How can we measure thee, o Inkhaven? We had 41 residents, plus our staff and contributing writers. 30 days of posts, and not one person failed out. A million words of fresh thought now grace this grand internet of ours. Now, a week removed from the excitement, how does it feel looking back?

For me at least, Inkhaven was incredible. It’s a bit cliché, but the best part was the people. Everyone was so interesting! I suppose if you select for people who can write a blog post every day for 30 days, they have to each have 30 interesting things to say. A few of the many amazing conversations wound up directly contributing to our blogs (e.g. with Mahmoud on Peacecore, Collisteru on college admissions, and William Friedman on historical empires). But there were a lot more that just added to the place’s vibe as a collection of curious and lively people. I made many connections that I will cherish for my whole life, and I hope these people can be my friends and collaborators for many years to come.

The biggest surprise to me was that I was one of the earliest to post on most days – and the very first on many days. I don’t usually think of myself as writing quickly or planning very far ahead, but I managed to get in the groove early on, and I stayed a day ahead of schedule for most of the program. I didn’t feel rushed or terribly stressed from the deadlines, which is kind of a new feeling for me and my ADHD brain. I could just write.

In hindsight, I’d attribute this to my experience publishing videos. There’s a moment with any piece when you have to accept that it’s “good enough” and hit the publish button. My guess is that I was comfortable hitting that point earlier in the process than most other residents. It also didn’t hurt that I was paying for the catered food and had very few other obligations. But still, this is a major lesson that I’m more organized and disciplined than I think I am.

Now for some smaller observations. Our venue, Lighthaven, has a fun design as a set of buildings. The grounds are full of twisty little passages (none alike), the décor is full of bright lights, natural wood tones, and artificial plants, and there are hidden surprises in every building.

WordPress.com was our main sponsor, but it also quickly became our rallying cry of choice. We started shouting “WordPress dot com!” in excited support when lunchtime announcements bore good news. Linguistically, it reminded me of a sports team shouting a cheer during practice. Never have I been more proud of choosing a blog hosting platform purely because I already had an account.

It was also amazing how much our vibe changed when we went to Bodega Bay. Something about the smaller shared space, the quieter outside environment, and the ample space outdoors made us all get so much quieter and calmer, even with the exact same group of people. I would be curious to read psychology studies on this.

There may be other Inkhavens in the future, and I hope they are as meaningful to their residents as ours was to us. But our Inkhaven was the first, and I’m so glad to have been a part of it.

Coming soon: Judging fractals