This website is an archive as of 31 Dec 2023. For my latest website, please visit mattelim.com

30-30 project


I am turning 30. Writing is one of those things that I have been wanting to do for some time, but have never found enough willpower or courage to do. I have always had the habit of taking short notes on Google Keep; I have the intention to turn them into longer essays but have not done so – until now. I would like to make use of this arbitrary multiple of ten to force myself into doing something new. 

By the end of the year, I will translate fragments of my thoughts into at least 30 short essays, each about 1000 words long. Each essay will explore a theme about the world in which we live. Some essays may delve into more specific aspects of a prior theme, or explore similar phenomena from a different angle. I endeavor to minimize overlaps but there are bound to be some, especially for conceptually close topics. These essays are meant to be living documents, which may be updated sometime in the future.

I will write weekly, with a new essay up every Sunday. After ten essays, I will take a two-week break to catch a breather and plan for the next ten. I hope to refine my thinking through this process and manifest thought in a way that can be reviewed in the future. At the risk of sounding slightly pretentious – I do hope that the writing will benefit readers in some way. What is an essay, if it is not to be read?