About

Building via has been a Sisyphean task over the last decade and a half. The unicorn I couldn't catch.

Between bouts of trying to get it made myself, and trying out the new writing tools and programs, I would try, fail, give up, try again, all while searching the writing app ecosystem only to give up in frustration.

Writing apps, man. From puritanical "minimalist" apps to maximalist multiverse madness apps. Custom linux setups. Keyboard layouts. You name it, I've tried it.

And it isn't like I had a formal definition of what I wanted a writing app to do. All those years back I had a hazy idea: something with the clarity of iA Writer, and the sophistication of Scrivener, and folding headers.

And every tool I tried always felt slow and either disorganized or over-organized. My writing ended up fragmented across several apps.

None made me a better writer.

It wasn't until I got some formal training and finished my first novel that I had a clear picture of principles, practices and the tools needed.

Then it was a process of figuring out how to build them.

As much as I disliked the baggage of web apps, it seemed a necessary evil to solve problems I had at the time — many of which turned out to have simpler solutions.

I think React (and web frameworks in general) is the Unreal Engine of app development. Everything "works", but if you care an ounce about performance, stability or bloat, you will waste far too much time un-designing.

Now, with the simplicity & economy of Odin, the architecture aligns with what I envisioned via to be.

I've caught my unicorn, and she's got a sexy engine.

— moth