Brief update: I'm working on longer-form writing that's more focused and deep. I've finished around a dozen pieces but haven't struck the tone I want yet. I don't know when the next iteration will come, but it's going to be terrific.
I've gotten lots of inquiries as to how I'm doing -- very well, thank you. Well, that's not 100% true. It's a difficult metamorphosis. Some days, things go exceedingly well. Others, it's frustrating. I'm studying technical materials and looking to seriously improve. There's been some results that are remarkable to me, but other days it's really tough.
My average time for writing a moderate-length piece used to be maybe 30 minutes, plus or minus 20. Now I'm up around 7 hours, plus or minus three. Lots of outlining beforehand, carefully citing facts and sources, footnoting, getting deeper points, and then editing afterwards.
Sometimes it's tough, because I'm putting a lot of work in, but I'm losing that natural free-flowing tone that I was able to strike when just writing.
The potential if I can nail this style is A+ work. But right now, I'm doing C- execution at that A+ style. The building blocks are all there, but it's slightly wooden and tough still. I think some of the core readers here will really love it, but the general public won't dig it. The stuff I'm writing is coming in at the 2500 to 7000 word range per piece, but doesn't quite move fast enough. Deep-thinking-love-to-critically-analyze people will dig it, but I can do better. I want to get that musical sense, that really grand and enjoyable tone.
I'm working at it. I don't have an ETA for when the new stuff will be rolled out, but I think the people who keep an eye on things will be very happy they did. I'm very excited for what's coming next.
Other points --
1. I'm in New York City this week. I'm pretty busy, but ping me if we ought to meet. I'll probably host a tea-time or two while in town, and would love to have more smart good people there.
2. A dose of old-school Marshall writing with “Free Holiday Inn Club Vacation”; Or, A Story About Bamboozlement as a Sales Qualifying Tool" -- that's not the new high-quality writing, that's dashed-off Marshall-doing-stuff type writing. But I think you'll laugh a little and learn something from it if you take a read of it. Do please click "Recommend" on Medium if you like it.
Ok, that's it! Comments welcome as always. Thanks for your readership.