Pete Millspaugh

Wisconsin’s more Chicago than Chicago.

I think more people ought to have personal websites.

I just sat down at my desk, sweaty, back from a run.

I wrote about my career goal—to enjoy Mondays as much as Fridays—in my essay on the nature of the job.

I read Searches by Vauhini Vara.

Unlike previous clippings, this one is organized Robin Sloan newsletter-style: instead of neatly partitioned sections of what I’ve written and what I’ve read, it’s a stream of discrete vignettes from the past couple months.

Update: I moved this to its own mini infosite!

Charles Dickens from the Victorian era of the 1800s is legendary not only for his writing but also for how he released his work in multiple formats, modified his stories based on audience feedback, and masterfully used the serial to garner attention and p…

As April turns to May, I’m sending my seventh clipping from the garden: a collection of what I’ve been writing and reading since December.

I read the phrase epistemic vigilance in Jane Friedman’s piece, AI and Libraries: Why Librarians May Become Arbiters of Reality.

I read Draft No. 4 by John McPhee.

I read Evicted by Matthew Desmond for a book club at the wonderful Mercantile Library.

I read the phrase “unhurried ambition” in Alia Hanna Habib’s Take It From Me, and it stuck in my head.

I am reading The Design of Books by Debbie Berne.

I read Take It From Me by Alia Hanna Habib.

From Sally Mann's Art Work, in her chapter on killing your darlings (emphasis mine): Sure, they’re your darlings, but if they’re not good enough, send them straight to the choppy-chop.

I read Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams.

I re-read A Gentleman in Moscow with the Zillenial book club at the Mercantile Library here in Cincinnati.

I’m reading Writing for Developers by Cynthia Dunlop and Piotr Sarna with the Overcommitted podcast book club.

I continue to have lots of cognitive dissonance about what Twitter has become—so X, I guess—and whether I should leave.

I don’t work nor think in fiscal quarters, but this clipping happens to cover what I’ve written and read in Q4 2025.

This essay was originally published on janefriedman.com.

When you’re buying a couch, you want three things.

I read Bibliotech by John Palfrey.

I read The World Beyond Your Head by Matthew B.

To be written, maybe.

Instead of writing down books I want to read on a list, I’ve started directly placing holds at my local public library.

My favorite label right now for what I do1 is programmer-writer.

Bob Nystrom is a programmer-writer who wrote a book titled Crafting Interpreters then wrote a blog post about writing the book called Crafting “Crafting Interpreters”.

I read Art Work by Sally Mann.

I read This Is for Everyone by Tim Berners-Lee.

A year ago I visited my 37th state, New Mexico.

Interviewing people for my book has been so much fun.

Paul Graham wrote 10 years ago that your startup ought to have a dot com domain.

I read Weaving the Web by Tim Berners-Lee.

In July I announced my book about domains, so I’m about two months into full-time independent work (with a bit of travel mixed in).

Friends keep asking me what my writing process is for my book.

I read On Writing by Stephen King.

As of this month, petemillspaugh.com is no longer a space for only web dev and adjacent topics.

I read The Creative Act by Rick Rubin.

I noticed a phenomenon—well, idk if I can call it that yet until I think of more examples—kinda like Square Theory.

I read Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.

I appreciated reading one runner’s review of the Flying Pig Marathon before I ran, so I thought I’d record race notes of my own.

This is a collection of words I or others made up—shwords (another word I made up)—plus observations on real words I come across.

In October I wrote about my 37th state, New Mexico.

Each time I run a marathon, I change one or two variables about how I train.

Cincinnatians: We’re holding a writer’s book club centered around Jane’s book, starting in May 2026 at the wonderful Mercantile Library.

David Foster Wallace is my favorite writer (and I know that’s a massive cliché).

When I am going through a rough patch, I like to trade ambition for presence.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff was the first “self-help” book I ever read, before I knew the genre existed, or that it was taboo and rebranded as “self-development.”