blogging times
digging a hole [04]
Haya, ire here, writing from the belly of our Brussels apartment, sitting across from my brother streaming the Olympics in russian. July has been very external. Hot on most times; filled with social outings, fun dishes and clothing purchases (mostly Szy). Amongst all that, we’ve been trying to finish some work, which has been unnerving and hilly. But. This is not a ranting space. I will (try to) be brief.
Sustaining an artistic practice (here ‘digging’) requires focus and scaffolding. A few weeks back I created a scaffolding for my writing practice in the form of an impromptu blog called dropsłów. You can find dropsłów by following this link: https://irenkagebel.github.io/dropslow/index.html
I was prompted by two things: Johanna Hedva’s mention she writes 500 words a day; and Szy’s enthusiasm for kicking off another Alphabet Superset challenge. I set a challenge to write 500 words a day consistently for 26 weeks. 1 day out of the 7 it’d take to post it online. Believe me I’m not one for numbers but the quantity of words mattered to nurture a different daily writing focus. I was already writing daily but I was eager to enlarge the space it occupies and confront the idea of sharing it with others.
Instead of relying on blogging templates, I made a quick html website with a structure that would allow me to paste texts in an organised manner. I set up a folder in Obsidian so that I can write in Markdown and easily translate it into html.
The ‘making it public’ was what made a difference. The texts no longer stayed only on pages or in files that I’d have to share as a pdf or a screenshot. Now I can send a link. It weirdly made me want to be even more public. A github pages website with no bio whatsoever can make sense to friends, but targeting strangers lies a step ahead. So far, I didn’t realise I care for strangers reading me but dropsłów took me to a place where that’s a desire.
After the summer, I hope to relaunch dropsłów as a fully-fledged blog which could be shared endlessly or could remain in an intimate circle. It’s just nice to share in this format. And no, most weeks I don’t make 500 words/day. Once the space has established itself as a scaffolding for my writing practice, I go up there and take the freedom to do it the way it flows.
Blogs to dig into
Lauren Berlant’s Supervalent Thought: https://supervalentthought.wordpress.com/about/ (critical theory)
Bayo Akomolafe: https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/category/blog (philosophy, state of the world)
Ethan Zuckerman: https://ethanzuckerman.com/blog/ (big tech critique)
You can find more on our are.na channel https://www.are.na/isz-szi/blog-porn-wd_zcubtgzq
If you have any blogs to recommend I’ll be delighted to receive your word! 👀