I'm Back Again Again!1
The second time this year!
Post Type: Personal
Earlier this year I did the thing where I said I was going to write more but then only published two posts. One of my favorite tropes on the internet!
But I’m back once again! The first half of the year was wild for me. I started off dieting hard for a body transformation challenge. I went from 304 to 246 in 100 days and somehow didn’t place in the 101 winners (I’m mildly upset about not winning!). That was hard enough on its own and yet I was also preparing to move to Chicago. Somehow in the midst of that I came to think: “you know what, I really need to push it, I need to write more”. So then I did for a little bit. It was exhilarating. It can feel really good to push yourself really hard for a little while.
I was pushing myself near my limits which meant if I had to take on anything more things were going to have to fall off. So when my grandma quickly fell ill that meant something had to give and it ended up being my writing. A few weeks later she passed and not long after I moved. It was quite a chaotic few months of my life.
But I am back again! I successfully moved to Chicago, although I did accidentally drive the Uhaul through The Loop. I am happy to say it’s been absolutely amazing for me. It’s like I finally found the gloves that perfectly fit my hands in all possible ways. I didn’t know gloves could fit this well after a lifetime of gloves that didn’t fit and I’m very grateful. (this is all a metaphor I don’t have any new gloves!)(The metaphor being “fits like a glove”)
New Approach
With this return to writing I’m trying to strike a different balance. I want to write more but I feel the pressure to do big projects. I’m very proud of WTS and want to explore it further. I was trying to write formal treatises which take a lot of work and carry a lot of weight. What I envision for the ideas is a well researched treatise that’ll likely take a decade or two to fully research, and would be the culmination of many smaller but still quite large projects, assuming I work full time. Yet I only get a few hours here or there to work on it, studying or writing about it.
My mind is awash with the ideas yet very little time to do them “properly”. In my head it's as if I was somehow writing the sermon on the Mount. I am not doing that! At least not yet!
I intend to write more but in a much looser fashion. I plan for my substack to be less dominated by formal essays and be more akin to a blog. I want to get ideas that I have out there, let them get some legs, give them some fresh air. There are lots of ways to get points across that aren't formal philosophical writing.
Going forward I intend to label each post right at the top. The top tier is Essay which will be a formal writing piece that is well researched and I take very seriously in its writing. Below that I’ll have a broad category of Thoughts which will be a more informal gathering of ideas, thoughts, or observations that come to me. Commentary will be me responding to something out in the world, some sort of event or work. Personal will be just that, personal goings ons and observations about the self. I might even delve into more like media reviews, but we’ll see as we go.
It’s possible someday I’ll attach a “seriousness score” or something like that. I want to convey how seriously I took each piece. While writing has the ability to level the playing field and present everything at the same seriousness, sometimes it’s just my pithy thoughts. I want you to know which I’m writing!
As for now the main takeaway is that if it’s marked as an Essay I believe it’s important and I gave it a serious go. If it’s any of the others then it’s likely less serious and less rigorous.
To remedy this I’m resolving to make my first post after this a Thoughts post to break the ice and bring down the temperature for myself. I like writing and feel like I’m called to it in some way. I want to get my ideas out there, and hope they provide some value to you the readers as well.
Thanks for continuing to subscribe. I believe the best times of my writing are still to come, and appreciate those coming along for the ride. :)