Weeknote 36: The End of My Sabbatical
First things first: I’ve reached the end of my sabbatical, and I’m itching to start working again. If you’re looking for an experienced frontend engineer to help you build complex React applications, please reach out to me over email or my Twitter handle!
Eagle eyed readers will have noticed that I’ve given this website a facelift. This was long overdue, since the previous website had been carelessly slapped together without much concern for readability. I’ve tried to rectify that mistake with this new design. Its large serif fonts, ample whitespace, and reduced visual noise should make it much more pleasant to read. However, since I’m not a designer, there’s certainly something important that I’ve overlooked. If this is the case, I would love to know so I can fix the issue.
I was sick again last week. Throat infection, from the looks of it. With COVID and the flu and allergies all making the rounds right now, who even knows anymore?
I’ve always been a slow writer, but only recently have I started to see this as a problem. Writing an 800-word blog post can take me nearly three hours, which is three times slower than my ideal writing pace. At this pace, researching and writing a blog post of 1000-1500 words would take me several days, and a medium-length post of 2000-3000 words post would take me more than a week. I’m not happy with this state of affairs anymore.
Part of the problem is that I’m out of practice, but the bigger issue is that I just can’t help myself from writing and rewriting the same things over and over again in an attempt to get them just right. To counter this tendency, I’ve made some changes to my writing workflow. I now write with a timer running, setting limits on how long I spend on each part of my writing process. I’ve also started writing from an outline, which means I can do the hard work of putting my thoughts in order much before I start polishing them for public consumption. I’ve already noticed a considerable improvement in my writing speed. I’m hoping to get to a point where I can write a medium-length post in under two hours (assuming my research is in order).
I finished reading Issue 47 of Uncanny Magazine. Some of the stories it contained were not for me, and some I simply didn’t understand, but the overall package was hugely entertaining. Left to my own devices, I would never have had the chance to read such an eclectic and diverse set of tales. My favorites were Bramblewilde by Jordan Taylor and To Hunger, As With Perfect Faith by Radha Kai Zan. If you enjoy them, I encourage you to purchase the full issue they appear in from Weightless Books.
I’m now reading Geentajali Shree’s Booker-winning novel रेत समाधि, available in English as Tomb of Sand. I’m also reading Issue 132 of Apex Magazine.