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| INIT(7m) | 7m (r--) | INIT(7m) |
init — should I
start publishing my thoughts?
Though I was never great at it, writing helps me tremendously to work through ideas. I'd like to get better, which seems to require practice. This is that practice.
On past occasions I've tried to start a "blog", and have been unsuccessful. Here's a few reasons why.
It's hard to write when people are watching. If I know my writing isn't great, surely they will too.
Filled paper notebooks liter my office. I always carry a small one in my back pocket. It's easy to put my thoughts to (literal) paper when working through problems or drafting new ideas.
But publishing online? My mentality changes. The topic needs to be
“publish-worthy”. Way back when, I had an Instagram account
for my calligraphy. Over time my practice
changed. I'd sit down to write, and think of producing
‘content’. My practice was no longer
my own.
I don't want that to happen here.
I didn't care for my setup.
Past musings were transcribed in Asciidoc. A great tool, but not the one I needed. Found myself needing to look up syntax too often. Didn't like how it looked the page. Didn't enjoy writing it.
Somehow, against all that is holy, in defiance of man and God, I'm finding both satisfaction and enjoyment in groff(7).
Many units of time ago did I consider learning groff, but was heavily dissuaded by Those Who Came Before. “Learn LaTeX”, “just use Asciidoc”, they chided. And while probably correct they were, correct is not my way.
Where's the fun in that?
https://causal.agency/ was the impetus for me to write again. The site design is minimal, yet screams of personality. There's an honesty in it. Something to strive for.
I feel compelled to note that “writing blogs in mdoc” was not necessarily lifted straight from Causal Agency. Over many years I've tried other existing formats. (RFCs have a wonderfully clean structure to them.) It was the happy coincidence of learning groff to format my resume, and random “how do I write groff” DDG searches lead me to June's work.
| January 11, 2025 | carlinigraphy |