Multiple times, I’ve drafted notes, written, and re-written parts of this post in an attempt to find the best way to start. And, I know, oftentimes writing qualifying statements or short paragraphs like this is considered something we shouldn’t do when publishing content.
But I don’t think I’ve the best track record of doing the things that I should be doing whenever writing on this site and I tend to write how I want, more often than not, about whatever it is I want to share.
Why buck the trend?
Writing Broadly
A little over a year ago, I talked about Digital Minimalism as well as Deep Work. I’ve also referenced Cal Newport a couple of times and also some of his other writings such as A World Without Email.
And it’s more than fair to say this his perspective along with the timing of certain events in my life as of late have coincided in a fortuitous way.
The Circles in Which We Run
When it comes to those authors with whom we find an interest in their work, is it not uncommon to follow other people who run in their circles? Since Newport has a [fantastic] podcast of his own, I’ve been introduced to a number of these people both through interviews and references that come up through conversation either when answering questions or when he’s talking to his producer.
Further, his entire philosophy based in the books mentioned above have spurred a whole “deep life movement” that’s given way to a website for those interested into pursuing this type of lifestyle.
Specifically, for those who are looking to start focusing their efforts more on building a deep life (and those looking to being incorporating “slow productivity” into their day-to-day professional lives).
And in the past few years, my family has undergone a lot of change. It’s far too much to detail here but it’s also one of those things that can be summed up in a few statements:
- We moved to a very rural area in Georgia on five acres where I’m about to continue working remotely,
- my wife is able to continue to education the kiddos and continue running them to all of the various activities,
- and each of them are able to deeply pursue some of their own interests.
It’s paying dividends, but things that I used to find significant enjoyment in doing have changed.
Such as writing for this blog. In addition to living deeply, I want to write broadly. Relatively speaking, that is.
On Writing About Software Engineering and WordPress
For nearly a decade, it seems we were told the best way to have a successful blog was to carve out a niche into which you could share your subject matter expertise, thoughts, or how we’re generally functioning in an area. I don’t think any of that was wrong at the time – and it may not be now – but the content I want to write about has expanded a little bit.
It’s not just because I’m continuing to work on more interesting problems that are both directly related to or tangentially related to WordPress, but because other interests have continued to flourish thanks to adopting this whole deep life philosophy way of living.
So why not continue to expand the content of the blog a little bit? This isn’t to say I’m going to fully change the core content of software engineering and WordPress development but maybe expand into a few other areas.
For example, in Things, I have a list of various topics about which I’d like to write. Some things have to do with:
- AI,
- modern PHP,
- apps that I find useful,
- how to do with building certain types of solutions with WordPress, PHP, and iOS,
- and more.
Further, I could write about something being ‘rural and remote’ and how that’s changed my day-to-day or week-to-week especially as it relates to deep work.
Given the list above and the usual day-to-day of work, there’s no shortage of content but only if I expand the focus of this blog. So I that’s the plan for now. I have no grand plans in terms of a re-design or a re-launch or a mailing list or anything like that. Just a plans to expand content and maybe update the tag line.
13 Years So Far
This blog has been a great place for the last ~13 years and it’s not been completely consistent either. Some types of content come, some types of content go, and some types of content remain the same. And that’s where I am at the moment with all of this.
But I’m excited about introducing some new things that are tangentially related to the core of the material about which I write at the moment as well as how life has changed, too.
I don’t know when I’ll start incorporating new content but eventually I’ll be talking about what deep work is, its values, and how I incorporate it in my day-to-day.