Write, write, write

I need to start writing again. How many times must I have repeated this to myself over the past few years. "But did you actually write before?" the wittier ones will ask. Well, yes, actually. During my academic years it was an important part of the job - duly documented on Google Scholar - and I believe I didn't fully appreciate it, as tends to happen with all the things you have to do whether you like it or not. On top of that, back then it was made even more intense by the motto "publish or perish," so you can imagine with what joy one might have practiced writing. "No pressure."

Now, years later, I find myself in a different work situation - one where you can't publish (though at least you can produce internal documentation - there's that). And now, true to the theory that we enjoy doing the things we're not allowed to do, I'm starting to think I shouldn't have stopped so abruptly. After all, writing is not only a fundamental part of communicating with other people, but first and foremost a way of communicating with ourselves, of putting our thoughts in order and giving our ideas a bit of what my PhD supervisor used to call: "structured thinking."

So "experimenting with writing" will be, in a sense, the purpose of this blog - but not only that. I also want to experiment with the technology hidden behind these pages. In fact, since I now write code almost exclusively in an automated way, I'm taking the time to write the code by hand. It takes ages. I didn't remember it taking this long. But there too, it's becoming almost like a craft gesture. If you do it, it's because you enjoy it.

And since I enjoy experimenting, I'm trying out a tech stack I'd never used before. This blog is actually part of a multi-site repo that I run on a VPS, written in Django, where the apps are shared across all the sites and where the frontend is generated with HTMX, Alpine.js, and Tailwind CSS. A fairly simple stack, but one that I think reflects a minimalist philosophy that embraces the pursuit of a handcrafted site.

So does that mean I won't use Claude Code for this site? Of course I use it. But like a discreet backstage prompter. It's under strict orders not to write a single line of code, but to provide hints or suggestions. At least for this site. For other sites where I need to publish at a faster pace to keep up with side projects alongside my main job, I'll use it quite heavily.

So, I hope this will be the first of a long series of posts.

See you soon!