Getting back into it

writing is... back

I want to get “back” into writing and January 2026 seems like a good opportunity to do so, albeit we’re now 28 days in. I’ve bought a domain (the punchy slaro.org), something I haven’t done in years, and kind of ‘got the bug’: I want to write again.

The exact outline of what I want to write is unclear, but probably some combination of musings, random thoughts, and diary entries. I’m pondering trying to spend, say, 30 minutes writing every day, or even just 15 minutes. Setting a goal like that can sometimes have the opposite effect, so let’s see.

Either way, writing is back, baby. Not that it ever left.

Some people seem to think that AI – and sorry to talk about AI so soon, in the first post – devalues writing. (The technology is, in its current form at least, primarily a symbol-generation machine.) In some contexts, this is undoubtedly true, but those contexts are largely professional, and I think in some ways AI could free us up to write less ‘boring’ work stuff and more personal, creative, and fun things.

You must offset that against the issue of, well, people are literally writing less, and while drafting some kind of corporate document doesn’t feel like a creative pursuit, it does at least get your brain familiar with writing – an important pursuit because, in many ways, writing is thinking.

The last time I actually got into a new hobby was probably in 2022, when I began going to the gym; a process that has taken a few forms, some of mixed dedication and thought¹, but eventually got me to a physical standard I haven’t ever been at, probably. Having the ability to run semi-long distances without dying is nice, as it turns out, and I go in with no phone, a topic I think I’ll return to.

So, yeah, I’m going to write: without pressure, or at least with the right amount of pressure, and mostly as a stream of consciousness, read by few people. Maybe a post a day on a different topic for 30 days, something like that.

Closing out a piece of writing is always difficult, so I’m going to face it head on and end things here, with my head already spinning with ideas for what to write next.

1. As it turns out, eating a milk roll containing an (air-fried and breaded) chicken breast after every workout is not the optimal post-cardio snack. We live and we learn. Milk rolls are delicious, though.