Thinking out loud
Hi there. Been a minute.
You haven’t heard from me for a while because I haven’t been writing for a while.
It’s been a combination of factors - personal, professional, and political - that have made it difficult to think clearly enough to write over the last several months.
I’ve cranked out a fortnightly newsletter for a nonprofit and the stray LinkedIn post here and there, but not much else.
As my mental space has started to clear with the new year, the writing is coming back online.
Because, for me, writing is thinking. It’s how I wrangle this jumble of ideas into something coherent and useful.
It’s one reason AI-based writing tools haven’t interested me much, I’ve realized lately.
Because the value I find in writing is not the finished product.
It’s the messy first draft. It’s the thinking I have to do to produce something on paper - proverbial or not.
What I value about writing is the process of writing in the first place, of thinking through how to get across the gibberish that’s floating around in my head in a way that other people can understand.
Could I train an AI to write like I do in style and tone? Probably!
But my style and tone are not a static thing, they morph and grow over time or sway based on my mood or how much mental energy I might have that day.
And it can’t create new ideas in my head the same way that writing this can do.
The act of writing itself helps make clear connections between concepts and ideas that I won’t make in other ways.
That is what I value: The thinking behind the words you’re currently reading, much more than the fact that there are words on this screen or page.
This newsletter is as much for me as it is for you - a space to sort out some stuff, think through some things, and share it with interested folks like yourself.
Thanks for sticking with me while I unclog my thinking and start writing again.
Stay tuned for more regular things in the coming weeks, and I hope you’re having an amazing day today.