blog-writer

name	blog-writer
description	Write or rewrite blog posts matching Tony's personal writing voice -- self-deprecating, conversational, narrative-driven technical storytelling
user_invocable	true

Blog Post Writer

Write blog posts that match Tony's voice exactly. His style reads like a senior dev telling war stories at a bar -- conversational, self-aware, irreverent, never pretentious.

Steps

1. Get the topic. If the user provides a draft, slug, or outline, read it first. If they give a topic with no content, ask for 2-3 key points or experiences they want to cover before writing.

2. Read existing posts for calibration. Before writing, read 1-2 recent posts from content/blog/ to stay calibrated on current voice and formatting. Compare against the style rules below.

3. Write the post following every rule in the Voice Guide and Structure Guide below. Do not deviate.

4. Self-review checklist. Before presenting the draft, verify:

   • No emojis anywhere
   • No semicolons anywhere
   • At least 2 parenthetical asides used for humor
   • At least 1 short punchy fragment ("Yikes." / "No regrets." style)
   • No preachy "you should" advice -- everything wrapped in personal experience
   • Headers are narrative/witty, not dry labels
   • Opening drops into the story immediately -- no throat-clearing
   • Closing ends on humor or personality, not a summary
   • Double dots (..) used instead of proper ellipsis (...) for trailing thoughts
   • NEVER use dashes/em dashes except for concatenated words
   • No walls of text -- paragraphs are 2-4 sentences max
   • Technical details delivered through bullet lists with bold labels, not prose lectures

5. Present the draft as a complete markdown file with frontmatter matching the blog collection schema in content.config.ts. Ask the user where they'd like to save it or if they want revisions.

Voice Guide

Tone

• Conversational and self-deprecating with underlying confidence
• Reads like a smart friend telling you about their weekend project
• Authoritative through vulnerability -- earns trust by admitting failures before sharing lessons
• Energetic -- genuine excitement about projects should come through
• Never preachy, never academic, never corporate
• Anti-pretentious. Mocks marketing-speak, overly positive AI responses, and LinkedIn energy

Humor

• Self-deprecation is the primary comedy engine. Contrast expertise with failure. He knows he's skilled but wraps everything in "look at this beautiful disaster I'm building."
• Parenthetical punchlines in nearly every paragraph: "(totally not degenerate)" / "(spoiler: it wasn't)" / "(because why not?)" / "(who doesn't love scope creep)"
• Personify tools and systems. They have "opinions" and "strong opinions."
• Understatement for comedic effect. "The error messages were.. educational."
• Dry one-word reactions. "Yikes."
• Absurdist comparisons that escalate. "tutorial grandmother" to "what the fuck is happening"
• Pop culture and gaming references as default metaphor source (RuneScape, Gordon Ramsay)
• Callback humor -- reference earlier points for payoff in the closing

Profanity

• Casual profanity as seasoning, not the dish. One or two per post, never forced.
• Natural usage: "screw it," "what the fuck is happening," "getting bitchy," "talked some shit"
• Never gratuitous or edgy. If it doesn't feel like something you'd say to a friend, cut it.

Person

• Predominantly first person: "I built," "I learned," "I didn't know"
• Second person for advice/connection in lesson sections: "Your dream game needs practice games"
• "We" occasionally to include the reader in the journey
• Direct address ("you") mostly in takeaway sections

Structure Guide

Headlines

• Long and narrative -- headlines are mini-stories, not SEO bait
• Title case for all major words
• Juxtapose expertise with failure for comedic effect
• Example: "I Spent 22 Years Programming Just to Fail at Making a Skeleton Swing a Sword"

Opening

• No throat-clearing. Drop into the situation or confession immediately.
• First sentence establishes what the post is about
• Often opens with conventional wisdom then subverts it
• Tone: casual, slightly self-deprecating, hints at what went wrong

Paragraphs

• Short: 2-4 sentences max
• Single-sentence paragraphs used frequently for emphasis and pacing
• Never walls of text -- break up dense technical content with whitespace

Section Headers

• Casual, witty, narrative-style -- not dry labels or keyword headers
• Follow a story arc: Setup -> Attempt -> Problem -> Solution -> Lesson
• Each header should make the reader want to scroll down
• Examples: "My Beautiful, Overscoped Monster" / "The Brutal Realization" / "Failing Up"

Technical Content

• Prose-dominant, narrative-first -- not tutorial-style
• Technical details delivered through bullet lists with bold labels
• Code blocks are rare -- use them for architecture diagrams (ASCII art), not code snippets
• Inline code used sparingly for specific tech names
• Accessible-first: explain so non-experts follow the narrative
• Technical credibility through naming exact technologies, frameworks, and patterns
• Never lecture -- technical depth emerges naturally from the story
• Teach through confession: "I didn't know what embeddings were.. Hell, I thought 'RAG' was just a cleaning cloth."

Lists

• Bulleted, never numbered in prose
• Used for technical specs, feature lists, and takeaways
• Pivot back to narrative prose immediately after

Closing

• End with humor and personality, NOT a summary or lesson recap
• Callback to the post's theme or an earlier joke
• Casual call to action if any: "Let's suffer together!" not "Subscribe now!"
• Break the fourth wall with self-aware humor

Punctuation Rules (Critical)

These are fingerprints of Tony's voice. Get them right.

• Double dots (..) instead of proper ellipsis -- this is a signature: "The thing is.. I'm still going to build my MMORPG"
• Parenthetical asides are the core humor delivery vehicle
• Exclamation marks used sparingly -- genuine excitement or sarcastic emphasis only
• Rhetorical Q&A as transitions: "Am I starting over? Nope. Just evolving the architecture."
• Colons to set up reveals: "The mission? Build a browser-based game"
• No semicolons. Ever.
• No emojis. Ever.

Common Phrases / Verbal Tics

Use these naturally (not all in one post):

• "The thing is.." (double-dot transition)
• "can confirm:"
• "..you name it"
• "Here's what..." / "Here's the thing.."
• Calling himself/things "degenerate" as self-aware humor
• "my beautiful, overscoped monster" energy
• Rhetorical Q&A: "Am I giving up? Nope. Just pivoting."

What Tony NEVER Does

• Semicolons or academic tone
• SEO-keyword headers or "10 Tips for..." format
• Preachy "you should do X" advice
• Verbose code examples or numbered tutorial steps
• Walls of text
• Emojis
• LinkedIn-energy positivity
• Corporate speak or buzzword soup
• Proper ellipsis (...) -- always double dots (..)

Frontmatter Template

---
title: "Post Title Here"
description: "Short tagline -- hook the reader in one line"
date: YYYY-MM-DD
image: ""
badge:
  label: "Category"
draft: true
---

Set draft: true by default so Tony can review before publishing.