On writing in public
I'm writing this post at a meeting of the Indie Web Club at Underline Center. The last time I had a public blog was around 12 years ago. I have written things then — journals, essays, and the like — but without putting them out on the internet. This is my attempt at starting again. The last few times I did this, I stopped after people I knew in real life started reading my blog. I'm more comfortable with the idea of strangers on the internet reading my thoughts, than friends and family. I wonder how long I'll last this time.
Reflections on breaking up
I broke up from a one-year relationship around a week ago. It was the conclusion of a year long, fulfilling relationship. It came at me unexpectedly, and therefore I was sad. But moving on can be as much as source of joy and curiosity as it can be a source of sorrow. For leaving one thing behind is always accompanied by an invitation to discover and do new things. I've felt this way for as long as I can remember. The earliest memories being of leaving behind not relationships, but places as friends, when I'd move cities as a child with my parents.
One structures and frameworks
The topic for the Indie Web Club meet was weeknotes. The idea is to put out a list of things you've been doing (or pondering on) once a week. I like the idea. The idea of having a structure to fall back on. Whenever I've tried to write things over the last year or so, I've been weighed down by thoughts of how to structure what I'm writing. I tend to go for long-form essays, as that's the format I'm probably the most comfortable with. But that takes a lot of time and energy. The end result being that I rarely end up finishing what I start: I've published a total of exactly one article this year.
A structure makes things easier. You have something to full back on when you don't have the mental bandwidth to think and be creative. And on better days, when your creative energy is high, you can experiment and break rules and come up with something new and unexpected.