A reflection on Writing
Maybe this post has been a long time coming. In many ways, I’ve been dreading it… but here goes nothing.
This is me—a country boy through and through. Sure, I can “turn it on” when needed, but for the most part, I’m pretty low-key.
I’m not writing this to say I’m stepping away from content creation, this is more of a water test: a test in self reflection. I’ve written a lot about the struggle of starting and running a company and while I could keep going down that road, I’m also going to go back to telling stories.
Over the past two months, I’ve been building a studio in my backyard. Truth be told, I’ve been bored out of my mind waiting for projects to start —I needed to keep busy, so I built an office/studio. As I move into the final phase of the build, it felt like as good a time as any to sit down and write.
Alright, full disclosure—I picked up a couple of typewriters. I’m now the owner of a 1930s Remington and a “Smart Typewriter” by Freewrite. On one hand, you could argue my Lenovo could do everything these two machines can combined. But there’s something about just writing—no distractions, no spell check, no suggestions, and absolutely no help.
I’m not giving up my computer. In fact, I just got a new 49" monitor for it. I couldn’t imagine doing takeoffs by hand or working without Excel.
This new writing phase feels freeing. Very similar to getting my first Leica camera — I am going to play with it and see what happens. I don’t intend to stop creating content; I see this more like a specialized workout, think bicep curls for the creative side. Don’t get me wrong, my wife giggled and poked a little fun at me when I informed her of my plans.
The past three years of writing primarily on LinkedIn have been enjoyable. I’ve done some good work, but I also adjusted my style—shorter sentences, tighter structure—writing for the scroll and for the small screen. I’m glad I went through all of those phases, I needed to experiment with different styles. .
I’ll still be writing in the days, months, and years ahead—most of it will live on my platform: www.sidneydhuval.com.
The strange thing about writing for social media is that it changes you a bit. Like a junkie chasing just a few more clicks. Maybe I expected too much from a platform, maybe I wanted to be “insta-famous. Who knows where all of the content I created ended up and if it really every got read .
I’m not stepping away from content creation, I’m just returning to the original version of myself—the long-form writer / storytelling boy from the bayou.
Writing is something I’ve done since I was young. Back in high school, I used to write poetry to the girls I liked. It was a bit over the top; I used to think, she’d read my words and fall madly in love with me, and we’d figure it all out together. Similarly I initially wanted my writing to go viral and get 1 kazillion followers instantly. No maidens swooned by my prose and the only “viral” was the cold I caught this past winter.
Back to the story.
Writing on LinkedIn gave me something, it gave me the confidence to express and share my thoughts . And for those of you who have followed along—thank you. I mean that.
I’ll continue to share pictures and shorter pieces on LinkedIn and on Instagram. But for the most part, I’ll be focused on writing stories on my website and publishing on social media via content push vs content creation on their platform
My wife snapped a picture of me the other weekend. She said it looked like I was standing for an interview. So I figured I’d go ahead and write it.
Meet Sidney D. Huval, a Louisiana native building things in the great state of Texas. We caught up with Sidney at his office to see what’s next.
So tell me, Sidney, what’s next?
I’m going to start typing—and see where the road takes me.
