A few months ago, I laid out a plan for slowing down posting on this blog for the summer. That break has gone largely as I expected it would, giving me the chance to focus on a couple of other projects. Throughout September, when I had originally planned to get back to regular updates here, I was instead preoccupied with getting one of those projects over the finish line. Though I didn’t quite manage to complete it—and I’ll write more about it here when I do—I am close enough at this point that I’m ready to get back into more regular Stray Thought updates.
Here’s the Posting Plan
I intend to write here on a regular schedule for the rest of 2025. About every other week, I plan to post a piece along the same lines as the other bits and pieces on the site.
I’m also going to start a new series of posts. Each week, I plan to post a collection of links to things I find interesting. I’ve come to the conclusion that if I don’t want algorithmic social media feeds to drive everyone’s experience of the Web, I should try to provide an alternative, even if only in some small way.
So, over the course of the week I’ll keep track of worthwhile articles, videos, podcasts, interactive tools, and whatever else I happen to come across, and then drop a little bundle of goodies on the site. Human-curated online content for human consumption, just like an old-fashioned weblog. I haven’t decided on the best day to post those, so I may play around a bit at first, but I’ll get the first one up this coming weekend.
Topics to Look Forward To
A few topics I kicked off 2025 with will likely be making repeat appearances sometime around the New Year. I plan to do the Advent of Code again this year, and while I don’t think I’ll post through that event, I will gather my thoughts into a wrap-up post afterward. I’ll also be posting a 2025 ludography reviewing my board gaming activity.
That’s in addition to some reflections I hope to share about the side projects I’ve been working on over the summer. Right now I’m too engaged in the “doing” to be doing much “reflecting,” but I’m fairly certain that there will be something worthwhile to write when the time comes.
Thanks
Thanks for sticking with me as the site grows through these seasons of activity. I’m feeling recharged after the break, and it’s so fulfilling to share my renewed creative energy with you.
Back in January when I launched this blog, I wrote that I planned to post content actively in “seasons,” recognizing that neither my inclinations nor my track record made it wise to expect consistent, uninterrupted posting over the long haul. The first season, I thought, would run through May, at which point I would figure out what to do over the summer.
Now that we’re well into June, it’s time to take stock of how this first season has gone and where things will go from here.
First and foremost, I learned that I was terribly out of practice at this kind of writing. Nearly all of the writing I’ve done since retiring my old blog 20-some years ago has been in either a business or an academic context. I think I got pretty good at both, but there is a bigger difference between that kind of writing and what I’m doing here than I anticipated.
The change has been a positive one. It’s good to practice a kind of writing that requires me to devote some effort to welcoming the audience and convincing them to keep reading. It’s also been worthwhile to put effort into cultivating a more aesthetically appealing writing style, a major departure from typical business writing, which usually aims to be generic and unadorned. I don’t know how successful I’ve been, but the mindset shift alone feels worthwhile.
Another thing I’ve learned is that my instincts are driving me toward longer posts. Most of my posts so far have exceeded 1,000 words (including this one), and a few drafts passed the 2,000 word mark before I edited them down. Although I did end up breaking one post into multiple parts, I decided to let my interests guide the writing, so I haven’t prioritized brevity. Instead, I’m writing as much as I feel I need to get my message across.
On my old blog, I experimented with microblogging avant la lettre, posting occasional tiny updates ranging from a phrase or two to a couple of sentences. This feels especially out of place today given the immense malign influence of Twitter on contemporary online culture. These days, the topics that draw my attention seem to demand substantially more space to articulate my ideas. In fact, I’ve determined that some of the topics I’m most eager to write about won’t fit into even a couple thousand-word posts. As I started to gather my thoughts on them, they felt like longer series that might stretch on for a half dozen or more entries. But given how much effort it took to complete more modest posts, I put those series ideas aside for the time being.
The Practical Challenges
Beyond the craft of writing itself, I’ve also encountered some practical challenges. Each post has taken me longer than I expected to complete. Much as I enjoy the process of outlining, drafting, reworking, and editing, each of these things has taken me more time than I had hoped. My rustiness and preference for longer posts certainly contributed to the slow pace, and I’m considering tracking my time more systematically to identify ways to speed things along.
Speaking of time, my other work has also reduced my writing productivity. Surprisingly, my consulting practice proved less disruptive than a side project I started. It has been quite fulfilling, drawing on my coding experience while giving me a chance to explore creative work that’s well outside my comfort zone. But a combination of factors caused that project to take up more of my time in March and April than I expected, which led to an unplanned two-month hiatus. The obvious remedy to that situation is just to post about my side projects, which I will probably start doing, perhaps once the current one is a little farther along.
Plans for the Summer
I’m thinking about the next phase of this project with these lessons in mind. Summer is coming, and between work, family stuff, a bit of travel, and projects on the side, I’ve got a lot going on. I’m going to use the next couple of months to regroup a bit. Taking an intentional break should feel a lot better than living with the angst of an unplanned posting drought hovering over my shoulder.
