Sometimes the Dog Won’t Hunt
I posted this earlier today to the newsletter and thought I’d publish it here too. -jason
Hey folks. I’ve been back at work on kottke.org for a couple of weeks now and just wanted to give you a little update on where I’m at. In a brief reentry post, I promised a “massive forthcoming post” about my sabbatical activities and thoughts. I had planned on having that done by now, but…………….. well, it’s not. And honestly I don’t know when it’s going to be. I’ve got the whole thing sketched out and have been working on it in dribs and drabs, but taking on such a big thing after not having written & thought in a structured way for months is proving difficult. I’ve realized that I haven’t had sufficient time to reflect on my experiences — I believe I have interesting things to say and conclusions to draw about the sabbatical, but not just yet.
The other thing is: I’m just having a really good time being back in the saddle here. I’m finding that I’d rather just work on the day-to-day site stuff, which is more variable than just the heads-down, pure writing that the big post requires. (Dirty little secret: The actual writing I do for the site is often my least favorite part of all the different things that go into running kottke.org. Newsflash: writer hates writing, details at 6pm.)
With recent posts about a Chinese painter of replica van Goghs who visits Europe to see real van Goghs, a lovely Twitter thread of big-name authors recalling low-turnout readings they’ve done, Jenny Odell’s forthcoming new book, a new USPS stamp celebrating John Lewis, a site that rates apples, an AI imagining scenes from Jodorowsky’s Tron, a list of the best books of 2022, the truffle industry being a big scam, the best photos from NASA’s Artemis I mission to the Moon, this appreciation of a tight action scene from Top Gun: Maverick, a 1-dimensional version of Super Mario Bros., “wet putty” car paint jobs, parentification, and dozens of other posts and links, I feel like I’ve gotten off to a good start and just want to keep the momentum going on that. So anyway, thank you for your continued patience as I figure out how this all works again.
Oh, and here’s a new thing: for those who have jettisoned Twitter, I’ve created a Mastodon account for kottke.org. Links to all my posts and Quick Links are now available at botsin.space/@kottke, in addition to the usual places: Twitter, RSS, Facebook, and kottke.org. Thanks for reading!
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