#1 Starting, and starting over
My Tumblr is back from the dead
It’s just after 4 pm on a Tuesday as I write this first newsletter. I began the intention to publish a newsletter of some kind, back at the end of 2023. But I got stuck at the first hurdle: the name.
To start with I went with Working Title - because the title shouldn’t be a hindrance to getting started, as so often has been the case with me, where an idea has to be perfectly formed before I can start. Then, after decidedly not getting started with Working Title I decided to have a go at portmanteau, taking inspiration from
’s . ‘Saf’ is not an especially poetic name, but I landed on Saforism – combining my name with ‘aphorism’ (noun: a pithy observation which contains a general truth) – and things seemed on track for a launch in Q1 2024.But attaching my name to the newsletter invited added pressure and Q1 rolled into Q2.
Then, finally, the right name struck me in the shower. From circa 2008-2011, I had a Tumblr blog called Take Courage, inspired by a bright neon sign of hope that I’d see during my university days and nights. I’d done quite well with that blog, amassing more than 500 followers before the platform began its slow death. It became apparent that my reason for starting a newsletter was to recapture the best bits of what Tumblr was in the late 2000s – a bit of long-form now and then, curating my interests… (hopefully) building a small audience. So Take Courage 2.0, it is!
And in true 2008 Tumblr fashion:–
Obsessing Over: British Shorthairs.
Working On: this newsletter, and a potential side-hustle project in the works…
Thinking About: how in October we went back and forth for days on whether the IDF bombed a hospital, and now literally every hospital in Gaza is destroyed.
Anticipating: flying to Bangladesh with the family for Eid.
Listening To: Djo - End of Beginning (the current de rigueur song on TikTok)
Drinking: nothing until 7:40 pm. It’s Ramadan!
Wishing: for momentum.