Back to December

reflections on a year of writing and revealing the year long easter egg

This is probably going to be my last post of 2023. I may sneak something in just before the new year, but between travel and holidays and life…for all of us, a two to three week break seems like a good thing.

How It Started

I described how it all began in a post called Begin Again on December 12, 2022, followed by Everything Has Changed two weeks later, and Don’t Blame Me on New Years Eve (more on this post later) . I missed writing, and wanted to see if I could get in the habit of writing every week - and also see if anyone would read what I wrote. I got a little bit of both, but what I got for myself was the best part. For me, writing is therapy - the exercise of trying to get all of the random thoughts in my head formed into something coherent has been a blessing to my mental health. I look forward to writing every weekend. I talked a bit about how I choose what to write about in This is Me Trying.

How It’s Going

I’m no superstar on substack, but if you’re reading this, thank you. If you like what I write, feel free to suggest it to others. If there are topics you want to hear me write about, let me know. You know, engage and stuff.

The Stats

I posted a few placeholder posts way back in the beginning of 2022, and never shared them, but a huge thanks to the 512 of you who subscribe to this thing.

For those who don’t subscribe, here’s a handy button.

The above mentioned post, Don’t Blame Me, where I discuss whether teams need dedicated testers pushed a lot of buttons with people, and had almost 4000 views.

Some other posts with much higher views than subscribers include, Bad Blood, I Can See You, It’s Time To Go, and Clean. Not sure why those got more readers than other posts, but that’s part of the fun.

The End of an Era(s Tour?)

This is the 52nd post since I started blogging again last December - I took one week off when I hiked the Wonderland Trail, but I’ve kept at it pretty well.

One bit of my writing ritual that’s overdue for a reveal. If you take a moment to scroll through my last 52 posts - including this one (archive here), there’s a theme that one person picked up on pretty quickly (Hi Molly), one person noticed just a month or two ago (and hello Patrick), and nobody else has noticed or bothered to mention.

I originally did it just to be funny. Then when nobody said anything, I took it as a challenge. I started with obscure references, but recently threw subtletie out the window and tried to get people to say something. It didn’t work. I guess the Venn between readers of these weekly posts on the worldwide phenomenom known as Taylor Swift barely overlap.

On July 15, I posted The Great War, and then went to see Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour.

The Great War happens to also be the name of a song on Taylor Swift’s Midnights (3am edition). And in fact, that’s the egg to share to end the year. Every single one of my last 52 posts (including this one) are titles of Taylor Swift songs.

Thank you, I’m Alan, have a great rest of 2023.