Projects

You're going to make a 60 to 90 second film: write a treatment, generate the shots from it, then cut everything that doesn't earn its place until you've got something tight. The work is mostly the edit: pacing it so a stranger doesn't drift, killing shots even when you love them, deciding what stays. That's the real craft of filmmaking, the part that survives every tool change, and doing one of these tells you fast whether the cut is your thing.

You're going to pick a topic you care about, find a real angle, research it (verifying every source yourself), and publish a 1,500 word piece that actually argues something. The skill is building an argument you can defend: finding what the sources actually support, writing it in your own voice, and cutting any claim you can't back up. That's the core of journalism, having a real point and proving it rather than just summarizing, and doing one tells you fast whether that kind of thinking is your kind of work.

You're going to pick a real question with a real answer (how much your school district spends on athletics versus arts, why a local landmark closed, what your city actually does with recycling) and answer it with primary documents, not opinion. The skill is reasoning from evidence: figuring out what the records actually prove versus what you assumed going in, and claiming only what you can defend. That's what investigative journalism actually is, proving something true with evidence, and doing one tells you fast whether chasing the real answer is your kind of work.

You're going to write and publish a short story (~5,000 words) or a collection of 8 to 12 poems, using AI as an editor without ever letting it write a line for you. The skill is voice: keeping the writing unmistakably yours while using AI to sharpen it, and rejecting every suggestion that flattens you into generic 'good writing.' That's the thing only you can do as a writer, the part AI can't supply, and doing one tells you fast whether finding your voice is your kind of work.

You're going to launch a newsletter on a niche you care about, ship issue one fast, then keep shipping until you've got three real issues out to real subscribers. The skill is editorial identity and cadence: building a point of view recognizable enough that people open it, and shipping on schedule even before there's any applause. That's the discipline at the heart of being a creator, the thing that compounds where one-off posts don't, and doing one tells you fast whether shipping on a schedule is your kind of work.