Greetings, O gentlepatron reader/writer.

Just to apologetically acknowledge that "Writing for Nerds" has been quiet… too quiet [1] since you subscribed.

But also to gladly commit that it is going to be real.

'Cause it already got real.

'Cause a small band of fellow gentlenerds willingly subjected themselves to an “alpha quality” idea, and made not just one, but two cohorts happen. First a group of four, and then a group of eight.

Profuse thanks to them [2] and to you, for having put faith in a speculative endeavour.

Please know that, what may have been a speculative email subscription on your part, has encouraged me more than you would guess.

Sorry I didn’t write back sooner. But we are here now. I feel happy to invest myself into making it "generally available", as widely as I can, while staying sane.

The next email will reveal all about the grand plan, structure, intention etc. etc. etc. i.e. "What to Expect".

Thank you once again for your interest and patience.

-- Aditya

[1] It's just that I got waylaid by Bitemporal Database systems. To understand which, I had to (had to, you know) write an eleven thousand word essay. And that led to writing a ten thousand word essay on Consciousness (yeah, that happened). But that was only because Reddit showed me an advertisement for the Berggruen Prize Essay, when I went to self-promote my essay on temporal databases. There was a slim, slim, very slim chance of maybe wresting Fifty Thousand dollars in prize money from the Essay Prize people. And I have no free will. That took away August and September, and then just as I started drafting this very email, a shoulder injury took October away from me. But all is well and we are typing 60 WPM now on a satisfying mechanical keyboard. Sitting at a writers' retreat, in beautiful Pondicherry, no less!

[2] Thank you for being willing test subjects and generous feedback-givers (in no particular order); Abhinav, Unnati, Aniket, Ishan, Tanvi, Sezal, Govind, Swagnik, Noopur, Natasha, and Psy. Thanks especially to Psy for being The One who made me bite the bullet and just do it. The irony of this whole “starting trouble” situation is not lost on me, by the way. The workshop was not running, because I was dithering endlessly; I was not running it! Whereas, the whole premise of said workshop is to “Do”.

Image Credit: XKCD "Focus Knob"