Just write

I fell into that old trap again. Started thinking that there's any kind of something that I need to be doing on this website.

Some posts should follow a certain template. At the very least, I need to get to writing this or that thing I had been thinking about writing. Those three ridiculous posts reflecting on the year that was kinda burned me out. And because of a feeling that I definitely needed to follow up on those with a similar post on what I want for 2025, I just stopped writing.

Reflection is good, I think. But I never want to do it like that again.

Then, earlier today, by way of anhvn's always-inspiring blog, I came across this fantastic post on writing by Kate Wagner. I can't possibly do it justice by trying to summarise it into a couple of sentences, so you should read the entire thing. My main takeaway after reading, however, is encapsulated in this quote:

Other times, I mean it is writing that is mine, that I do for my pleasure, that is not for sale or for profit. It may be public sometimes, but it belongs to me and exists for my purposes.

Once I lured myself into the trap of thinking that I had to write something for this blog, I ended up doing all my writing by hand. A form of procrastination, I suppose. One that stems from the fact that I forgot why I have this website in the first place. Kate writes:

Writing for me is a way of thinking and making meaning in the world. This is its primary function, especially if that writing is “not productive.”

This blog is not a place for fully fleshed out ideas. Not somewhere you should go if you're looking for the complete thing on anything at all. If I somehow gave someone that impression, I must make amends immediately.

This website is just a personal intersection of practice and learning. A place where I practice writing and combine it with learning. Whether that's something brand new, like [making a static website generator] or just sorting out my thoughts on a random subject.

You can't pay me to write about something. Nor can you pay me to not write about anything that catches my interest.

In that sense, a personal website like this is the ultimate privilege. A private place in public to whatever I want. Needed a reminder of just that. This is that. And to make a point, I'm not even going to proofread this post before publishing. And yet. And YET! Despite the thoroughly rough edges of this post. Despite its incoherent structure and jumbled narrative, I must concur when Kate postulates:

Thus, it is my view that there is no such thing as wasteful writing, because even wasteful writing is practice.

It's just practice.