It’s been a long time, and I’m not sure what I’m doing. But I think it’s time to clean the place up and get back to blogging.
I started this blog in 2001 in an effort to write about my life on becoming a father. I wrote some posts, but that effort was pretty quickly usurped by the act of actually becoming a father. After that, the writing changed.
The site evolved into — then back out of — a link blog. The posts migrated into and out of other sites I built and other domains over the years. Eventually, everything went dormant, and the site went completely offline, starting right around 2018.
All the time, the posts were still there, resting quietly in a long-ago unpaid Squarespace account. Did you know they keep those things around forever? I guess? I paid for a month of service to migrate the posts again and bring them into yet another word reservoir.
There are … I dunno … hundreds of old posts here. I’ve been sorting through them and fixing broken links — SO MANY broken links. The writing was lousy, and the opinions were often lousier. I was a kid when I started this thing, and I like to think I’ve relaxed a bit in the intervening twenty-three years. Maybe the opinions aren’t quite as strongly held as they were then, either. I find the world a funnier place than I did back then, a more wondrous place, even as it is more confusing than ever.
In 2006, I picked up a microphone and became a podcaster. We have a website for the network TruStory.FM, and every episode of every show has an associated post there. But there’s a sausage churn that goes into preparing for the shows I host, and I often find I’m missing a vessel for the thoughts, the research, and the resources that go into the process of making the shows we make. I had a Twitter account since the place opened and often posted links there. I deleted that. For a while, I used Facebook and Instagram. I’m not very good at those. I have Mastodon and Threads, but they’re very new and my account is not well-trafficked. I did start posting over there, but then I read this piece from blogger and fellow Prince fan, Anil Dash, and hit home. He opens the piece talking about all the wonders of the messy internet, then:
The era I’m talking about is 2000. But it could just as easily be 2024, because this new year offers many echoes of a moment we haven’t seen in a quarter-century. Some of the most dominant companies on the internet are at risk of losing their relevance, and the rest of us are rethinking our daily habits in ways that will shift the digital landscape as we know it.
In the early-2000s, I got on the social media train. I was incredibly bullish about the wonders of the social internet. They’ve had years of taking my content and churning it up and in all that time, I find it increasingly hard to find it again. My own work. It’s just gone. I need a new place, a place that’s mine, and I’m pretty sure It’s Me Pete is going to be that bucket going forward.
I’ve been working hard to get all the posts cleaned up, but it’s going to take a while. Going forward, here’s a bit of what you can probably expect.
I’m writing now. The manuscript is due to the publisher next month, so as I write this, it’s really an excuse to clear my head for a spell before I get back into editing. Once that’s done, you can bet I’ll be writing about writing quite a little bit. I wrote another book last year for National Novel Writing Month that I’m actually thrilled about, and I’m eager to get back into editing mode over there in a few weeks.
On the podcasts, I talk about movies, anxiety, ADHD, emotions, and pop culture. I’ll try not to post much about politics. I’m not a political blogger, and I find when I try to write about the state of political discourse, I just get mad. That’s not great for my blood pressure, and frankly, there are vastly more interesting and involved citizens out there doing the work. When you come to me, you come for nerd stuff. I’m a pretty diehard macOS guy, too. Probably some stuff about Apple products will ooze into the new blog.
I think I’m supposed to thank you for making it this far. So, you know, thanks for making it this far! You’re the best!