Inflatable Ink

Undernotes: Let's try this out

A project for 2026. Reading. Thinking about reading.

photo by Eliza Ari(https://unsplash.com/@ellusionist?utm_source=templater_proxy&utm_medium=referral) on Unsplash

I'm staring down an uncertain year with lots of work ahead of me and no guarantees. Still, I want to start putting out new words here. How do I square that? It seems like an impossible ask. Surely, I should be committing to less and not more.

Thinking about this, though, it occurred to me that I goof off to read all the time. I neglect my sanctioned projects for the lure of other words -- web sites surfed, Bluesky links followed, RSS feeds scrolled, books dipped into, short stories and poems devoured. I'll dive into anything, really, so long as it is not what I should be working on. And the worst of it? I don't keep a map. I encounter fine writing and challenging ideas, graze, and move on.

So I'm going to try this. I will track my reading and a little of my writing. Not all of it. I'll avoid the hot takes. There's little to be gained by pointing out the badness of bad people saying bad things. Instead, I'll try to reference anything I find which offers something more rewarding. And I'll do it fast.

My timer is about to go off. Let's see how it goes for a week or two. So this is my first undernote. Soundtracked on this New Year's Day by WFMU

Image: Eliza Ari on Unsplash