I’ve been silent on this newsletter for a while. There are some personal reasons (all of which are in decent places now). But let’s focus on the matter or matters that matter or matters for you.

A few questions keep coming up, as they …

I'm not really in the prediction game, but 2026 got me feeling a little frisky.

What follows aren't predictions so much as what I'll keep my eyes on for the next year, though you'll be able to see my bias in how I present the following stories of …

I can't tell you if I reached most of my goals in 2025, for one simple reason: I forgot what goals I even made at the beginning of the year. And, somewhere in our latest pass around the sun, I deleted the (digital) paper trail.

But what about that one …

My favorite part of my most recent business trip came when I walked out of the Uber and into the arms of my loving (and lovely) wife.

Breathe, Jake. You're home.

I don't much like traveling. I like being in new places. But I dread going to new places. …

For much of my adult life, I’ve been focused on self improvement, a noble cause as I’ve had plenty to work on: awkwardness in social settings, emotional intelligence, communication of needs, and so on.

Self improvement implies you’re working on …

Are we living in a Multiverse? And, if so, how would we know?

Those are some of the questions I asked myself on a recent morning commute. (You can blame my work-in-progress novel for such thoughts.)

Shortly after asking these questions, I realized we …

I used to watch a YouTube artist who was a fan of using oversized paint brushes on his canvases. He argued that being precise with imprecise tools led to interesting errors.

In the world of painting, I agree 100%.

But …

In case you ain't heard, I'm writing a novel. What kinda novel, you ask? A grief novel.

Oh, so it's a complete downer, right?

Not exactly.

Actually, the fact it ain't a complete downer is what excites me most about the project. I mean, it ain't just a …

What if what frightened you could instead motivate you?

What if you could not only accept your biggest weakness but also somehow turn it into a strength?

These are some of the questions I've been asking since I heard a certain point on Mark Manson's …

Hey there,

Jake here.

Welcome to the second edition of the newsletter. (That's right, this site's no longer a blog. Alert the presses we've taken our own advice and moved into the 21st Century!)

We're still finding our way, so expect more tweaks in the …

Hey there,

Jake here.

Today's edition is about how the vibes can be bad when the numbers are good.

You know how you hear the economy is doing well yet consumer confidence is in the toilet? (At least this is the case in America at the time I'm writing …

Maybe, just maybe, supersizing wasn't such a great idea.

The meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs didn't end all life on Earth.

Small, agile creatures survived.

And they evolved while the supersized were wiped out of existence.

Not every small, agile …

Hey there,

Jake here

In this edition of the newsletter, we talk about when hoarding data goes wrong.

Your business should take in only inputs that will lead to outputs.

Instead of hoarding whatever data they can, businesses should focus on only data they …

What to expect...

Tone: outside voice

Snark level: it's surely there somewhere

Other special provisions: another post criticizing ai. surprise.

ai has so much potential, but no one knows what the future holds for the technology. this truth will excite …

What to expect...

Tone: outside voice

Snark level: low but sprinkled throughout

Other special provisions: while i'll discuss some depressing material in this post, please know that i mean it to be helpful and inspiring, not a complete downer. but, to …

What to expect...

Tone: outdoor voice

Snark level: existent

Other special provisions: you may want ice cream after reading this post

people don't want an abundance of choices; they want to know they've made the right choice
— Scott Galloway (I'm too lazy …

What to expect...

Tone: outdoor voice

Snark level: surprisingly low

Other special provisions: art can make your soul soar

the title of this post seems to ask a simple question: what's the value of your art?

for most of us, the answer is simple from a …

What to expect...

Tone: outdoor voice

Snark level: low af, bordering on pure sincerity

Other special provisions: I'm embracing my inner artist. deal with it.

the prophets of ai continue to promise their favored tech will make our lives easier. thanks to …

What to expect...

Tone: outdoor voice

Snark level: low

Other special provisions: this post is about one of my core writerly beliefs.

my name is jake lacaze and I'm a writer with an ego.

damn, it feels good to admit that.

no one reading this should be …

What to expect...

Tone: outdoor voice

Snark level: low

Other special provisions: I love notebooks and pens and think other people should too

trying to get my notebooks just perfect has kept me from writing more. this notebook for this. this notebook for …

What to expect...

Tone: outside voice

Snark level: low

Other special provisions: i'd call this an opinion piece, but i know i'm right about it.

too many of us think we're opposed to failure. but the truth is that each of us is participating in the …

Are humans more than math? That’s the question we’re all asking in the age of generative AI hype, even though we may never string together those exact words in that exact order.

