Trey Willis's Blog, page 4

A Terrible Thing has Happened

I did something terrible a few days ago – I started writing a��novel.

I’ve only recently become comfortable with the idea that I am, by definition, an author. I continue to struggle with marketing and confidently representing myself and my work, but overall, I’m pretty okay with ‘author’ becoming part of my identity.

The itch to start a new project has been very present recently. I assumed that I would eventually overcome my laziness and start the research for another non-fiction idea I’ve been...

Black Friday Cometh

Or: Ready, Set, CONSUME.

Thanksgiving is upon us, which can only mean one thing – Black Friday is back, ready��to blow your sanity��to��bits��with door-buster deals. Don’t get me wrong, I love a bargain as much as anyone else, and have found myself wading through rabid crowds in the cold dawn more than I would care to admit. I don’t really take issue with Black��Friday. The way in which it has usurped Thanksgiving and what that says about our culture is��what I find��problematic.

Look,��a dead...

Marketing Esteem and Hypocrisy

As an indie author, the harsh reality that presents itself very quickly is that writing a book doesn’t mean shit. You have to market – and if you market, and you have a quality product, and you are lucky, then��maybe you will sell some copies and enjoy��some degree of marginal success.

The origins of this blog were a not so subtle attempt to market and/or shill my book. I also liked the idea of having a place to continue writing about self-esteem and to preserve small thoughts that I liked, bu...

Selfie-Esteem

Selfie is a word that I wish didn’t exist. Maybe I don’t love myself enough, but I just don’t see the appeal. If you want to take hundreds of pictures of yourself to add to your own personal collection of pictures of yourself, I guess that’s your business, but I could do without them all over my internet.

A couple of different articles have recently been making the rounds on my Facebook feed about selfie ‘addiction’ (which can be found here and here). The articles essentially say that people h...

Handcrafted Esteem

I play guitar. Not only that,��but I also get super into guitar gear, specifically effects pedals. These boxes of magic can do almost anything – any��flavor of distortion/fuzz/overdrive, repeat��your signal infinitely, shift��pitch and harmonize , make your guitar sound like an organ, all kinds of swirly modulation, or completely mangle and destroy your signal. Like many other things in our stuff-obsessed culture, I have turned my pedal board into an esteem generator.

They say imitation is the...

Stranger Danger Esteem

Earlier this year, the Today Show aired a Rossen Reports clip discussing the perils of ‘stranger danger’ for college students. Yep – it’s just as rediculious as it sounds, but don’t take my word for it, take a few minutes and watch for yourself:

Even though the report��misses the mark of scaring the pants off of college students’ parents, it does show just how easily young adults can be manipulated by the temptation of fame and accompanying validation of their snowflakey specialness. Some peop...

To be, Rather than to Seem.

My blinding love of my home state isn’t something I try to hide (or defend). It’s ridiculous and I know it, but I love being a North Carolinian just as much as I love being Southern.

Human flight started here. The University of North Carolina is��the oldest public university in the country. Not to discount the importance of those things, but North Carolina is also home to some of the best barbecue in the world – with the Eastern North Carolina vinegar based whole-hog variety being the factuall...

Reality Esteem Shows

This summer I was made aware of the existence of yet another garbage, summertime reality program. The show in question is calledI Wanna Marry Harry –in which a handful of womenare presented with a gentlemen who somewhat resembles Prince Harryand then compete to allegedly marry him.

Of course, the whole damn thing is fake, just like the overwhelming majority of reality shows. Where this show deviates from the norm is that it is outwardly fake, and is cashing in on the potential amusement of wat...

Broken Heroes

The archetype of the tragichero has always existed – one has to look no further than Oedipus to find a very old and straightforward example of this. Recently there has been a shift in the portrayal of the tragic hero, or perhaps it’s a new subcategory, I don’t really have a name for this (since this isn’t a tremendously well thought out theory) but let’s just call them broken heroes. As interesting as discussing the evolution of archetypes potentially is (or isn’t), what has captured my atten...

How Self-Esteem has Made us Neurotic Parents

Or: How Self-Esteem Fucked with my Parenting.

My daughter recently turned one, which makes me new to this whole parenting thing. It also means that parenting and/or my child are the only things I’m capable of talking about anymore. The majority of my time over the past couple of years has been consumed with writing about self-esteem and learning how to not fail at parenting. While I wasn’t paying attention, one of these ideas got out of its cage and *ahem* intermingled with the other idea, cre...