Hmm what big thing happened in the closing weeks of of 2022?
Oh yeah! Of course!
It has been an indulgent five weeks after I was let into this garden the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I was genuinely excited when I got the invite email. I should have been even more excited, if I had known what we would do together as a group.
With that, let me indulge in five #SundayShares of old posts, #PostTips and #PostProjects
The Ghost of Old Year’s Past
- This pancake photo might not seem like much, but I’ve always been self conscious about my deficiencies as a photographer. This photo reminded me that I enjoy shooting #Texture and gave me confidence to make shareable images with a camera. One day, I’d love to be great at street or landscape, but I’ll leave those efforts for another year.
- I’ve always wanted to start drawing again, but my fear of inaccuracy had perennially constricted my gut. After joining Post, I wanted to see more hand drawing on Post and realized I needed to do my part. My hand was a convenient model which that morphed into a series the shaping ASL manual alphabet. The project clicked at “D” when I paired the sketch with a silly sentence. It’s so great when an iterative project crystalizes into something that feels just right. Even though I’m fan of quitting early and often, I’m also a huge proponent of repeating something until the universe gives a clear go/no-go.
- I posted notes on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids early one morning right after they released the feature showing who liked your Post. For a few minutes @noam was the only person who liked this Post. Hell yes, I have a screen shot.
- This may be getting extra-recursive, but I wanted to reshare this #SundayShare of the greatest honor of my career. Fuck cancer.
- I’ve been doing these Penny Delights on my blog for half a year. It’s a joy to share them with y’all!
The Spirit of #PostTips today
- @adrianwright gave us two great mottos. “Grace is my default posture here.” Let’s keep it that way.
- This hack won’t be of much use after the Post Team rolls out their Lists and Global Notification features, but in the meantime, I been using my web browser’s bookmark folder for tracking favorite accounts, including @ mentions of myself (…/topics/<INSERTusernameHERE>)
- This might be just me, but please consider doing “Quick RePost” if you’re not adding substantive commentary. I believe a simple compliment is better added to the original Post’s comment section — it keeps the conversation centered on the original Post and the original Poster has a better chance to see and respond. This habit will also help keep following feeds clean if/when they start combining Quick Reposts into a single entry.
- I’m ashamed to admit it, but I used to dismiss #AltText as digital virtue signalling. After watching professional creatives studiously adding alt text to each of their images, I realized that I was the jackass. This the best aspect of Post culture — good peer pressure to make things better.
- Adrian’s second great comment was “Building a brand new community doesn’t easily lend itself to being a spectator sport…” There’s gonna be twists and turns in the new year. We’ll chat and moan about it. But ultimately, its most important to for each of us to make Post by making Posts!
Dreams of Posts to come
- My blog has had two long running efforts “Notes on my Consumption” and “Written Snapshots”. I’ll keep sharing this #DailyWriting here.
- I’m going to finish my alphabet hand #Sketch series. I’d like to continue the #Texture photos. Maybe start a series on “boring architecture”. I wonder if my appropriation of the Tarot will last more than a couple of weeks — I have no idea what I’m doing!
- I’m a big fan of #SundayShare. It’s a fun excuse to dig into my archives.
- Are there other fun hashtag out there? @annasomeday came up with #WeekendWeirdness. @taratrudel just proposed #ComfortZone. @nolahaynes started #ClubGoodVibes. I’ve joined @allegrastein‘s #dailywriting crew. It will be fun to explore with other #PostCreatives like @jpdubois as these organic initiatives pop up.
- Finally, a negative goal: Stop wasting time on the meta-conversation. I already know who’s good and who’s naughty. Gossip is juicy but pseudo-fun steals time from making Posts!
Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine heading into 2023. I’m going back into the office after next week, re-inserting commute hours back into my routine and eroding my spare time.
And to be honest, I’m a fickle person when it comes to hobbies. There is a legit chance that this Post might mark my peak on this platform.
If so, I will be forever grateful to Noam and the Post team for an amazing year in five weeks.
But let’s hope we’ll have many great weeks of sharing together.
Maybe even years!