'm not particularly good at writing about myself (or maybe I am, but have chosen the path of self-effacement to portray a false sense of e-modesty … wow, already this is so exciting!). At any rate, third-person bios where the subject is clearly writing about him/herself are downright creepy, so I'd rather not go there. The previous version of this 'about' section was simply a copy-and-paste filmography of actor Patrick Swayze and I was quite fond of it, but was told that it was a woefully inadequate (not to mention functionally inept) thing to put on a personal website, as there was no information for those who should want - for whatever strange reason - to contact me. Easy enough. After putting in the email, the MySpace link, the perfunctory 'home' button, I found there was all this white space below the contact info. I had to fill it up with something. So, here we are. Let's just get this over with before we all get uncomfortable, shall we?

My name is Jon. I'm originally from the Midwest but I moved to New York several years ago and have found it to be very much to my liking. I've been writing for about as long as I can remember: I made my first attempt to write a novel at eighteen (it sucked and no, you can't read it). At some point after college, I got a gig writing the worst stories you could imagine for a company of weekly newspapers in Columbus, Ohio. I made the move to a daily newspaper several years later (a move I'll never make again - I don't need the stress). Now I make my living as an editor for a magazine in Manhattan, where I write articles specializing in media analysis, communications, media law and public relations. It ain't The Times, but it pays the bills.

The stuff I write in my spare time is typically short-story fiction. I try to play around with various themes, but some of my favorites include dream psychology, magical realism, eternal reoccurrence, alcoholism, control, fetishizing the habitual, artifice, Freud, seemingly normal people doing strange things, seemingly strange people doing normal things, deviants, ne'er-do-wells, confessions in the dark, broken homes, the Midwest, New York, the country, the city, the loners, the haters, the people who just can't change no matter how hard they try, broken people with big hearts, barns, thunderstorms, and people who learn to forgive. Laughably short list of bragging rights: I've had a few short fiction pieces published in various small presses, I'm in a University of Florida textbook for an article I wrote on the F.C.C. (I'm sure the kids there hate me for it). Occasionally I'll get an article on a website like gawker.com or in a rag like The New York Press. I had a line of comic books for a while. I edited a book on a World War II veteran once (I used to call him 'grandpa'). I will also occasionally write the names of heavy metal bands on the steamed mirror in my bathroom or on the windshield of a dirty car but I have yet to find an audience for this behavior. Baby steps.

I also play music. I've played in bands for pretty much my entire adult life and currently I play guitar and sing in a band called Methodist and it brings me at least marginal joy, depending on my mood and the mood of my bandmates. It seems like everyone plays in a band nowadays and it's really not a novel concept, but it makes me happy so we'll just leave it at that.

The purpose of this blog is to write about pretty much whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it. Call me Captain Specific. I guess the standard stuff you can expect to see on here includes progress on my writing and any publishing updates, some media analysis leftovers from my job or whatever political bits are stuck in my craw that week. And of course there will be the random rants, the periodic spells of catharsis I need to keep my sanity at a steady keel. I've decided to lend very little administrative moderation to the comment fields on this blog, so as to create a semi-open forum where everyone can say pretty much whatever they like. I like having a place to speak my mind and I'd like to leave that option open to others too. Except for that one guy. I hate that guy.