How I created a newsletter I actually enjoy writing

Lots of developers send newsletters, and as I thrust myself into the online technology space in 2020, it was an item I added to my to do list straight away. Given the incessant algorithmic curation of content on the web, a newsletter is a crucial tool in being able to reach an audience consistently; someone giving you their email address is a powerful indicator of trust. But it took me three more years to actually start sending a newsletter because it felt like such a huge effort amidst everything else I had to do for work and for life.

It turns out I was over-engineering the concept of sending a newsletter in my head. And it really can be as simple as you want to make it. Since January 2024, I’ve sent 56 weekly issues of my newsletter, and I’ve enjoyed writing and sending every single one. Here’s how I approached creating and sending my newsletter, weird wide web hole, to make each issue easy to write, and delightful to send.

I am a huge fan of weird things and obscure things, intriguing experiences, and things that don’t always appear to be what they seem. Since the early days of the internet, I have always been fascinated with strange websites, curious applications of technology, the vastness of the universe, and unexpected collaborative online experiences. I am always thrilled to discover a non-standard, and perhaps unknown website written by a stranger, because I get to peek inside their head and explore the inner qualities of their soul and expression, and the human condition itself.

I created weird wide web hole to satisfy my own desires to explore the weird side of the web. I send what I would be excited to receive: obscure descriptions of strange and intriguing websites and incantations of wonder and curiosity. Every word I send and every link I collect is intended to make you pause, appreciate, and explore things differently to how we’ve become accustomed on this vast world wide web.

Lots of newsletters contain lots of words. As a consumer of newsletters, I often find I can’t make the time to read so many words. Newsletters often sit unread in my inbox for days, until I have the time and space to enjoy them. The attention span of the world is disintegrating before our very eyes, and so I purposefully choose to write just a few words. Yet every word I write is written intentionally, and for you to consume deeply and deliberately. I write few words because I mindful of your time and of my own time. And writing fewer words makes approaching each newsletter cognitively easy. Each issue takes around five minutes to put together.

Additionally, each newsletter contains just four links, which I collect throughout the week. Four is a very achievable number, and often I have a collection of links that are lined up for one or two future issues. I write the foreword to each issue on the day I send it, purely inspired by how the links in the newsletter made me feel, or what’s going on in my head that day. I don’t think too hard about what I write, I just let it happen.

At the time of writing, I have 346 active subscribers to my newsletter. That may seem like a small number compared to the number of people who know me on Bluesky or Twitch or even Youtube, but if you visualise that number of people in a room, it’s actually quite wonderful. I have the attention of almost 350 people, every Thursday.

I know weird wide web hole may not appeal to a vast audience, and I actually kind of like that. I’m not going to sign off this blog post with a call to action to subscribe, because if you wanted to enter the weird wide web hole, you’d already be in there.

goodbye