals, Writing Well, Sugar Addiction
Thursday Three: Episode 11
read time 3 minutes
Here are three interesting ideas you won’t find doom scrolling.
TL;DR
The cars you should shop for in Q1 of 2024 if you’re looking to optimize financially
Stephen King and Morgan Housel’s advice on how to write well
Sugar addiction isn’t the reason the US is so damn fat
The cars you should shop for in Q1 of 2024 if you’re looking to optimize financially
I’m in the market for a new car, so I’ve been doing some research on which car to buy. I was listening to an episode of All The Hacks with Car Dealership Guy, and he shared the characteristics of the cars he’d target if he was looking to optimize financially (aka, me).
Used
$20-$30K
3-4 years old — The prior owner ate most of the depreciation on the car and now you get to reap the benefits
Domestic vehicle (Jeep, Ford, Chrysler, GM) — These brands have a lot of inventory right now and more supply means less demand and lower prices
Stephen King and Morgan Housel’s advice on how to write well
I just started reading “On Writing” by Stephen King. It’s been awesome, but one quote has stuck with me:
“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,” he said. “When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.”
In other words, write for yourself. And then rewrite for others.
This is something that Morgan Housel has talked about in his blog as well as a few podcast appearances:
I only want to write things that I personally would find interesting.
That’s different from asking, “What would my audience like to read?” or even “Who is my audience?”
I’m writing for me. And I don’t think it’s selfish. You’ll always do your best work when you’re personally interested in the topic you’re writing about.
Writing for yourself is fun, and it shows.
Writing for others is work, and it shows.
My takeaway from these two authors is that the best writers write for themselves.
Writing is truly a selfish act at first — and it has to be. You’re solving a problem. You’re outlining a process. You’re trying to figure something out. And when (and only when) you have it figured out for yourself, then you share it with others.
I’ve tried — and I’m sure other writers can resonate with this — to keep my audience in mind. Put them first. Ask myself “Hey what would they want?” and then try to deliver on that. Every time I write with my audience in mind first, it turns out to be crap. Why? Because it’s forced. It’s not for me. It’s just blah.
This is not to say you should never write with your audience in mind. But just know that when you do it’s work. And if writing is your work, then that’s just something you have to deal with. But if it’s not, then have fun. Write what YOU want to write and if you want, make some edits so it resonates a bit with your audience.
Alright, rant over.
Sugar addiction isn’t the reason the US is so damn fat
Nearly 70% of adults in the US are either overweight or obese. Why is that?
Many people will say sugar! “We’re eating more sugar than ever before! It’s like we’re addicted!”
Although that sounds great, I don’t think that sugar addiction is the real reason why the US is so fat.
Why is that?
Well, the easiest way to consume sugar would be to eat it straight from the bag. Just open it up and start shoveling it down your throat. But we never see people do that.
So I don’t think the obesity problem is necessarily JUST a sugar problem. It’s a lot of things. But that’s for another post.