I have a lot of drafts

I have a lot of drafts. I don't know what to do with them.

Ryan Schuetzler

28 Apr 2026 • 4 min read

I have a lot of drafts. I don't know what to do with them. I'm not a consistent writer, though I have dreams of one day overcoming my perpetual procrastination. I have a few blockers that keep me from finishing and publishing, and I guess rather than actually finish a post, maybe I'll write about that. And then again, maybe this will be just another draft that sits in my backlog.

Blocker 1: The taste gap

I really enjoy reading well-thought-out blog posts from smart people who take an interesting stance. So when I have a thought, I write down a title and start to flesh out an idea. But the post written out is never as good as the imaginary post in my head, so I leave it in the drafts folder and let it fester there, a half-filled shell of an idea left to remind me of my past half thoughts.

I'm a huge hypocrite, because I know and talk about writing cattle, not pets. I know that I'd be better off if I just put more stuff out there - that the only way to get better at doing something is to do it. But doing that is hard when there's such a gap between things I'm producing and things I think are good.

Blocker 2: Nobody's reading anyway

This blog gets about 30-50 visits per day, almost entirely to posts I've made explaining how to disable pi hole for certain devices or why I like Tailscale. Not many people are coming to hear my random thoughts about whatever I happen to be thinking about. And to be fair, why would they?

But also, I don't actually publish those posts, so why would people be coming for those thoughts if the thoughts aren't here?

Blocker 3: I don't want to be wrong

A lot of my drafts are based on my own ideas, and occasionally my own ideas are wrong. I don't like being wrong, and being wrong in writing feels much more permanent than being wrong in conversation.

This means that as I'm writing, I agonize over claims and statements, and look to find supporting evidence for even simple things I want to say. In reality, nobody probably cares that much about what I write (see Blocker 2), and I'd be more interesting to read if I'd just take a stand rather than waffling about everything. I do have my disclaimer on the page that I don't know anything and my opinions are subject to change, so I should probably start living by that a bit more.

Blocker 4: I have too many interests

Part of the issue is that I like to do a lot of different things, and any attempt to become consistent at something is undermined by my own desire to do all the things. You'll notice in the drafts list above that the drafts come in spurts - a month or two of ideas, then months with nothing. I may never actually be a consistent writer here because without consistent positive feedback, I'm not sure I can get myself to stick with it. Maybe if those view numbers start to climb...

Blocker 5: I won't write (here) with AI

I'm 100% positive that I could actually finish those drafts in a way that sounds like me but smarter, and probably more consistently come up with things to write about. But, as one of my drafts addresses (and one day you might get to read it), there are times for AI-assisted writing, and there are times for human writing. Writing is thinking, and for us to maintain our ability to think, we must maintain our ability to write without assistance. The 13 human visitors to this site don't need to read my ideas so urgently that I need AI to produce them.

Blocker 6: Straight up self-doubt

This relates to #1 and #3, but I just don't know that I have much to say that hasn't already been said better by someone else. I have thoughts, certainly, but how many of my thoughts are actually worth putting to the page? So what's the point of writing it down? I guess #5 (and the related future draft) answer that question - writing will be a way to stake my claims on my thoughts, to help me solidify my thinking.

Maybe, just maybe I'll actually start hitting that publish button like I'm about to do right.... now