Imperfect

internet writing conundrums

Inspired by dm's My terrible blogging conundrum.

I want to blog. But I don't want to pay.

I don't mind paying for a blog. Many options exist: free, open source, self-hosted, cheap, etc. You would be surprised at how far you could get with your writing with only basic tooling.

I do mind how long I'm taking to find a suitable domain name to host one. A subdomain on a shared website works for bootstrapping, but not necessarily for ownership or posterity. Although maintaining this blog long-term isn't a question that has been answered yet.

I want to blog. But I don't want people to read what I write.

If I don't want people to read what I write, I can use tools I already have which serve that purpose.

It would be nice to be remembered by what I have written, no matter what the medium is. Even if I am not remembered, my ideas pervading into and percolating within others' minds would be a cool sight to see.

I want to blog. But I want people to read and engage with what I write.

There's something to be said about writing for yourself. Then again, when writing on the web, there's a lingering expectation that someone will eventually read it. In my mind, bots and scrapers count.

I want to blog. But I want my blog to be just my posts, with no input from anyone else.

I can't recall thinking about this before. From the perspective of guest posts and similar content on a personal blog, I could agree.

Then again, I think about what happens if something happens to me or after I'm gone. Otherwise, people I know may have content worth sharing directly on my blog. Perhaps they may want to work with me on collaborative posts. It'd be interesting to see how any of this could play out.

I want to blog, but in secret. I want to blog, but I want everyone to know about my blog.

I want to blog, but have full control of whether others' receive my work well. In retrospect, while I can do much to encourage a warm reception, my ask is absurd at best. I must afford others the respect of them owning their own agency.

What I can do is write, share, and connect to the best of my ability.

Want to reach out? Connect with me however you prefer: