A Hard Reset
From a train, in Tokyo.
“No one has a blog anymore, dad!”, to which I responded that I still did. This, from the height of his seventeen years, immediately served as the ultimate vindication. Cue sweeping eye roll. I’d just fallen on my sword.
...
I took a bit of a break these past weeks, from publishing in general. The newsletter, the blog, the membership. It’s summer (well, it was)…but that’s not reason enough, given how low-key the season has been for us. I’ve also been busy with a couple of gigs…but that rarely stops me completely.
No, this has been about surveying, taking the lay of the land, circa 2021. My son is right, of course. In terms of discovery and eyeballs, most people now settle for insert social media here-type content. TikTok. Anything YT. Modern-day equivalents of couch-surfing—same reflex, new screens. I’m not thumbing my nose here because God knows we need escapism these days (and YT content can get as deep as any article). But all of this does alter the landscape. In fact, this Twitter mention says it all:
Two things:
Thank you, David :)
It’s clear we’ve officially entered the realm of quaintness.
Having a “classic” blog, on a hosted website that you manage and control, is just...2012. Hence, my lovely snickering teens.(1) But: I love words, sharing stories, thoughts, and concepts that span beyond a single mobile display; I love the idea of immersive content; I believe in writing and imagery and their interplay. I also don’t dance and, for the life of me, I can’t find gratification through perpetual bursts of skimming. Publishing drives me, it always has—as much as photography and music, if I’m totally honest.
MEDIUM
Chances are you’re reading this post from my blog, but as of today, you may also be doing it from Medium. I’ve run short, targeted experiments with Medium since 2016, but this is my first simultaneous output: it’s on my profile, as well as a publication I’ve created called Penumbral (2). I also uploaded a couple of past essays as I was getting things ready (and I may surface a few more selections over time), but new content will be the main driver going forward.
The goal? Visibility and connections, within a socially driven environment that still caters to long-form content. It’s a small pivot that won’t add much overhead to my workflow (Ulysses has Medium publishing built-in), and it won’t alter anything in terms of the blog, which will remain at the core of my work. I still consider it crucial to own our content and besides, there’s much more to the website than the blog.
I’m sure our kids won’t see this new outlet as much of a change—parents are forever bound to the cringe-inducing portion of their existence—but it may, perhaps, expand the horizon ahead, as I navigate our increasingly altered reality.
The worst thing we can do is succumb to a sense of futility and give up, considering our best days are now behind us. It’s an easy path too, as we get older and the ground begins to shift beneath our feet.
So, if you’re on my website: good to see you again, old friend. I hope you had a great summer despite ongoing challenges. And if you’re reading from Medium: nice to meet you—grab a chair :)
Reset.
Step one.
More to come.
.……………….
Plural, because Jacob’s sisters agreed with him...which, as you can probably guess, does NOT happen very often.
What can I say? I have a thing for shadows.
