Yesterday I discovered that the longer I wait to write and publish, the more difficult it becomes. It also really sucks to photograph writing on a page indoors at night under artificial light. Takes too much effort for a mediocre product. Nothing beats sunlight. So I stepped outside and caught some fresh morning rays for today’s photo.

Hi, friends! I did my first one of these handwritten pages on a whim, not really knowing if I’d continue doing it or if perhaps I’d run out of things to write about. Most of all, I feared my inner critic might get to me again and convince me to keep it quiet. Because writing can be very vulnerable, at least for me, because it’s one of those rare channels in this chaotic, modern society where you can truly let go and be yourself.

We lost a lot collectively when we allowed social media to dictate so much of our friendships, how we revealed ourselves to the world, and how we relate to one another. When I put on my finest authorial voice and let loose, it’s a far different output from anything I ever would’ve poste don Facebook or Twitter. Character limits notwithstanding, those platforms aren’t intended to reward honesty… unless it garners engagement, views, shares, etc. I think folks reeeeeally underestimate how skewed a vision of the world those platforms have caused many of us to adopt, myself included.

Anyway, after the whole Charlie Kirk shitstorm, I knew it was time to pull the plug on social media. I am no longer an inhabitant of Facebbok, Instagram, Threads, X, or TikTok. To the extent that Substack is also a social media platform, I realize it’s a bit rich to shun those others but seek shelter here. So far, this is simply the most tolerable place I’ve found to house my writing… until further notice.

I’ve been thinking about finally putting a website together for myself, but that also runs counter to my current initiative of getting offline and touching grass in the sunlight as often as I can. I need something cheap, simple, flexible, and with as minimal configuration as possible. WordPress is great, but one thing I’m learning about myself if I have a proclivity toward getting lost in the unimportant (well, less important) details. I have the domain and the hosting, just need to decide what approach I want to take with it. I’ll throw it on the back burner and let my subconscious take the wheel from here.

If anyone would lik to send me a birthday gift, I would absolute LOVE any of the following USED items, preferably from your personal collection to make them extra meaningful! I will share anything you lovely folks send on here in a future post, unless you don’t want me to.

Wishlist:

Please, no pressure! I just usually shrug off my birthday—but if you’ve got any of those items taking up space, I’ll gladly accept them. I am getting the most out of today’s page—y’all take care!

—Jared Caraway