Starting a blog in 2023

Starting a blog might seem like a very 90s thing to do, especially right in what seems to be the golden era of ✨content✨. There are so many platforms out there, all specialized in delivering content that you will like. Whole business models are built purely around eyeballs.

In a time like this, it feels a bit weird to be launching a blog. Maybe just because the word blog sounds so outdated. In recent years it seems like a newsletter would be the trendier thing to launch. Where other content platforms specialize in dancing videos or memes, Substack stands out as the content delivery service for long(er)–form writing.

The thing is, I hate email as a medium for newsletters. I constantly work towards inbox zero, and having my inbox flooded with daily newsletter updates is overwhelming and just feels like clutter. I treat my inbox as a to-do list. As soon as I’ve read or taken the necessary action on an email it is archived never to be seen again. Having newsletters—something that I read for personal enjoyment rather than necessity—mixed into all of that feels very wrong and plain counterproductive.

Either way, I’m in no position to charge anyone for my content so there’s no reason to set up a Substack anyways. So far I’m the only reader. There’s also just something satisfying about rolling your own website, I’m a software engineer after all.

If you want to stay up to date with my posts, feel free to subscribe to my feed. Call it a newsletter, call it a blog. At least it won’t be cluttering up your inbox.