That said, I don’t mean to disappear entirely. My plan, after probably one more regular post this month, is to post one update a month for July and August, then pick up again with a second season in September. I might experiment with micro-posts as well, but I won’t be putting pressure on myself to post a ton of new content while I take some time to recharge and reorient myself.
A Preview of Next Season
Part of what I hope to accomplish over the next couple of months is to form a clearer picture of what the next season of this blog project will look like. But I do have a few ideas in mind that I can share now.
First, as I mentioned above, I am itching to write about a couple of topics that I think will each require a series of posts to cover in the depth I feel they deserve. Assuming I am able to complete my research and get myself organized, I would like to launch at least one of those series this autumn.
Second, I’d like to figure out what it would take for me to post weekly. That will require me to address at least one of the issues I described earlier around my preparation, pace, and post length. I’m working to resolve the tension between my inclination to write longer posts and my desire to post more often. It’s possible that I’ll come up with a plan for that over the summer, but since I intend to use the time primarily as a break, I will most likely aim for a more manageable posting schedule—something like a major post every other week—when things pick up again in September and try to make incremental improvements from there.
I remain energized by this project, and I encourage anyone who’s thinking about getting (back?) into blogging in 2025 to do it. Despite big platforms’ outsized influence over public attention, the Web as it was originally conceived—distributed, democratic, and a little bit weird—isn’t dead yet. It’s up to those of us who hope to revive it to create and maintain online spaces we control, and I couldn’t be happier to be playing my small part in that movement.
It’s only a few days into 2025, and I’m starting to blog again. I’ve been preparing for a little while now to launch this blog, getting hosting set up, trying out different site generators, and assembling some initial version of a design. But today is going to be Stray Thought’s official birthday.
I’m starting with a handful of goals and guidelines for this blog. I may revisit them, but I’ll be deliberate about making changes.
Goals
Seasons of Intentional Activity
I have tremendous respect for people who blog continuously for years on end. But I know from experience that writing regularly can become a grind, and I know that I experience seasons in my life. Certain times lend themselves to activity and creation, and others lend themselves to rest and renewal.
To get this blog started, I plan to write at least one substantial piece each week through the end of May, then take a break. The break may take the form of a complete hiatus, or I may just post less frequently or regularly for a while. When I’m ready to pick up another season, I’ll share my plans.
Broad Subject Matter
One piece of advice I see for people starting to post content online is to pick a lane and stick with it. This makes sense: you can build an audience more reliably if that audience knows ahead of time what kind of material they’re going to see. However, I don’t have a singular topic I want to focus on. So, I’m choosing a different path.
You can expect me to cover topics I think about a lot, like technology, how groups of people work together, and how games work from the perspectives of both the player and the designer. I will almost certainly also write about things I know less about as a way to work through my thoughts. All I ask is that if I stray from subject matter you’re interested in, don’t give up. I won’t stay away for long.
Value for the Reader
Beyond just covering a breadth of topics, I aim to bring something worthwhile to each one. There may never have been more media options than there are right now, for better or worse. I respect the fact that anyone who bothers to read what I write is forgoing a plethora of alternatives. In return, I will do my best to bring something meaningful—new information, a source you may not have seen, or at least my own perspective—to everything I discuss here.
Guidelines
Thoughtfulness Over Timeliness
It’s going to be impossible for this blog not to touch on contemporary issues and events. But I don’t intend to write rapidly or responsively enough to be a source for news. The online information environment has evolved an expectation that everyone comment on everything. I want to be clear from the start that I will not participate in this, and this blog’s lack of commentary on any topic does not mean that I lack an opinion.
Communication Over Comments
There are no comments on this blog. That is not an oversight. Online communication has been shaped historically by what’s easy to build, not by what encourages healthy communities, genuine relationships, or a constructive exchange of ideas. Communities that have grown up around message boards and comment threads require extensive moderation to be even somewhat functional, and even then, I find them poor substitutes for real human interaction. If I write something that really touches you, feel free to reach out. Better yet, write about it in your own damn blog and let me know.
Creativity Over Slop
Any project like this kicking off in the year 2025 is going to have to reckon with “generative AI.” Here’s where I stand: I am the author of all content here that’s not attributed to someone else. I don’t use LLMs to write for me or do my research. I don’t use text-to-image or text-to-video systems to create graphics. I am experimenting with using LLMs as writing aids, in particular for proofreading and editing. I may also use image editing tools that include AI functionality.
I think the best way to sum up my approach is that I am open to using tools that allow me to express myself authentically, and I am opposed to putting more autogenerated slop into the world.
What Comes Next
I’m starting this blog with clear intentions, and I’m laying them out here to prepare both myself and my readers. But worthwhile projects tend to evolve over time. These goals and guidelines should be foundations, not constraints. If I find myself moving in a new direction—and I probably will—I’ll take the time to explain what’s changing and why. Consider this a commitment to transparency rather than a guarantee that I’ll never change course.