Weight and height are obvious numbers. Hair color can be easily converted …

What does the future hold for those who see themselves as landmen and little more? That’s the question a friend and I often ponder during our regular coffee chats. It’s a question I often ponder alone as well.

If there’s only one constant in life, …

The 21st century has seen America losing faith in institutions.

The government after September 11th, the medical establishment after COVID, universities and the mainstream media through it all—trust has eroded at every level of American society. Most …

I’ll never understand how a ninety-nine cent pack of low-quality noodles became a gourmet experience in America. That’s the power of marketing, I guess.

Recently my wife and kids wanted to try this local ramen place. I was too lazy to make dinner …

I’m no idiot, but I wouldn’t call myself a remarkably intelligent person either. If I’m being completely honest and letting go of any pressure to fake humility, then I have no problem saying I’m likely slightly above average intelligence.

But, Jake, I …

I've been eating the hell out of these mandarins my wife got recently.

Oranges and their cousins are fine, in my book. I don't hate them or love them. They're just there.

Turkey House Publishing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts …

The worst professor I ever had was an economics professor.

His class was an introduction to both macroeconomics and microeconomics. It was the only class I ever fell asleep in, in high school or college. His class was also the only one I ever got a D …

Some creatives worry that having kids will distract them from their art. But I’m lucky that, contrary to some expectations, my kids have actually inspired my art. And lately they’ve definitely pushed me to create far more than they’ve held me back.

As …

On a long-enough timeline, none of this matters.

I’ll die. You’ll die. So will everyone we love and everyone we could ever dream of.

At some point, humanity as a whole will end itself. Or, best case scenario, our time will come to an end in a few …

In business, growth is a hell of a drug.

21st-century American businesses must grow at all costs.

Grow headcount.

Grow the customer base.

Grow revenues.

If you don't grow, do you even business, bro?

Growth is all that matters.

Scale at all costs.

Sure, …

Not so long ago, getting a hold of someone was hard. You had to pick up the phone and hope they were in the office. You could send a letter, but it would take days to get there. UGH! No thanks. I need an answer NOW.

Then came email. Instant, easy …

Too many of us love a good promise. We want to be certain of outcomes before we invest money, switch jobs, or marry that special someone. The result, after all, often determines whether our decisions were wise.

But if my time in the oil and gas sector …

I haven’t historically thought of myself as a visual artist. I’m a writer, not a sketcher or a painter. Or so I thought until a few months ago, when seeing my kids’ drawings inspired me to give the visual arts a try.

Now, as someone who’s added …

Curiosity is an underrated business asset.

Because curious people ask questions. And questions lead to new answers.

But businesses want to hire know-it-alls. Hiring know-it-alls is fine as long as you never run into new problems. (Old problems aren’t …

Efficiency isn’t always the goal. (Any consultant or private equity bros reading my blog just scoffed and clicked away to something else.)

Efficiency is worth pursuing, but we shouldn’t strive to be ruthlessly efficient in all things. Such emphasis is …

In American business, efficiency typically emphasizes two points:

1. Do something as cheaply as possible.
2. Do something as quickly as possible.

Quality is often an afterthought, if it’s a consideration at all.

So, I ask: Where does quality fit into the …

In the movie T2 Trainspotting, Mark Renton tells Spud:

You’re an addict! So be addicted! Be addicted to something else.

There’s something freeing about this admission. In a perfect world, we’d all be able to cure our tendencies for addiction. But for …

Why do insecure people believe things they know not to be true? Why do they listen to that nasty voice in their head telling them they’re not good enough?

These questions are just some I’m digging into as I’m on the fast track to middle age.

Recently I …

How much is any one item worth? The simple answer: It’s worth whatever someone will pay for it.

But what gives art value, whether that value be monetary or otherwise?

Uniqueness can’t be the answer, because very little in the world is truly unique. …

Details are like salt.

A dash adds flavor. But too much kills the dish.

Any time there’s confusion, the answer may seem to be more detail. But more details doesn’t guarantee clarity. In fact, more detail may lead to more confusion.

Every detail is one …

Time was on Twitter’s side back in the network’s early days.

Microblogging was novel and unestablished. And Twitter’s more ‘open’ approach in encouraging users to connect with strangers was a nice alternative to Facebook’s more closed approach of …

Business communication is broken.

We send so much time talking and writing (emails, text messages, Slack and Teams, etc.) but we don’t really communicate; we don’t transfer information.

How do we solve this?

Through tech?

We’ve kind of tried that.

First, …

What qualifies as creativity?

How much work does one need to put into something before he can consider himself creative? How much of creativity can be automated or outsourced before it becomes something else entirely?

