03 Mar 2026 #misc
To keep myself accountable, here’s a list of changes I’d like to make on my blog:
#1. New About copy. I still have the one from the days I was looking for a full-time job as a coder. That’s not the case anymore. These days, I’m a digital writer with a part-time coding job.
#2. More recent “Start Here.” The “Start Here,” on my About, dates back to my full-time coding days, with only tutorials. Google and AI have killed tutorials. And I’m not writing as many coding tutorials anymore.
With metrics from other platforms, I follow POSSE, it’s time to update it with my most liked content.
#3. New tags. This started as a coding blog. Five years ago, my first post was a coding tutorial. Over time, it became my small corner, where I write about almost anything.
In 2024, when I started my daily writing challenge, I created a /misc tag. But, naturally some patterns have arisen,
- Health
- Experiments
- Book writing
- Random thoughts
- Personal development
#4. Book page. On the left sidebar, I feature my projects and open source contributions. It’s time to feature my books instead.
In the last year, I updated Start Testing and launched Street-Smart Coding. And I’m about to finish another book experiment.
#5. On this date widget. Sometimes I’ve written “On This Date” posts, like this one and this one. I write about the posts from past years written on the same date. I’d like to create a small widget to automate that. Under every post show 2 posts from previous and following years.
That’s one of the best parts of having a blog: you can tweak it however you want. Try beating that, social platforms!
03 Mar 2026 #writing
This blog started as a coding notebook, but now it’s my small corner of the web.
I’ve changed what a post is. It used to be tutorials. I spent time designing covers with Canva and picking images from Unsplash. I wanted it to look like a “real” blog. Those days, around 2022, I shared my posts on LinkedIn to boost traffic and get attention.
But writing daily posts left no time for covers and images. To stay consistent, I simplified my approach and adopted some rules. I first shared them here and here, but now I’m updating them:
#1. Write short pieces. You don’t have to write breakdowns or 2,000-word posts. If it’s longer than a tweet, publish it. A good headline plus some sentences works. A 10-idea list works. Some random thoughts are worth publishing.
#2. Write reaction posts instead of comments.
#3. Make your urls easy to pronounce.
#4. If you miss a day, write two posts the next day.
#5. Use your posts multiple times. Repost them on another platform. Use them as book chapters. Share shorter versions on social media. You can steal from yourself.
01 Mar 2026 #writing
TV shows are a good writing classes.
These days, I binge-watched Slow Horses Season 5. Not that I’m a fan of spy shows.
After watching one of the first episodes, I noticed how good episode endings it has.
So I watched the rest of the season with my writer’s glasses on, here are some of the devices I noticed—No spoilers:
- Increasing tension in every episode. The enemy is using the same strategy the Brits used in them during the Cold War. Each episode follows one of the steps.
- Plot twist. The innocent turns out to be not that innocent.
- Ending episode with revelation. One episode ends without any dialog or action scene, but with a text message.
- Connecting elements. A box full of souvenirs and a tape recorders show up in screen, connecting the plot between episodes.
- The season ends connecting with the first episode. One of the protagonists makes a phone call, following up a conversation from the first episode.
- Make you hate a character. That’s not the villain, but a protagonist used as an “useful idiot.” You just hate it by the end of the season. Give characters some life.
More TV show breakdowns: Black Doves, Not Really on Purpose, and House M.D..
01 Mar 2026 #misc
For my February book experiment, I wanted to open each chapter with a powerful quote. Stealing from Mastery by Robert Greene.
But then I realized I didn’t have enough quotes. I needed at least ten. I didn’t want to Google or ChatGPT for quotes and get the same quotes every motivational post uses. It was too late to read or surf the web looking for quotes.
That’s when I wish I had been a quote collector.
I remember Austen Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work, who has a notebook for quotes and then he transcribe them.
I wish I had joined the notebook cult.
27 Feb 2026 #mondaylinks
Hey, there.
Here are 4 thought-provoking links I found this week. Plus my reflections after a week off social media.
#1. AI makes code cheaper, but cheap code means not understanding what you’re building. “Use AI or stay behind” shouldn’t be the real mantra. It should be rely on AI and get left behind (4min).
#2. College and bootcamps don’t teach the skills you need for real-world coding. That’s why I wrote Street-Smart Coding, by the way. This week, I found an updated version of The Missing Semester, a free course covering text editing, version control, agentic coding, and other skills nobody else teaches.
#3. Do you want to see a blue shield on your LinkedIn profile? Think twice after seeing all the data LinkedIn and friends collect to verify us (12min).
#4. Now with cheaper code it’s finally time to tackle the real bottlenecks (3min). And no, coding and typing were never the bottleneck.
I spent last week away from social media, and it turns out I’m another dopamine junkie (4min), even with mindful use and a timer. Arrggg!
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… Street-Smart Coding, 30 lessons to help you code like a pro. From Googling to clear communication, it covers the lessons you don’t learn in tutorials. It’s now out on Kindle and paperback on Amazon.
Until next Friday. Keep coding smartly
Cesar