Melissa Q. Wood

Writing · /writing

Things that
finished on the desk.

Some pieces are part of a longer thread; others stand alone. The series live on the left, the standalones on the right. Most of these began life over on my desk.

Series

Threads I’m pulling on for a while.

Courage, itemized.

Courage as practice, learned on a trip through Korea: the days that most scared me, and what making it through left behind.

  1. CI-02
    10.25.26

    The only trace of me she'll know is a claw clip from Target

    A drugged girl in a packed Hongdae club, a room of strangers who did nothing, and where the courage to cross it came from.

  2. CI-01
    10.23.26

    Nothing to hold onto, all the way up

    Two fears climbed Suwon Hwaseong with me, but one thought kept me going.

Start at the beginning

Sampling Methods.

The statistics I taught myself, re-taught for a stranger with one preface per public training file, each explaining the idea behind it.

  1. SM-01
    10.23.26

    How do you choose where the next data point comes from?

    Neyman's allocation, and why the group with the most internal spread earns the most sample.

Start at the beginning

Linear Algebra from Scratch.

Working towards Bayesian modeling from the foundations up. The math underneath the methods I keep wanting to use.

  1. LA-02
    04.29.26

    Matrices are functions in disguise.

    The single sentence that made the rest of the course click. (Spoiler: it's the title.)

  2. LA-01
    04.22.26

    Vectors, three different ways.

    Arrow, list, abstract object — and why each framing matters at a different point in the curriculum.

Start at the beginning

Standalone

One-off pieces.

04.10.26

Matrescence is not postpartum depression.

A short distinction that took me a year of reading to make cleanly. With references.

Read
03.12.26

Looking for one true sentence.

On personal statements, throwaway drafts, and the Hemingway trick that finally helped.

Read

Looking for the reading list, watchlist, and other ongoing things? They live at /now ↗

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