Ian J. Battaglia

2 months ago | mnchrm.co | Ian J. Battaglia

My visa came in early. After everyone we’d been in contact with, seemingly everyone we’d met tell us that acquiring a visa was a process that would take three, maybe four months, I received the certificate to collect my visa form the Japanese government in a month and a half. Ostensibly, this is good news—you don’t want to be waiting for months and months to figure out when you’re going to be able to go—but it sent us into a panic.

2 months ago | mnchrm.co | Ian J. Battaglia

As we plan more and more for our move, something that’s coming into focus is how much (or rather, how little) we’ll be able to bring. Shipping things overseas is expensive, and even bringing checked bags adds up quick. From the beginning, we’ve been planning to save just a handful of items we love (our mid-century couch and coffee table, for example), shipping only the essentials to our new home in Japan. But I’ve started to realize how little that actually is.

Jan 24, 2025 | mnchrm.co | Ian J. Battaglia

Writing is hard. In the intervening years between when I first started and when I returned, i.e., when I wasn’t writing, I read a lot of books on writing. I guess I was looking for some sort of secret, or at least, a sort of framework that would make it all click into place for me, make it seem more manageable. Of course, this never came. The secret to writing turns out to be simply that it’s hard; you only improve by doing it.

Jan 20, 2025 | mnchrm.co | Ian J. Battaglia

Refrakt writing goals newsletter by Ian J. Battaglia ・ 250120 ・ 4 min read A new year has started, and with it, I’m back to working on my manuscript again.

Jan 17, 2025 | mnchrm.co | Ian J. Battaglia

Featured focus reading self-improvement by Ian J. Battaglia ・ 250117 ・ 4 min read Much has been made about our destroyed attention spans, and the effect it’s had on all aspects of our culture, from schooling to art to interpersonal life.