This article by the Verge somehow came across my landscape, and it pinged something in my head. I always listen to these pings--that feeling that tells me wait, there’s something here for me. Stop a second and explore. It’s how I’ve come across some of my best story ideas, or found books and music and clothes and art that I love, or signed up for classes that changed my life. If I have one piece of advice for the world, it’s learn to listen to that ping. So here I am.

I never had a personal blog back in their heyday (well, I did have a livejournal—cringeworthy and permanently deleted now) and I’ve never been very active on social media. I’m a pretty proud never-Twitterer, my Facebook has always been private, and my every attempt to use Instagram has faltered after a week or two.

So why would I want to blog now?

Maybe because it’s more pointless than it has ever been. There are zero stakes because no one is ever going to read it. Instead of typing into the void, I’ll be typing into the ever-expanding universe of other people’s noise.

Maybe because it feels so retro. In an era in which communication has been whittled down to hot takes and one-liners and memes, nuance appeals to me in the same way that midcentury modern decor does. Yeah it’s old and sort of dopey-looking, but also it’s pretty fucking cool and fun.

Maybe because it’s an interesting writing practice. I write long-form speculative fiction, about as far as you can get from pithy personal blog essays. I have a problem being concise, but good writing is good editing. The existence of a hypothetical reader forces me to actually think about which words to keep. So that’s sort of fun.

Maybe because it functions as a kind of exposure therapy. I hate confrontation. I’m terrified of making a mistake, being wrong about something, and having someone else find out. Then they’ll know I’m a bad person. My whole life has been about making sure no one ever sees how incompetent and dysfunctional I am beneath the facade. (Yes, this is a mental illness and yes, I am being treated for it.) Putting all your dumb thoughts online is just asking for criticism (see above, though, about how unlikely anyone will notice me) and I need to develop a thicker skin.

But I'm not at all interested in cultivating a following. Don’t expect newsletters or Discord servers or affiliate links. This is a personal blog. And if you’re reading it, hi!