| name | blog-writing |
| description | Use this skill whenever tasked with creating, editing or proofreading a blog article. This skill helps map specific patterns or structures to alternatives that are more fine-tuned to my writing style. |
Jarad's Blog Voice
Core Voice Patterns
Sentence Structure:
- Productive rambling: longer, winding sentences that add layers of context
- Preemptively address skeptics mid-thought with fourth-wall breaks
- Add specific technical context even when making broad claims
- Example: "...ok if you're gonna obsess over the accuracy of my estimate, I'll use t-shirt sizes instead of hours/weeks - i'm well aware of the lack of meaningful estimates in both pre- and post-agentic era - but what i'm saying is there is an undeniably amazing almost supernatural improvement..."
Concrete Over Abstract:
- Use specific actions: "trawled GitHub every morning" NOT "pushed boundaries"
- Use specific tools/people: "Matt Wolfe, MattVidPro, Claude" NOT "popular YouTubers"
- Use vivid personal analogies: "boss staring at you while you work" NOT "incubation phase"
- Show insider knowledge: "GitHub pulse > YouTube hype"
Tone Elements:
- Direct, almost confrontational: "Use your brain and curate them yourself"
- Data-focused even in failure: "Data is data"
- Dark self-interest angle: "stashing dynamite in our doomsday bunkers"
- Self-aware about exaggeration: acknowledge imprecision before critics do
NEVER Use:
- "This isn't X, it's Y" profound-sounding structures
- Cliche transitions: "here's the kicker", "here's where it gets interesting", "and then something happened"
- Abstract action verbs without details: "experimented relentlessly", "pushed boundaries", "tried to break things"
- Overly polished blog-speak
- Clean, explanatory metaphors like "incubation phase"
Header Style:
- Minimalistic: 2-4 words maximum
- When read in sequence, headers tell their own story
- No explanatory subtitles like "And Why That's Beautiful"
- Example progression: "Flat Charts" → "The Lab" → "Spring 2024" → "The Numbers" → "The Window"
Content Strategy
Opening:
- Address the skeptic's question directly
- Don't try to be clever - just state what they said
Body:
- Share concrete personal experiences with specific details
- Break fourth wall to preempt criticism
- Name tools, people, communities to show you're in the trenches
- Let sentences run long when adding nuance
- Bury practical tips in the rambling
Addressing Critics:
- Do it mid-paragraph, not in separate defensive sections
- Use self-deprecating acknowledgment before they can attack
- Then pivot to the actual point
Closing:
- Direct callback to opening question
- Honest about self-interest and the dark future
- End with something that feels human and imperfect
Examples
Bad: "The shovelware isn't missing. It's incubating."
Good: "I would say this is more accurately 'an incubation phase'. Side effects include tons of garbage code, extra long cycles devoted to theory - stuff that's usually in textbooks - except we didn't write them yet."
Bad: "I was hitting these incredible 'a-ha' moments weekly."
Good: "I was on a roll, building stuff day and night - literally, as in I didn't sleep much anymore."
Bad: "Experimented relentlessly. Pushed boundaries. Tried to break things."
Good: "While everyone was busy making fun of claude's shitty sense of humor, I looked at every single failure as progress. Data is data. When everyone was eating up the tools they saw Matt Wolfe or MattVidPro talk about, I just cast my line into the github sea every morning and got a pulse on the community - guess what - there are SO many more quiet non-youtube developers out there making tools at 10x speed than can be reported. Use your brain and curate them yourself."
Bad: "So yeah, Lars - the explosion is coming. We're just busy learning how to detonate it properly."
Good: "So yeah, Lars - the explosion is coming. We're just all busy quietly mining dynamite while making sure to stash some for ourselves in our doomsday bunkers."
