programming note
TTYL
first off
I’m tired.
I’m out of things to write.
I’m throwing this together at 10:30pm so it technically publishes on Tuesday, the day I’ve chosen to commit to this, but it’s going to be the most low-effort slop I’ve ever produced.
In my first one of these this year, I wrote:
So this time around, I think I’m just going to chill out. I’d love if something sustainable emerged, but overthinking is what made me stall and never write again, so.
I also wrote:
I’m also thinking about what I want a newsletter to look like. In fact, I’m thinking a lot about the way I write (and for whom) lately…
I was a prolific blogger growing up, and I lived for the comments section. My blogroll of friends and online acquaintances received a ping when I posted, and they’d stop by, read my post, and leave a comment. It was validating: I wrote something, people read it, and I knew they read it because the infrastructure allowed them to tell me they read it.
A newsletter is a very one-sided affair: the content producer tosses something into the void, isn’t really sure if people read it (only if they open it, and an “open” could just be a tap to clear their inbox notification), and has to be content with the fact that they wrote something.
The non-blogness of it all is what’s always bothered me about this format: I can pour my heart into something for a specific audience and never know if anyone read it. I’ve received a couple of emails in response to posts here, and those made my day. But it’s just not the same energy as blog comments, you know?
Sure, I could treat this as an outlet for me, not for the audience who’s subscribed. But between daily journaling and writing a letter a day, I’m already doing a lot of writing for me this year. This thing is beginning to feel like I’m a one-person content farm, and that is decidedly not chill!
Anyway, it’s probably going to kill my mental health to keep pretending I have something to say every week, especially when I have no way of knowing if I’m writing for an audience or “writing for me.” You might be there! You probably are there! But in general, the weekly newsletter format is just not for me (what a conclusion to come to, uh, when did I get my first TinyLetter? 2017? So, eight years later? Neat).
I’m going to maintain this space just because it’s cool as hell to have your first name as a username, and if I really, really want to share something, I’ll do it here. But anyway uhhhh TTYL and there are some links below!
wholesome scroll
Some other places you can find me:
Instagram??? (I really only add people I know, though)
My website, which I recently redid (P.S. I plan to put my book reviews here going forward, so here’s the exclusive link to my posts before I decide I’m happy with it and add it to the navigation bar)
Literally this very newsletter because I’m certain I’ll post again, just probably not next Tuesday