Welcome to My Messy, Honest, Imperfect Digital Garden

“A digital garden is less about performance and more about growth.” — Tom Critchlow

I didn’t invent the idea of a digital garden.

That honor belongs to a long line of bloggers, note-takers, tinkerers, and creators who never bought into the idea that everything online had to be shiny, finished, or optimized for clicks.

Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, personal websites were... well, personal.

They were messy and weird and beautifully human. You could stumble into someone’s site and spend hours reading thoughts that weren’t manufactured for a timeline or a feed.

That spirit faded as the web became corporatized—traded in for the dopamine drip of likes, followers, and carefully curated content calendars. A pimp convention for crypto traders, marketing gurus, and grifters.

But the idea of the digital garden never really died.

It just went underground, where most good things can be found, waiting for people to get tired of being chewed up by the algorithm.

This is My Way Back

Niche of One is becoming my digital garden.

It won’t be perfect (nor is it meant to be.) Or finished (maybe when I'm dead, I guess.) Or even fully organized (although I'll try to make it make sense.)

It’ll be a mix of thoughts, essays, working notes, half-formed ideas, and links to things I’ve made. It'll be a place I can share the cool things I find on the indieweb, far from the dregs corporate media slavery.

It’ll shift and grow and probably break sometimes. That’s fine.

Because this space isn’t about being “done.”

It’s about being real.

No, It’s Not a Marketing Scheme

Let’s get this straight.

This isn’t some clever branding exercise pretending to be authentic.

And while there will be the occasional capitalism—like a $5 ebook, or an affiliate link—that’s not the heart of this.

The goal isn’t to extract.

It’s to sustain.

Keeping a site like this alive costs time, energy, and money.

I’m giving folks who want to support the work a simple, honest way to do that—without popups, affiliate spam, or pressure.

I'm also not trying to be a millionaire, just break even. So, it will always be an affordable price and you will always be able to cancel with no hard feelings.

I won't even have them call you to extend your warranty.

If you love it, awesome. If not, keep reading anyway. No paywalls here.

Turning Writing into a Business Nearly Killed My Love for It

One of my major motivations for this was due to what I can only chalk up as a mistake on my part. You see, in 2024, I tried to turn my writing into a business.

That meant monetization strategies.

Funnels. Constant content. Metrics. Niching down until I barely recognized what I actually cared about.

And worst of all—it meant pretending to be excited about it all when I was completely drained.

It burned me out.

It made me feel like an inauthentic douchebag—selling pieces of myself I didn’t even like for a few clicks and a shot at “scaling.”

And it killed the joy.

Writing used to be the one place where I felt free.

Where I could wander, play, explore.

Turning it into a performance, a product, and a hustle stripped it of all that.

So now? I’m reclaiming it.

I write because I want to. Because it helps me think. Because I believe in the power of sharing things that aren’t polished and market-tested.

That’s what this garden is for.

Against the Algorithmic Web

I’ve spent years trying to make peace with social platforms. But the truth is, they don’t care about you, which is obvious even to those addicted to them (but like most addicts, they can't help themselves.)

They care about engagement. Control. Ads. Growth. More.

And I’m tired of optimizing for machines that don’t value people.

This garden is my rebellion against all that. It’s slow. It’s human. It doesn’t care if it trends.

It just wants to grow—and maybe, in the process, help others do the same.

A Place for Writers to Breathe

If you're a writer—or trying to be—this space is for you too.

I hope it reminds you that you don’t need permission to write.

You don’t need a massive audience.

You don’t need to “monetize” your voice before it’s even found its rhythm.

You don't have to listen to the gurus that shout at you that you're leaving money on the table, only THEY can help you, AND BUY MY THING YOU UNGRATEFUL SWINES!

You can just show up. You can explore. You can write for the love of writing.

And yes, if you want to build something from it—turn it into income, build a platform, reach people—you can do that too. But it doesn’t have to be the starting point.

Start with care.

The rest can come later.

Still gonna keep it minimal

Even though this site is expanding into something more organic and personal, I’m still sticking to my minimalist roots when it comes to writing.

You’re going to find plenty of short, focused posts here.

Sometimes just a few lines. Sometimes a paragraph.

Because that’s the kind of writing I like to do.

I like to be on-point and deliberate.

Writing short clears my head. It’s like a mental palate cleanse. A reset button. It helps me stay sharp, grounded, and present.

If a topic calls for something longer, I’ll go there. But most of the time, I just want to say what I need to say—and move on. No filler. No fluff. No performance.

Just words that mean something.

Let’s Grow Something Real

This is a work in progress.

Like a real garden, some parts will thrive, others will die off, and every so often I’ll have to dig up the roots and start again.

If that sounds interesting to you, stick around. Click around. Get lost.

And if you’ve been looking for a slower, quieter, more intentional corner of the internet—welcome. I think you’ve found a section of it. I hope you hang out and join the convo.

We’re not building funnels here.

We’re planting seeds.