"Just" Warming Up (Retro #1)
Here's the first issue of the Full Backlog newsletter – also going to previous subscribers from my old newsletter/site "Eszett" – same content theme but now on Substack!
Watching the coverage of the 2024 Olympic Game it’s natural to be drawn to tales of “normal” people who accomplish great feats of sport — the cyclist who only began as a hobbyist in 2016, the target shooter with a casual countenance, it’s even been a meme for a few years now to ask for a regular person to compete alongside the Olympic athletes so we can all see how much better the hyper-focused, dedicated, and accomplished entrants are.
We know in most cases, what we see in the Games is the culmination of a lifetime of dedication and practice, in some cases spanning decades.
Indulge me this self-pep-talk
It is easy and right to think of what I’m doing here with Full Backlog as “just warming up” but I don’t think that gives it the weight it deserves.
In all three areas of this site & newsletter — the main Full Backlog and the two arts & culture sections: Photography, and Notes for a Novel — I am drawing on decades of work:
My professional work in the IT & experience design space
Photography archives that go back to the mid-1990s
A long-running draft of novel (or two) that covers a couple of big important multi-generational long form topics that I think often about, and that require a lot of historic research and synthesis.
So, perhaps then I am “just” warming up, with the knowledge that I am farther ahead on this than it might appear, and that the work ahead of me is one of both creativity, as well as stewardship.
What would you like to see here?
Is there something I should be writing about? Reply, or get in touch and let me know
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