You’ll notice I have no blog posts from 2020, but this is not because I stopped writing. Instead, I have been writing “snippets,” which you can read here.

If you’re going to read just one snippet, I recommend that it be this one. The main idea behind snippets is to allow me to write without the inhibitions I sometimes experience when writing a blog post for publication. By writing in a secluded section of the website with no (now, few) inbound links, and by deliberately keeping the quality bar for publication low to non-existent, I made it easier for myself to write often.

To keep the quality bar low, sometimes I would deliberately post a short half-baked thought, possibly without editing or revision. Despite this aim of keeping the quality bar low, and despite explicitly writing for no one, I often would find myself pleased with what I had written and eager for someone else to read it.

To me, this is the beauty of the setup. The (lack of) quality standards make starting writing easy. I typically start writing a snippet with the mindset that I have a little idea I want to get out of my head and onto paper. As I begin, I think it’s a small idea that will take just a few lines. Perhaps in the back of my mind I even think it will contribute to lowering of the quality-bar for the section of the website. And sometimes it does. But just as often, I find myself ready to elaborate on the idea. Perhaps I explain where the idea came from, or why I find it interesting. And by the time I’ve finished writing, I have a snippet that I’m proud of, and which I would love to discuss.

This is why I sometimes put my email address at the end of a snippet. With just a cursory description of the snippets section (“a place to write for no audience”), seeing my contact info at the end of a post may feel contradictory. Now you see that it is not; the lack of a quality bar and the lack of an audience serve their purpose in allowing me to start writing easily, and to publish readily, but once I have written something and released it to (a tiny unlinked corner of) the world I do not necessarily want to keep it hidden.

So, I am now for the first time linking from my main website directly to the snippets section of my website. It’s not a prominent link, as it’s contained only within this blog post, but it’s a meaningful step for me. Web crawlers now have a means in to index the site. Visitors to the site now have a means in too, not just people to whom I explicitly send the link.

If you do venture in, and read a snippet or two, there are a few things to know. First, you’re welcome here. It’s not voyeurism. These aren’t private posts; they’re simply not written for an audience, but I am happy for them to have one. Second, they’re snippets. Think of them like ideas scrawled in a hurry. I’m not wedded to the ideas I express, and I’m open to reconsidering what I wrote. And thirdly, I value your thoughts (and your time!), and it would delight me to hear them.

You’ll find ideas for side-projects, philosophical musings, technical notes meant mainly for future-me, technical notes meant for other people, project updates, nonsense, personal notes, and more. All of this, here.