Life has been a bit chaotic this last couple weeks, and fulfilling the last 5% of the Run Your Own Mail Server Kickstarter has soaked up my time. I’m just getting to finishing the copyedits on Dear Abyss so I can launch the bloody Kickstarter. Here’s a snippet from the Introduction.
Here’s the other problem with an advice column. It needs glue.
Saying “I’ll write about FreeBSD stuff” isn’t enough. People don’t beseech Dear Abby for solutions. They want her soothing voice. Her calmness. Her gentle declarations that “yes, you have a problem” or “have you considered complying with conservative societal norms?” If they wanted detailed, thoughtful discussion of their petty problems they’d write Captain Awkward or Dear Prudence. Each columnist has their own voice, their own attitudes, beliefs and mission. Columnists have goals. And seriously, a Unix letters column? No system administration advice I could offer would survive thirty seconds exposure to the sandblaster of reality.
If you look at the first few columns, you’ll see I gave it my best shot. My model was in an unstable solar orbit, however, and starting to skip off the heliosphere.
This story has an unhappy ending. I figured out how to keep writing it.