Analog Action by Matt Ragland

Hey Reader, I sat down last week to do my mid-year review, and before I'd written a single word, I could already feel that little courtroom starting to assemble in my head. ⚖️ Here's exhibit A: back in January, I said this was the year I'd make more YouTube videos. It's now July... I have not made more YouTube videos. So the gavel comes down, the verdict gets read, and I spend the next twenty minutes feeling guilty about my output. I do this more often than I'd like to admit, but I have to...

Hey Reader, have you watched The Odyssey yet? I'm waiting until I can get a decent seat on an IMAX 70MM screen, so it's going to be a couple more weeks for me. But everyone on the internet is talking about the film—the imagery, the story, the characters, and the challenges they face on the way home from a long war. Since I can't watch it yet, I've been doing the next best thing: reading on Kindle while my I wait for my little kids to fall asleep. Quick one before I get into it... a few of you...

I hope my fellow Americans had a great July 4th holiday 🇺🇸 I spent the weekend at my old summer camp and had an amazing time. My son was there for the first time, but they let the rest of us hang around for fireworks and DANG was it a good show 🎇 Honestly, it was just the break I needed. With 4 kids and running the business, I haven’t taken a whole lot of time off the past couple years. And even when I do—like the week in the mountains—I’m still taking care of clients and staying on top of...

Hey Reader, I started doing something recently you might think is kinda odd. I wrote most of this newsletter in my notebook. It started with the idea. A few bullet points became a full page in my Field Notes. Then I flipped on the Monologue app on my phone and talked through it in more detail. Then I printed out the rough draft, sat down, and marked it up like a professor grading a freshman essay. It had arrows between paragraphs, a circle around a lazy verb, and a note in the margin that...

Hey Reader, I was in Boise last week for my favorite conference of the year, Craft + Commerce by Kit. This is a little different than the normal WRAP—I'm just sharing my main takeaways from the week. The speakers are amazing but the quality of attendees is even better. Seriously, great people and amazing creators who should (and have been) speakers in their own right just show up to hang out. I love it for all those reasons, but also because it has the feel of a big family reunion. It's the...

Hey Reader, last weekend was the closing of my family's busiest stretch of the year. Seriously, it's busier than Thanksgiving through New Year's Day 😅 We start in late April and then over the next four weeks run through: youngest son's birthday, Morgan's birthday, Mother's Day, our wedding anniversary, oldest son's birthday, and baby girl's birthday. May is may-hem. It's a busy season but full of celebration, family, friends, and (mostly) great weather. And every year, it reminds me of...

Hey Reader, I was watching the college baseball regionals with my son on Friday. (Go Gators!) Somewhere around the third inning he turned to me and said, “Dad, it’s tough to be the hitter. You don’t know where the ball is going.” “True,” I said. “But the pitcher has to throw in the strike zone. Four balls and the batter walks.” He nodded and went back to his snacks. He’s 11, so he did not stand up and start clapping, saying “great life lesson, Dad!”. But our little chat stuck with me, and...