Hiring someone on Fiverr to design …

On this blog, I recently made the case for why writers should kill more trees.

That sentiment doesn’t apply only to writers. It applies to artists too. Drawers. Sketchers. Whoever.

Art can connect. Art can heal. Art can save.

So we need more of it. And …

We’re on the fast track to THE END.

Or, so some people will tell you. Especially after the latest American presidential election.

(To be fair, we’d be hearing the same if the other candidate had won. We’d just be hearing it from the other half of the …

I recently finished listening to the audiobook version of Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux. The subtitle tells it all: The book is about the craziness that was the first crypto bubble. (As Bitcoin’s price …

If I were a single-issue voter in 2024, I’d vote solely on how I felt the presidential candidates would handle antitrust cases against Big Tech, not because I think tech antitrust is America’s greatest issue but because it’s one of the few issues we …

So many of us love tech yet have fallen out of love with the companies which comprise the tech industry.

But how can that be?

Data

We’re tired of tech companies exploiting our data.

‘If you’re not paying for the product, then you’re the product’ suggests …

In a clip that starts a recent episode of the podcast Tech Won’t Save Us, Sam Altman acknowledges generative AI’s Achilles’ heel: energy. Generative AI needs a ton of energy, at a time when tech companies are supposedly pushing to curb carbon …

Economic growth is a hell of a drug. But what do you do when the well’s run dry?

The American economic system is built around the assumption of growth. Our unofficial motto regarding the economy is If it ain’t growin’, it must be dyin’! Policy makers …

21st-century living is complicated. But must it be?

When you look around you, it’s easy to feel as if complexity is a requirement of the modern world. Most workplaces run via series after series of overcomplicated processes. To ‘exist’ today requires …

Writing by hand is the best. There’s nothing like finding that perfect combination of pen and ink and paper.

That tactile feedback as your pen scratches across the page. The shimmer of the ink making your words shine. The joy of distraction-free …

Why is business so hard?

I mean, why do so many businesses struggle with basic tasks? Why do companies of smart and accomplished people seem to get bogged down on the way to success?

Here’s the simplest answer I can come up with: Employees have to wade …

What will be your life’s sweetest dessert?

I recently rewatched a video related to the prolific band The Cure being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

No, it wasn’t a video of Trent Reznor’s flattering induction speech. It was the one of …

If there’s one thing I’ve come to value after the last 16 years full-time in the workforce, it’s simplicity.

‘Simplicity’ is not the same as ‘easy’. Something simple may still be hard. (Some of the hardest truths may be the simplest.)

Simplicity means …

My son is in his final year of reg-league baseball. This fall season is his next-to-last season, with his last being in the spring. It’s a bittersweet time.

The bitter part of that equation is obvious—what if he never plays baseball again? What if …

How many layers must you wade through in the search for your own writing’s common thread?

I once said that persuasion was my own writing’s common thread, but now I’m realizing there’s more to it.

Humanity. The human condition. What does this mean for …

Existence, well what does it matter?
I exist on the best terms I can
— ‘Heart and Soul’ by Joy Division

. . .

Existentialists ask what it all means.

Nihilists say it all means nothing.

Absurdists say it all means nothing, yet we can’t help trying to attach …

Not so long ago, bloggers used social media to share their posts and build audiences. While social media is unlikely to go away any time soon, people do seem to be falling out of love with it, if for no other reason than most of the mainstream social …

I’m on the verge of finishing my absurdist comedy novella, which will become my longest completed writing project.

When it’s all said and done, I’ll most likely have enjoyed the process far more than the finished product. Because this pending novella …

In an attempt to reverse its falling stock price, Southwest Airlines announced it will start assigning seats to its passengers.

Congratulations, Southwest—you just became indistinguishable from every other airline!

Writers would be smart to question …

If you’ve found a certain tool or service that works for you and makes your life better, COOL—then keep using that thing. This advice applies to AI, Notion, Obsidian, TikTok, WHATEVER. If your tool of choice is a net benefit, then keep on keepin’ on. …

As I’m writing this post, I’m juggling three longform writing projects:

• An absurdist comedy novella
• A vampire hunting novel
• A literary novel about fatherhood

The literary novel is the only one I can imagine publishing.

The vampire story is so far outside …

No business stands on its own. Every business is dependent on something else in some way; the question is to what degree, and how stable is that dependency?

Transportation companies are dependent on highways and railroads and open waterways and skies. …

Over the last few months, I’ve been asking myself if I’ve been turning into a Communist, as certain aspects of capitalism have had me seeing red.

