Foundations
I’ve heard it said that every journey has a beginning. This article isn’t really about the beginning of the Smiling Savage — let’s save that for another day. Instead this article is about the set of decisions and technologies that have enabled this journal to exist in this form and the goals of the Smiling Savage.
The name Smiling Savage was originally affixed to a publication started by myself and friends while at East Waterloo High School. Many years later I bought the .com domain name for it, which is forwarded here now via Hover, where the domain is managed. Many good options exist for buying and managing domain names, but my advice for this piece is that I recommend you do not support GoDaddy when you embark on your own journey.
I’ve had an LLC for 14 years at the time of publication. Founded in Delaware, my teenager of a company has its own bank account and yet has made less money than most kids its age since it doesn’t get birthday cards. Unlike most kids, Wanat Digital Media has a Stripe account which will now come in handy to support this creative endeavor.
The medium; Where you, dear reader, are now is Substack. I also considered Medium, Ghost, and Quora Spaces. Time, and analytics, will be inform the merit of building here.
It would apparently be impossible to start this incarnation of the Smiling Savage without social media accounts. So far today I’ve had to use Twitter and Facebook, and at some point I assume YouTube will be useful to this journal. In any case, I recommend using a multi-factor authentication app — not just text-messaging based codes — and use it for accounts on every site and service. I recommend the Microsoft Authenticator.
The personal-computing hardware stack on which all of this is created was all made by Apple, whose ecosystem is a comforter that engulfs and usually soothes. If that’s your choice too, then dear reader simply update your OS. Right now. I’ll wait. When it can no longer be updated, upgrade the device. Upgrade earlier if there’s a feature that supports your creative workflow. Resale value of Apple gear is the balm (or “da bomb”) here.
I aim to document other decisions that support and enable this journal throughout the journey. For that matter, the Smiling Savage is about the creative process itself and explaining how it all comes together — whatever “it” is on that day. That’s the mission.
Here’s what the Smiling Savage aims to provide:
Skill development - I aim to show how projects start and evolve, share recommendations, and improve at skills by practicing them.
Inspiration - I aim to show the creation of new things and look at old things in new ways, and hope both the journey and outcomes provide something fresh.
Fun - I aim to show and share the joy of making.
Fandom - I hope supporters of this journal will join me to “nerd out” on the things that we’re passionate about.
Throughout, I’ll look for ways to publish some material to grow the audience and some material for supporters.
As an example, only supporters of the journal can post comments, and I’ll aim to always answer supporters, so ask away.