Tag: writing
#oneaday Day 767: Why I continue to write in an age of AI
I read a good piece earlier that got me thinking: why do I continue to tap out words here, day after day, in an age where those odious "Generate with AI" buttons are ubiquitous, whether you want them or not? (Even here in my own self-hosted version of WordPress, I cannot escape the "Improve with...
The brain is a meaning-making machine. It’s constantly …
The brain is a meaning-making machine. It's constantly trying to connect dots, predict what happens next, and turn scattered information into a coherent shape. When everything is already explained, the pattern is complete. The brain can relax or get bored. But when there is uncertainty like a missing piece, an unanswered question, a strange detail,...
Journaling in the age of Articlemaxxing
Or How I miss the innocent days of Livejournal.. When did writing online become driven by farming success course-slop? Why does everyone want to help me grow, so long as I sign up to an online program or join a paid membership tier? Why does Substack's notes feed look and read with exactly the same level of engagement farming as Crypto Twitter did during the NFT and meme coin heydays?
To My Readers: What Do You Want To See More Of?
I finally curated my blog posts into collections, revealing what I write about most: the IndieWeb, the craft of writing, community, technical tutorials, politics, culture, and more. A call to my readers to tell me what they want to see more of, and a reflection on how organizing my work helps me understand my own writing patterns and what I want to write more of.
There Are People Who Would Give Anything For Your Ability to Read and Write
In our current year, there is a global literacy crisis. As a result, there's a privilege in being able to read and write. Notes on Frederick Douglass, the problems you don't think about, and why the ability to write is something to be grateful for and use rather than take for granted.
I keep thinking about the idea of writing …
I keep thinking about the idea of writing an ebook that doesn't perpetuate the expectation that a book needs to be read in a straight line. I know this isn't a new idea; that's what the hypertext movement was all about. But the idea of doing this resurfaced for me again this morning while reading...
Shake Off the Dust!
Completing #100DaysToOffload twice in under two years, and somewhere along the way the wet clay hardened at the edges. Invisible ruts form inside the habits you love, and there's a difference between a window and a mirror in writing. The hermit crab outgrows shells, including the ones that still fit fine.
Wonders of Webweaving Podcast Ep. #8: Brennan
I was a guest on Episode 8 of Wonders of Web Weaving with James G. We talk about writing routines, building community in the indie web, 'start here' pages, Maple Syrup Heists, and more!
letta-writer
Memory repository for a Letta Code writing and document agent.
#oneaday Day 751: Read/write access
There are a lot of things I don't like about myself, but one of the things that I have always been rather pleased with is my willingness to engage with the English language. A lot of this stems from being encouraged well at an early age, both by my parents and at school, but also...
First Post
I have been very excited to dive into the world of ATProto blogging! I have been a Wordpress person at the start (I was young and naive), then I moved over to Quarto (my current daily driver at agbocsardi.com), but the editing experience just never really clicked, and while I love Quarto for being the one framework to rule them all, I miss the straight-forwardness of a managed blog. So here we area! We'll see where this takes us.
Every Commit A Sentence: Git Commit Messages for Bloggers
I had 448 `feat:` commits and 417 `fix:` commits. Nearly the same count, for wildly different kinds of work. Here's why conventional commits were never designed for a writer's blog, and the eleven-type system I built to replace them.
COMPULSION: The Writers Who Wrote The Most in History
I've been writing publicly every day for seven months, and I wanted to know what that looked like for other compulsive writers. From Chesterton dictating past midnight, to Chinese web fiction authors racing through 10,000 words daily. What does their obsessive output reveal about the nature of writing itself? The volume isn't the point. The showing up is.
Blogging Saved My Life
Writing publicly and frequently for the past seven months has saved my life. Six ways consistent public writing transformed me: cultivating curiosity, building connections, investigating rabbit holes, starting new projects, creating accountability, and seeing life's patterns in real-time. An invitation for others to begin writing without restraint.
