The blog

Dispatches

Writing and updates about the projects I'm working on. For the weekly longform journal, subscribe to The Santa Fe Trail.

Jun 1, 2026

Offering Lake of the Ozarks Video Production & Audio Engineering

Cinema-grade video production and audio engineering at the Lake of the Ozarks: real estate tours, brand films, events, music videos, recording, and mixing.

May 9, 2026

Recent Duff Radio Collaboration Results in Two New Singles - "Nun' to Say" and "Feel My Pain"

Four hours at Soundxscape Studios with 11 Kansas City artists, and two new Duff Radio singles out of the session.

Apr 29, 2026

How I Built an AI-Powered Local News Network in a Weekend

How the single-town digest became an 11-town automated news network across four states, publishing daily in my voice on a $20 server. The full architecture.

Mar 1, 2026

How I Built Rural News Wire, an Automated Daily Newspaper

A fully automated daily newspaper covering Lake of the Ozarks, running hands-free on a $6/month server: Ghost CMS, a Python scraper, and the Claude API.

Jan 23, 2026

Surviving in remote northern New Mexico mountains

What it actually costs to get through a winter in the mountains of northern New Mexico.

Jan 10, 2026

Life Update

Back at Lake of the Ozarks after eight years across Kansas City, Montana, and New Mexico, and what the new era looks like.

Jan 9, 2026

Spotted a Mexican gray wolf near San Antonio Mountain, north of Tres Piedras

A treacherous forest road off Hwy 64, and a Mexican gray wolf crossing near San Antonio Mountain.

Jan 7, 2026

Transitioning from Kansas City to Rural Life

From a bachelor pad by the KC airport, through law school and a failed bar exam, to a different kind of life.

Dec 23, 2025

The Santa Fe Trail

The compilation album is out on Bandcamp: five years of music made between Kansas City, Montana, and New Mexico.

Sep 23, 2025

Ty McDuffey Experience Training AI Models for Top Labs in the Country Using Legal, Writing, and Editing Knowledge

Notes from inside the AI-training gig economy, and what legal, writing, and editing knowledge is worth to the labs.

Aug 4, 2025

McDuffey Lineage and History Research from the Gaelic Isles to the New World

From Mac Duibhshithe in the Gaelic isles to the New World: researching the McDuffey surname and the family line.

Jul 27, 2025

A Life of Freedom

On picking the direction that pays, the first ten books, and what a life of freedom actually requires.

Jul 25, 2025

How Much Money Does Kansas Make from Marijuana Enforcement?

Running the numbers on what marijuana enforcement actually generates for the state of Kansas.

Jul 13, 2025

How I Wrote 3,000+ Articles in 5 Years & the AI Stack I Use

Consistency, plus the exact AI stack behind five years and 3,000+ published articles.

Jun 26, 2025

My Playbook for Getting Paid to Write

How I fell into professional writing after failing the bar, and the playbook that turned it into a living.

May 4, 2025

Behind the Scenes: How I Turn One Legal Question into Traffic-Ready Content

From Semrush keyword to published page: the exact steps between one legal question and traffic-ready content.

May 4, 2025

How My Content Accelerator Keeps Law Firms Visible Online

The hands-off content system that keeps law firm websites visible, for firms that want the writing handled.

Apr 25, 2025

The Eagle's Nest: A Novel of Bleeding Kansas Chapters 1-3 American Historical Fiction snippets based in Lecompton, KS, by journalist/self-published author Ty McDuffey

The first three chapters of my Bleeding Kansas novel, set in Lecompton in the summer of 1856.

Apr 4, 2025

Why We Should Start Viewing Large Language Models (LLMs) as the Next Evolution of Search Engines and What That Means for SEO

LLMs are the next evolution of the search engine, and that changes what SEO even means.

Feb 5, 2025