So many parts of the capitalist system feel broken, especially when companies lay off thousands of …

Since OpenAI released ChatGPT to the masses, there’s plenty of debate over where and when AI can replace human workers.

But I think this debate misses a crucial point. If AI can replace a human worker for a specific job function, why is that? Is it …

So you wanna read more.

Maybe you’re trying to unplug more often. Or maybe you read a blog post about leadership and bought into the old adage that leaders read.

Whatever the case, you want to get your face in more books and digital content worth …

In the autobiography The Life of Frederick Douglass, the author takes an interesting view on slavery when he argues that when otherwise good people become slaveowners, they can’t help becoming monsters. Douglass takes a compassionate view of the …

I’ll always appreciate the MobiScribe Wave as being the device that proved an e-ink tablet has a place in my life, but after nearly five months of use, I’ve realized I can’t recommend the Wave to others. Or, perhaps more accurately, I can recommend …

All too often, we contemplate how we want to succeed.

What would you do if you knew you were destined to succeed?

Go do that.

So the wisdom goes.

But sometimes it pays to look at the other end of the spectrum. What if your venture is doomed to fail? For …

Why should we create in the age of AI? How can we compete?

This post from LMNT puts a different perspective on things:

I take a little comfort in knowing that it will be impossible for “AI” tools—here on out—to differentiate between human-made and …

Today’s target for artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be artificial general intelligence (AGI), a technology that is competent in many areas, like humans. AI is most often highly-specialized, focusing on one area with a narrow set of tasks. This …

Writing is easy. All you do is string together a bunch of words.

Or so some would have you think. Never mind the fact that so many of us are terrible at saying what we mean.

Writing is much harder than some give credit.

Because writing is more than …

These days, people are worried about AI taking their jobs. And who can blame them, with all the stories circulating about AI’s great accomplishments. (P.S. If you’re looking for a counterweight to the hype, read Rebooting AI: Building Artificial …

Introverts make up at least one-third of the population—maybe as high as one-half—yet in so many ways the world feels as if it’s made only for extroverts. How can it be that our social systems benefit one type of person while alienating the other?

Pop …

As long as there are people, there will be questions about the human condition. How are people doing? What are their greatest struggles and fears and joys? And what does it mean to be a real human being at any point in time?

Odds are good I won’t make …

I’ve been rethinking my relationship with technology since I started reading Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport.

After mentioning this book is usually when a blogger tells his audience he’s deleted his social media accounts and can now be reached only …

Advancements in AI and augmented intelligence are leading to endless predictions for the future. Nearly everyone has a hot take on what jobs these technologies will replace—or that it’s all a bubble waiting to burst.

So which is it?

Meh. Who knows. …

Artificial intelligence (AI) has a marketing problem.

First of all, the term is everywhere. And everyone is using it. AI is sexy only to the laggards who recently accepted this internet thing isn’t going away and also started ‘hodling’ bitcoin¹. The …

So many of us, over the last couple years, have been rethinking our relationship with social media and the internet at large.

My own wonderings about technology have seen me dabbling into using only open source operating systems and software. But I’ve …

The end of the year is a great time to look at what lies ahead. Because I prefer asking important questions over making bold predictions, I’ve lately been wondering: What will digital marketing on a post-Web2 internet look like?

When people think of …

What if Web3 isn’t an evolution but a move to something like the web’s original form? Not an arrival but a return. A regression of sorts. A devolution in the most positive context.

These are some of the questions I’ve been asking about Web3 over the …

Part of succeeding in the real world is unlearning what school has taught you. This is especially true with writing.

So what are some of the lessons writers need to unlearn?

Forget minimum word counts.

School teaches us to drag out our writing, to …

So many of us have this habit of romanticizing great writing.

We dream of the genius writers sitting alone at their desks, sipping on a cappuccino as the perfect words flow from their minds through their hands and onto the page.

And so, when we sit …

I started 2022 with a major career change. It was easy—all it took was applying to nearly 400 jobs in just under 3 months.

🗒️ Disclaimer: What follows is the story of the job search leading to my career change. This post is not a how-to. I do not …

If you had to sum up in only a few sentences the WeWork debacle to someone unfamiliar with the situation, how would you do so? The following quote from The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion by Eliot Brown and Maureen …

“It’s like putting together a puzzle.” That’s how my buddy explained oil and gas abstracting. “Does that sound like something you’d be interested in?”

Yeah, I told him. I’ll give it a shot. I still had no idea what “abstracting” and “chain of title” …

I entered college knowing only that I wanted to write for a living.

I had accepted that I wasn’t going to support myself on the paperback royalties of novels I would never write. Technical writing sounded unimaginative, and I’m not sure my university …