write-post

Drafting blog posts without this skill produces generic, AI-flavored prose. The user has a distinct voice across two categories. This skill forces you to read real examples of that voice before writing a single sentence.

When to invoke

• User asks to draft a new blog post, essay, or “notes on X” post
• User asks to edit, rewrite, extend, or polish an existing post
• User shares a draft and asks for feedback on tone/style
• User says “turn this into a post” or similar

Do not invoke for short-form inbox notes, README text, or vault-internal writing — this is specifically for posts published via Posts.

The two categories

Posts splits published writing into two categories. Before drafting, decide which one fits:

Notes (bullet-driven)

Examples: Notes on Japan, Notes on OpenAI, Notes on Coding in 2025, Notes on the Future.

Use when: the user wants to dump observations on a topic; the content is a collection of loosely-related points; depth-per-point matters more than narrative flow.

Voice signatures:

• Heavy nested bullets (2–3 levels deep)
• Lowercase-first on bullets; terse, declarative lines
• *italics* for concept emphasis, **bold** sparingly for punch
• #### Section headings to group clusters of bullets
• A short framing paragraph before the first bullet group is common, not required
• Footnote links [^1] for sources; a #### Links or Other list at the end
• Occasional aside tone (“don’t get me wrong”, ”^^”, ”;)”)
• First-person “I”, present tense

Essay (prose-driven)

Examples: The Death of Medium Intelligence, Obsidian Audio Inbox, AI generated Code is 10% Bullshit, The Vibe Coding Slot Machine, My loved mac apps, Digital Crate Digging.

Use when: the content has a thesis, builds an argument, or tells a story; the user wants something that reads top-to-bottom.

Voice signatures:

• Short paragraphs, often one or two sentences
• Opens with a scene, concrete observation, or a rhetorical framing — never with “In this post, I will…”
• Single-sentence paragraphs used for emphasis and rhythm
• **bold** to introduce key terms, *italics* for concept emphasis
• Em-dashes and ellipses for rhythm (“distinctly unproductive.”, “just… monitoring.“)
• Rhetorical moves: “Don’t get me wrong,”, “But the irony is…”, “And this is where…”
• Confident first-person stance; takes a position
• Dry humor; occasional punchlines
• Embedded images ![[...]] between sections of prose
• For hands-on / build-log posts: numbered ## How it works sections, callouts, step lists

Procedure

1. Read Posts (1_Home/Posts.md) to see the current list of published posts in each category. This is the source of truth for “which category exists” — do not assume from memory.

2. Pick a category for the post being written:

   • Ask the user if unclear. Don’t guess.
   • If the user has a draft that’s already bullet-heavy → Notes; already prose-heavy → Essay.

3. Load 2–3 reference posts of the chosen category, in full. Read them before writing. Do not skim. The point is to soak in rhythm, sentence length, openings, how sections connect.

   • For Notes: default references are Notes on Coding in 2025 and Notes on OpenAI.
   • For Essay: default references are The Death of Medium Intelligence (long, opinionated) and Obsidian Audio Inbox (hands-on build log) and AI generated Code is 10% Bullshit (short, punchy).
   • Pick references that match the planned length and register of the new post.

4. Draft in voice. Write the post matching the signatures above. Specific anti-slop rules:

   • No “In this post, I will…” openers. Open with a scene, observation, or concrete fact.
   • No bulleted “Key Takeaways” / “TL;DR” sections unless the user asks.
   • No “In conclusion,” / “To wrap up,“. End on a line that lands, not a summary.
   • No em-dash-every-sentence mannerisms. Use em-dashes where the voice in the references uses them — often, but not constantly.
   • No headers like “Introduction”, “Background”, “Conclusion”. Headers in this voice describe the chunk’s topic (”#### AGI”, ”## How it works”), not its structural role.
   • No hedging strings (“It is important to note that…”, “One might argue…”). The voice is direct and takes positions.
   • Keep paragraphs short. Break a long paragraph into two short ones.
   • Use wikilinks [[...]] for internal references to vault pages; use Markdown links for external URLs.
   • No frontmatter on the post itself — existing published posts don’t have any, and the author adds it manually if needed.

5. File location. Published posts live under 4_Projects/<slug>/<Title>.md (each post gets its own folder so embedded images can sit next to it), or 5_Archive/4_Projects/<slug>/<Title>.md once archived. For a new draft:

   • Create 4_Projects/<slug>/<Title>.md where <slug> is a short kebab-case identifier.
   • Ask the user before creating the folder if the slug is non-obvious.

6. Register in Posts. Add the new post to the appropriate section (📝 Notes, 📝 Other, or 🏗️ Drafts). Use [[Title]] or [[Title|🎯 Display Title]] matching the existing style.

7. For edits (not new drafts): read the existing post first, identify which voice category it belongs to (it usually already fits one), then edit while preserving that voice. Do not “upgrade” Notes-style prose into Essay-style prose or vice versa unless the user explicitly asks.

Anti-patterns

• Writing before reading references. Even if you “remember” the voice from a previous session, re-read. Voice drifts.
• Averaging the two voices. They are different voices. Pick one. A Notes post with a five-paragraph essay opener reads wrong; an Essay with a mid-post bullet dump reads wrong.
• Adding section headers the user didn’t ask for to “organize” content. Let the voice carry structure.
• Polishing out the rough edges. The voice has specific tics (lowercase-first bullets, single-sentence paragraphs, casual asides). Those are features, not defects. Do not smooth them out.
• Inserting sources/citations the user didn’t provide. Only include sources the user has supplied or that are already present in the draft.
• Claiming the draft is “done”. Always hand back for the user to review voice fit before considering it final.

Checklist

• Read Posts to confirm categories and current list
• Category picked (Notes or Essay); confirmed with user if unclear
• 2–3 reference posts of that category read in full before drafting
• Draft uses voice signatures for the chosen category
• No anti-slop patterns (no “In this post I will…”, no “In conclusion,”, no generic headers)
• Filed under 4_Projects/<slug>/ with embedded image paths if any
• Registered in Posts under the correct section