Trying a new thing...

I've started lots of different personal and creative blogs lots of times. I've given up on all those blogs lots of times as well. It's not always super obvious why I feel the desire to write slip away. Most likely I fail to make it a force of habit and getting your reps in is really the only way to make something stick. Though I've definitely ragequit my share of these types of projects, so it can't be the only reason.

So why do I think leaflet might work for me? Truth be told, I don't particularly. It's late (okay, it's 8:35 pm but it feels late. I'm not old but I feel old you know?) and I'm just jotting some stuff down on a Thursday evening while my wife is on the phone in another room. Plus, I don't have room for more projects right now. We just moved house and still haven't really set it up fully. I've been working flat out on a complicated systems integration feature at Eyrus (10-12 hour days and plenty of weekend time), and the problem with programming is the mental load is overwhelming. I had to put a pause on my game project in no small part because it was literally too much cognitively to work a full day (even before the big integration project), turn around and program a video game.

And yet, here I am. So far, so good. There are a few things that appeal to this platform to me:

Limits are good, is the main point here. All I can do is write documents and publish them. I don't have to worry about a brand, or a target audience, or anything like that. No one has made money on their leaflet, so who cares if it's just my drivel? Getting into a habit is the main goal here. I'll write stuff down and share with my friends and randos alike. All that "niche market" and "brand identity" stuff can wait; if that is something that ends up interesting me I'm sure I will find something that appears somewhat organically out of my notes and what people respond to.

But in the meantime, it feels a bit like going back in time to an internet that existed before I did. The dynamic experiences of Web 2.0 are out there in their walled, algorithmic gardens. Web 1.0 is still there for anyone who cares to dust off the virtual surfboard once again. But here, in whatever this space is, I can just write documents that interest me and make them available to anyone who wants to read them.

It's like having a reset button for the internet. And so far, I'm digging it.