Ever feel like the new gear just doesn't give you the same sense of what's happening under the water?

Nice, that's a solid tip (wish I'd learned it sooner).

Wait, they're still calling them stray finds? That's wild when you're pulling them out all the time. Honestly sounds like they just don't want to rewrite the site notes.

Oh man, that's so true. I got stuck on that same problem with my own writing. What helped me was just listening to real conversations, like at the grocery store. I'd hear someone say "you know what I mean?" after every sentence, or another person who started everything with "honestly." Started putting stuff like that in my dialogue and it felt way more real right away.

Stick to 4.5:1 as an absolute minimum. Even that's pushing it for small body text. My rule is if it's for the public, just hit the 7:1 for AAA and sleep easy.