A Word About Posts

As we head into the third year of No Map. No Guide. No Limits posts, a few words about my underlying philosophy and thoughts about the posts on the site:
I know some of you would like to see more frequent posts here. A new card in the mail every day is a great, fun literary treat. But I find there is an trade-off that gets made between quantity and … if not quality, than at least complexity. I’ve been working on this site, and as a correspondent for The Atlantic, for the past two years, and I’ve also been observing the blogging world even as I contribute to it. And I find I have mixed feelings about a lot of it.
There is no lack of what I call “immediate reaction blogging,” and no lack of quick bites of hyperlinks or quick notes, dashed off and published just so new content appears on a site more frequently. There’s a place for quick, light morsels of humor or insight, of course, and there are any number of people who make an art form of the short form.
I also understand that these constant short-form bits thrown against the wall as quickly as possible is the predominant model of the internet. But it seems to me that there’s plenty of that around for folks to partake of, if they want. What I find more rare on the internet is thoughtful, considered writing, about more complex ideas, that emerges only after a little more time has been invested in its exploration and creation.
There are an exceptional few who produce this kind of writing in almost real-time, of course (For example, James Fallows at The Atlantic comes to mind. But he is an exceptionally talented thinker and writer, with 35 years of immersion in his topic, and writing online and for The Atlantic is his full-time job). But in my own case, my work time is spread a lot more thinly than that.
I’ve also come to realize that if I’ve ever had anything worthwhile to contribute to the world in terms of thoughts or words, it’s been because I’ve had, or taken, the time to think about my subjects, wonder about ideas, and explore new avenues of thought and experience.  If I’m constantly talking, I have no time to think. Or, more importantly, to listen to what new ideas or interesting nuggets of understanding that life or the world might show me.
That may put me out of step a bit with the rest of the internet world. But I’ve been an explorer and adventurer for a long time. Which means I’m used to being outside the village boundaries, a bit alone, but following the best guide I have … my heart, and my gut sense of what is best and true and right for me.
So while one of my goals is to get more voices and content up on the site this year, I’m also clear that I’d rather write one post a week and feel as if I’ve actually said something worth saying than fill space with chatter. Hopefully, you feel as if the dishes served up here are tasty, even if you have to wait a bit in between courses.
As always, I welcome your feedback and ideas here, or by email, including ideas about content you’d like to see. Meanwhile, I’m going to go back to the kitchen and start working on the next course!