This is a rant post. Do not expect any benefit from reading this. I wanna talk about my perpetual struggles with writing format.

First is size. I love longreads, but with my current skill they take so much effort for all stages – preparing, writing, editing. And sometimes it all goes to waste in context of output.

Micro posts, something like tweets – they lack depth and structure. Thoughts are unfinished, without examples and nuances. And then there is an itch to write threads, because in the end you want to add some meat to your ideas.

Mid-sized posts like this one are ok and a good compromise. But not every thought fits that size – sometimes it’s too much, sometimes it’s certainly not enough.

So, ha-ha, there is no right answer. And doing all three (or even just two) is energy-consuming and exhausting for me.

But that’s not the only struggle. Another one is what format should my writing take? It could be post in this blog – low discoverability, but it’s my data, my digital home. Telegram channel – closer to friends, but it’s not really a personal blog the way I see it. Or a newsletter, an entirely different way to communicate with readers.

Which format of newsletter? Substack started enshittification process but has good discoverability. Self-hosted – needs time to set up. Something else, which needs time to research.

Next struggle is what to write. Something personal – good for friends and some strangers, who enjoy that kind of writing. Tech or professional stuff – I don’t want to write about simple topics for the millionth time, and for serious ones, see above about longreads. Plus those types of posts aren’t understandable to everyone. Impressions about media – most of the time it falls into “good, but you already know that” category and rarely it’s hidden gem.

And last but not least - language. Sometimes I envy people who know only one language and that language happens to be the international default. Sure, they can still learn other languages, but for them there is no such question: “In what language should I write?” Even if they are in a non-English speaking country, they can almost always just write in English.

So, that’s it. No conclusions, just need to write this up and let off some steam.

Briefly about personal stuff.

We resumed our (ir)regular calls with one of my friends and I want to do the same with other friends. Stay tuned.

I finally finished all of “This is Us” series, with a long pause before last season – and yeah, series is great. Very emotional, characters really grow, difficult topics, intrigue isn’t about “what” will happen but “how”, because of time jumps. Creators aren’t afraid to spoil future events.

Music discovery of the week is Viscula.