On inspiration, or lack thereof

July 28th 2022 | ~ 3 minute read

Introduction

Oh hey there!

As you can tell, I was silent for almost two months. That's actually a lot better than what can happen. Sometimes I'd be silent for months on end. Let's take a few moments to talk about why that is, shall we?

Quality over quantity as a guiding principle

This is probably the bulk of the reason why I find it so difficult to write consistently. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist. I hold myself to a high standard. Therefore, quality is my first guiding principle in writing. If something is subpar by my standards I don't bother posting it.

The thing is, ninety percent of the time I feel that my work is lacking in some respect. It could be the theme of the article, the style of its text, my own understanding of the concepts at hand or a myriad of other factors. As a result inspiration is in short supply.

I considered writing a lot more, I even considered taking up Kev's #100DaysToOffload challenge. But that would drastically reduce the quality of my articles. It would devolve to writing for writing's sake, instead of producing meaningful content.

Don't get me wrong, there is value in writing consistently. Many people have successfully undertaken Kev's challenge to marvellous effect. I just don't want to.

The relative narrowness of the subject matter

I usually write about highly technical things. Things that one needs to be familiar with in order to engage with. This puts me in a niche of tech blogs, a label I'm increasingly dissatisfied with. I try to break the pattern every now and then, but I'm always thwarted by artificial constraints, admittedly of my own making.

There's been a dramatic stylistic shift in my writing from when I first started with basic, tutorial-esque, articles to highly philosophical, but still technology oriented content. Which brings me to my third point...

My increasing dissatisfaction with technological content

I was always a technical guy, but I want to believe I'm much more than that. I'm a jack of all trades, never satisfied with a single thing, always on the lookout to expand my intellectual horizons. Thus writing about technology, even in philosophical terms, feels limiting and suffocating. This is a culmination of a long standing deliberation. Do I continue writing technical content or do I expand this blog into something more? I ultimately chose the latter and this article will serve as my commitment to this cause.

The past, the present and the hopeful future

When I first started this blog it was to be a monument to my ability as a programmer. I personally wrote every single line of code, deployed it and maintained it. I'm proud of this achievement, but in hindsight it was done for the wrong reasons. It doesn't matter how good the code is if the content isn't up to my standards.

The current state of affairs leaves this blog as little more than a vehicle for my expression, which is what I want to expand upon in the future. The writing is on the wall, so to speak.

The future promises a lot to be hopeful for. I hereby commit myself to expand the subject matter of this blog beyond just technical content and into other fields of personal importance. Expect more articles of the style and nature such as this one.

Closing thoughts

Quality was, is and will be my focus at all times. It's just that I'll try to break the limits I imposed on myself for so long. As I stated in my Mastodon bio, besides computing, I'm interested in philosophy of religion (east, west, esoteric and the occult), politics, psychology and literature. It would be hypocritical to continue boxing myself to a single subject matter. Till then, please, share your thoughts and/or criticism with me. It's highly appreciated.