In Re:

Dear Subscriber,

I am starting a newsletter, titled ‘In Re:’. The name is a combination of two references: the legal Latin for ‘in the matter of,’ and the email convention of putting ‘Re: XYZ’ in the subject line. (It turns out that the email convention comes from the legal convention!)

I’ve wanted to pay more attention to my writing for a long time now. I feel like I have a lot to say, but I keep waiting to produce ‘comprehensive essays.’ These essays, like Netflix, are perhaps best saved for old age, when there are fewer calls on one’s time. They’ve made a day called tomorrow, when one can write comprehensive essays. Since this ‘tomorrow’ is yet to arrive, I shall write this <1000 word letter to you every weekday.

The time-worn format of ‘letter to a friend’ came easily enough. I was leaning back on a pull-out couch, listening to the Wolf Hall theme, musing about how to write more. My thoughts turned to how I never had trouble writing emails to friends:

• ‘I find it easier sometimes to write to someone than in a doc. Probably because that makes me add context properly.’
  • Email to Judah (2024), Thinking about email
• ‘My crush on Ada Palmer, however, is somewhat affected by her anti-capitalism. She says “humanity keeps reinventing aristocracy with new justifications.” Is it too early Robert Moses of me to say: yes, and?’
  • Email to Hiya (2026), Fwd: Ken Liu and Ada Palmer on constructive visions of the future
• ‘At this stage, it might be helpful to adopt an attitude of taking very little for granted or on faith. I would treat these docs like they’ve been prepared by someone who is either sleep deprived or sick, and assume that all manner of errors will have crept in. I think this will be useful for what one calls “fixing” or “recalibrating” one’s intuitions and not acquiring any first draft bias. … At each stage, look at all the columns, one by one. Look at the values. Think hard about every column and ask yourself: “Does this make sense?” “Is there a better way to construct this?”’
  • Email to my colleagues (2025), Thoughts on next steps

The original voice note to Judah went:

‘Okay, so… I have an idea. Newsletter format. Dear X, thank you for sending me some link or whatever. Here is… here are my thoughts. This, I assert, will create magical efficiency improvements in my ability to write. What do you think?!’

After reinventing 2000s blogging in this way, I proceeded to think about how often I should write. I generally write at the cadence (if one can call it that) of ‘once a quarter.’ What can I say? It is the cadence of gestation, of marination, of what some people are calling ‘pre-infusion’, and which others merely call ‘low productivity.’ The voice you are about to hear is from our corporate communications department:

You are subscribed to nihalsahu.net (largely by virtue of being a friend of the writer). You will, going forward, receive approximately one email every weekday, which is a 6400% increase from the usual cadence (if one can call it that) of ‘once a quarter’. As a busy and important person, doing all sorts of important things in the world, you perhaps do not want a daily newsletter. I have an obligation to let you unsubscribe painlessly—you can do so at the bottom of the page—which is hereby discharged.

My friends have also been excellent about helping me prepare for this new venture. Hiya has been extremely generous in reviewing my work and offering advice. Judah reacted to my voice note with a rare ‘I love it yeah’ and later proceeded to fly down to Bangalore, wear a Paddington-bear outfit, lie on my couch, and design what I think is the best website of any newsletter on the internet. (I really wish Byrne would just hire him to do the Diff instead of making Claudeslop.)

Well, it’s been more than a week of writing letters, and the magical efficiency improvements are yet to present themselves—but some writing seems to be getting done?

As my intro copy threatens:

It goes out every weekday, or I will start a podcast.
It will be under 1000 words, or I will start a podcast.
It will be worth subscribing to, or I will start a podcast.

These are high stakes and stark odds. See you tomorrow.

Yours,
Nihal
nihalsahu.net
@annihalated