I am Justin Tadlock.

I am also a writer. A front-end developer. A gardener. A small-town Alabama kid just trying to figure out whatever it is that that folks are supposed to figure out on this journey. Welcome to my little home on the web.

NaNoWriMo 2022: Day 1

Boone could still remember the day the sky broke. And thus began the story of our gunslinger and the crew of the pirate ship he happened to find himself traveling with. If any of this sounds familiar to my longtime readers, it’s because some of it is based the novel … Continue reading →

Preptober...Sort Of

Tonight, I was frantically searching for my copy of No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty, the founder of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It has become a bit of a security blanket for me during the month of November. I couldn’t find it. I cannot remember if I lent … Continue reading →

Media Haul (October 2022)

October had some pretty sweet releases. With not much in the way of movies, I focused primarily on TV seasons that I wanted to catch up on. Here are the titles that I snagged this month: Top Gun: Maverick - BD UHD La Brea: Season 1 - BD HD The … Continue reading →

Introducing the "Powered By" WordPress Block Plugin

Officially, I released my first WordPress block plugin today. X3P0 - Powered By is now hosted on the WordPress plugin directory. Woot! Woot! 🥳 Powered By, for short, is a simple block type for displaying a randomly-generated message, such as: Powered by coffee. Powered by crazy ideas and passion. Powered … Continue reading →

Death, Rebirth, and Saying Goodbye to the Last Life

In mid-July, I stopped by my parents’ house for some reason or another. I don’t remember why, so it must not have been for anything particularly important. Just another weekend day. As I walked around to the backyard, my dad asked if I remembered this pile of—what was essentially—scrap metal. … Continue reading →

Media Haul (September 2022)

For someone who collects a lot of physical media, I don’t seem to share enough about my hobby here on the blog. Well, that’s about to change. I’m not very good about keeping up with any sort of regular series, but I will make something like a promise to share … Continue reading →

RSS Feeds and a New Perspective on User Experience

Last week, I received an email from a visitor to the site letting me know that my “Subscribe” link was broken. As a blogger, this was one of those “Code Red, OMGWTFBBQ” moments. I wanted to fix it quickly so all three dozen of you who subscribe to my RSS … Continue reading →

How To Snack Without Blowing the Budget

In Poor Man’s Soup and the Path to Financial Freedom, I went on (at length, I might add) about how little I spend on groceries, leaving myself plenty of cash for other financial pursuits. I don’t buy a lot of snacks because I’m not a big snacker. Generally, I much … Continue reading →

Vroom...Vroom...Vroom...

As I begin writing this post, I am mere hours away from paying off my 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. Exactly 2 years and 17 days after signing the finance papers, I will fully own my car. Of course, I’ll have to wait a few weeks for the official title … Continue reading →

Poor Man's Soup and the Path to Financial Freedom

On social media, I have routinely posted my grocery hauls every week for the past couple of months. Far too often, I hear folks in my circles complaining about rising prices, and I wanted to do something about it in a non-preachy way. So, I simply share how little I … Continue reading →