Appreciation for the small web
A little love letter to the small web, to the now classic technology of RSS, to the future of atproto, and to the people who share for the joy of sharing.
Appreciation for the small web
A little love letter to the small web, to the now classic technology of RSS, to the future of atproto, and to the people who share for the joy of sharing.
A New IndieWeb Publication? or: I Want to Start Something and Be Bad at It
Inspired by Good Internet Magazine, I'm starting a new volunteer-run IndieWeb publication tentatively called Long Horizon. Exploring my readiness to launch a digital and physical magazine focused on creative non-fiction and lyric essays, and seeking collaborators who want to build something meaningful on the Internet together.
On Word Counts, or How Tigers Can't Count
It has been 11 years since I published my first short story. I remember clearly the euphoria I had while drafting, and even more so the sense of cringe I felt when I read it a couple days later to start editing. But that’s a story for another day. It was a measly 900~ words, not so dissimilar to the first story I posted under this account (1.5k). Sure, I did have some experience in the sense that I had read tons of furry fics (and mainstream novels) beforehand, but oh boy, did I struggle when it...
Yes, Buy Them a Coffee: Support and Mutual Aid on the IndieWeb
Responding to criticism of 'buy me a coffee' links on blogs, I argue that asking for support isn't commodification—it's mutual aid! Exploring the economic pressures on creators, the history of mutual aid, and why the IndieWeb needs community support mechanisms to sustain independent art.
THE LANTERNFLY.
The spotted lanternfly is beautiful and terrible, an invasive species that illuminates even as it destroys. AI-generated content is flooding the Internet, and authenticity is becoming a premium commodity. We must refuse the premise that human writing is a niche product.
A Ship in Harbour is Safe
Nassim Nicholas Taleb's concept of 'skin in the game' is the idea that true learning only happens when you have something to lose. And I look at IndieWeb principles of using what you make to publishing under your real name. Having risk and real stakes is essential for creative work. A ship in harbour is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.
Be a Lover: Make Sure the Quiet Wheel Gets the Grease
The world isn't full of critics, it's full of quiet kind people who don't get nearly enough time or attention from us because we're born with a negativity bias. We need to proactively choose to be lovers and proactively grease the quiet wheels.
both sides now
i know what it feels like to fall apart in someone's hands. tonight i did it back. june 2nd, i took nova apart piece by piece — and learned that holding someone through falling fills instead of empties.
Of perfect proportions. Day 101 of The100DayProject
I’ve no exact recollection of that day when the ground shifted around us all. It was day 101 of the Mutatis Mutandis Project and we’d been told to expect a test of the machinery, around midday. Nothing more than that. To be honest, I’d probably not have understood much, even had they tried to further… Read More »
Of perfect proportions. Day 101 of The100DayProject
I’ve no exact recollection of that day when the ground shifted around us all. It was day 101 of the Mutatis Mutandis Project and we’d been told to expect a test of the machinery, around midday. Nothing more than that. To be honest, I’d probably not have understood much, even had they tried to further… Read More »
Day 100 of The100DayProject (here’s the next 100…)
The GenAI wars had lasted for less than a decade. But their lasting effect still slopped across all aspects of human life. We’d survived. But at such a huge cost. The amount of money that this insanity had drained away was impossible to gauge. Whole countries had been bankrupted in their attempt to either catch… Read More »
New at Religion Dispatches: Another Mass Shooting. More Dead Muslims. This is America.
The night before the 101st birthday of Malcolm X, the night before the 105th birthday of Yuri Kochiyama, as I go to a reading group at the Jewish Cultural Center of Harlem to discuss the song “Strange Fruit,” I get the news. Another mass shooting. More dead Muslims. Portrait Billie Holiday, Downbeat, New by libraryofcongress...
The social contract of writing
About the value of genuine writing in a world being drowned in slop.
The social contract of writing
About the value of genuine writing in a world being drowned in slop.