I’d rather be writing

I’m back. Well kind of, but more on that later.

Let’s start out with Drew Gooden’s typically lighthearted but poignant take that technology isn’t fun anymore. He’s right that the magical feeling of building and tinkering has been replaced with ubiquitous tentacles of monetization and frustration creeping into every aspect of our lives.

And so taking a sabbatical from writing meant more time to stare at the void of my screen, and it’s not pretty out there. I can’t just pretend nothing’s happening in the world and that “I’m not into partisan politics”. And yet I can’t let shouting about the Current Thing become my entire identity.

Even though the fun and carefree sense of exploration has been sapped out of the blogging world of the early 2000s that I started writing in, there’s still a point to all this. Writing is how I navigate that tension between engaging with the world that is, frankly, terrifying, while hovering just a bit aloof from it all.

But yeah, I’m back. I have a million design ideas and want experiment with some self-contained writing projects (hat tip to idea). Because, at least for me, when I’m not actively building something online, I’m sitting and staring at the void. Enough of that.