Why
This site exists because I don’t want my work to be hostage to platforms.
I’ve been writing daily since September 17, 2011. Over 15 years of journal entries, hundreds of thousands of words, all because I refuse to let days slip by unnoticed. The web changes fast, but plain text lasts.
What I’m trying to do here
- Write in public without turning myself into a brand.
- Build a durable archive of essays, projects, and notes.
- Make things that are useful, especially for writers, open source devs, readers, and small organizations.
- Participate in the independent web, creating for humans, not feeds or engagement.
What I believe
Own your work
I’m pro-blogs, pro-RSS, pro-plain-text, pro-portability.
If a platform can change the rules overnight, it’s rented land instead of your home.
Accessibility is part of the craft
I care about readable pages, clear structure, and sites that don’t punish people for how they browse.
Shipping less, writing clearly, and building interfaces that work are all forms of respect.
Community matters more than metrics
I’d rather have ten thoughtful readers than ten thousand drive-by impressions.
Why I write
Proof of existence
I write because I want to prove I was here. Each word is evidence that I existed, that I thought, that I felt. The act of writing becomes resistance against the inevitable erasure of time.
I believe everyone's life is a story worth telling. My journals and writing are my story, each entry a paragraph in the ongoing narrative of who I am becoming. To not write would be to leave blank pages in the book of my existence.
Against wasted days
I refuse to let days slip by unnoticed. Each entry is a conscious act of attention, a way of saying "I was here, I was awake, I was paying attention." Without writing, I fear my life would become a blur of forgotten moments.
Medicine and healing
Writing is how I think, how I learn, how I process pain, how I make sense of experience. The act of putting words to suffering transforms it from something that happens to me into something I can examine, understand, and eventually release.
Writing can be medicine when written from bone and blood rather than theory and ambition.
Legacy and connection
I write because I want to leave something meaningful behind. Not just for myself, but for others who might find themselves in similar struggles. My writing is imperfect, personal, and honest.
I write to connect with others, to help them feel less alone. My words are my way of reaching across the void, of saying "I see you, I understand, you're not alone."
What I've learned about writing
Be prolific, not perfect
After writing for over a decade and publishing hundreds of pieces, I've learned that quality emerges from quantity, not despite it. Writer's block doesn't exist. It's the fear of editing while trying to create. The solution is to write badly, write freely, write everything. You can't edit a blank page.
Treat creativity as labour, not mysticism. Show up, do the work, accept that some days will be better than others. Consistency matters more than any individual session.
Own your domain, own your words
The independent web matters because platforms can change the rules overnight. What you build on rented land can disappear with a policy update or business decision.
Having your own site and domain means your words persist as long as you maintain them. No ads unless you choose them. No feeds to make you anxious. Just your words and the people who want to read them.
Write for humans
Writing advice focuses on tactics. Headlines, SEO, formatting hacks. But tactics without substance is just noise.
Good writing requires three things: mechanics (grammar, syntax, rhythm), creativity (what you're saying and why), and voice (who you are, what makes you different). Voice is permission to be yourself on the page.
Start ugly, show up anyway
Perfectionism is fear dressed as standards. Start ugly. It's about the act, the intention of getting it done. Not trying to modify everything for the sake of others.
I've wanted a "fun blog" for over a decade, but fear of being known, of unmasking, kept me from authentic expression. The solution? Just write the words and have them appear.
The world needs writers
In 2017, I believed the internet gave everyone the power to write. Now I see the word "blogging" has been hollowed out, its corpse animated by marketing speak about funnels and optimization.
The world needs thinkers willing to believe they have something worth saying. Not content creators, not influencers, not SEO optimizers. Writers. People who understand that words arranged with care can outlast platforms and trends.
Build community, not audience
On platforms, everyone is simultaneously self-promoting to an audience of zero. The only way to be heard is to scream louder than everyone else. Writers who should be allies become competitors for scraps of attention.
The indie web builds community differently. RSS feeds, webrings, blogrolls, webmentions. Thoughtful connections between people who chose to follow you, not people who doomscroll past your posts between ads.
The practice
Daily practice
Write every day, even if it's garbage. Thirty minutes of freewriting. Delete half of it. Keep the rest. Show up tomorrow and do it again.
Read like a writer
Consume mindfully, not endlessly. Build a personal repertoire of references that your work can refract, expand, and synthesize through your own voice.
Embrace constraints
Use whatever notebook, app, or recorder is at hand. Let the mess exist and mine it later. The point is presence and capturing sparks before they dissipate.
Mythologize your experience
Pull from your own life, create throughlines and themes. Most of this can only be done in retrospect, in putting the constellations of events together in hindsight. We cannot know the arc of our narrative while we're living it.
