Doubling Down

I wrote the first post on this site on May 17, 2011. Since then its purpose and pace have swayed back and forth. As I look back on the archives I am proud of the body of work that has resulted. I do, however, feel like it could be better.

It has always operated as a hobby, something I do on the side as I have time and interest. As a result I think that the overall quality of the work I do here hasn’t radically improved over time. A knife only gets sharp when ground against the steel.

I want to be a better writer. Not because I ever want to do it full time (I love being an independent software developer), but because I enjoy the process of writing and being able to share my mistakes, lessons and thoughts. I also like a challenge and feel this is a good time to stretch myself. I don’t write to a particular mold. I’m not a tech journalist. I just write about whatever is interesting to me at the time.

So, to steal a phrase from Tim Cook, I’m doubling down on this site.

In a personally impactful episode of Back to Work (#23, ~42m) Merlin shared advice he had given many hopeful bloggers over the years. He suggested that they take a month and start writing articles on a regular basis. At the end of 30 days of this you’ll know pretty well if you want to be a writer or if you just like the thought of being a writer. This is how Developing Perspective got started and I’m very pleased with the result. There is something clarifying and motivating about committing to a specific output for a definite duration.

I intend to start publishing 5 articles a week for the next 4 weeks. I like the pressure that saying that publicly puts on me. Some will likely be terrible, others hopefully will be interesting. If you want to join me for this ride you can subscribe to the RSS feed for the site or on Twitter/ADN.

David Smith