# Inkhaven: 30 Days, 30 Memories

![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/f27927e006b5ae2daec49ff487112ec8656f3641f9079429.jpg)

Waking up today was surreal. Inkhaven 2025 is almost over. As a resident, I made some of my favorite memories.

An Assortment of Things that Happened
=====================================

1.   A few days before the event began I visited the venue. I met [Ben](https://www.lesswrong.com/users/benito?from=post_header), the author of our ~~feast~~ retreat, and he told me how my [Bishop’s Castle essay](https://collisteru.substack.com/p/roadside-attraction-review-bishops) was my admission ticket. He showed me around [Lighthaven](https://www.lighthaven.space/), the best venue in the world.
2.  I saw [Eneasz](https://deathisbad.substack.com/) again and learned that he had moved from Denver to The Bay. There was the thud of a door closing forever.
3.  [Gray](https://www.lesswrong.com/users/gray) ran a workshop on ideation— the core of his advice was to split the idea-space into sectors, then each sector into subsectors, and then to fill each subsector with ideas. You will think of many more animals if you first try to think of all cats, then all dogs, etc.
4.  [Ozy](https://thingofthings.substack.com/) told me, “There’s nothing particularly bad about [your fiction](https://collisteru.substack.com/p/animal-stories-part-1), but there’s nothing particularly good about it, and this is a hard position to be in as a writer.”  She taught me the differences between third person omniscient, limited, and subjective. She told me that characters need to want things. I put her advice at the top of mind as I wrote the other [animal stories.](https://collisteru.substack.com/p/animal-stories-part-2) It helped. I improved.
5.  After looking at our average word count, [Lucie](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/users/lucie-philippon) calculated the date for the Inkhaven apocalypse and published this in a peer-reviewed journal.  
    
    ![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/43b5fddf2c25c5745b12a95132e94389c2d116370830827b.jpg)
    
6.  [Linch](https://linch.substack.com/) organized many rousing games of *Blood on the Clocktower.*
7.  The Berkeley Problematic Properties Board inspected Lighthaven.
8.  Leah McCuan set up a coffee nook in the Bayes building. Delicious coffee was had by all.
9.  [Jenn](https://www.jenn.site/) ran authentic relating games.
10.  [Screwtape](https://www.lesswrong.com/users/screwtape) helped me brainstorm ideas for a Magic: the Gathering ratfic.
11.  I gave a talk on *Art for Writers*, which I then adapted into [a blogpost series](https://collisteru.substack.com/p/art-for-writers-part-i).
12.  Gwern stared at my article [on Africa](https://collisteru.substack.com/p/why-is-africa-poor) and asked me to make it either more or less rigorous.
13.  An editor from a major newspaper came for a Q&A. I shouldn’t give details.
14.   We saw a forest of red trees shooting up into gray mist. 
    
    ![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/073c007cc5377342cab05a9d36b7a1d46a69da3a04a9ce1b.jpg)
    
15.  When I spoke, one resident said “[but](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KGvcjCc8SXnDKEAwm/contra-collisteru-you-get-about-one-carthage)” and another said “[and](https://inchpin.substack.com/p/rock-paper-scissors-is-not-solved)”.
16.  After lunch one day, we gave lightning talks. Mine turned into [*You Should Oppose Things*](https://collisteru.substack.com/p/you-should-oppose-things).
17.  I led an expedition to Ursula K. LeGuin’s childhood home in North Berkeley.
    
    ![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/79ee3a4ebb7a4985cc794297d2dca270b351f20f9ffe1220.jpg)
    
18.  [Amanda](https://lettersfrombethlehem.substack.com/) taught us that Tengwar is an abugida.
19.  Screwtape kicked my butt in MtG.
20.  I was interviewed for a documentary on rationalists.
21.  We went to Bodega Bay and realized just how good Ben is at playing the guitar. 
22.  During this trip, we met two very good girls
    
    ![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/d3e7164a9d2355f07bdccc0ad195c6774554ef376b404dff.jpg)
    
23.  I ran to the beach with Lucie and touched the largest ocean in the world. On the way back, we discussed [her post on French AI](https://aelerinya.substack.com/p/france-is-ready-to-stand-alone).
24.  [Camille](https://camilleberger.substack.com/?sort=top) reminded us that there is not, never was, and never will be, [an Antimimetics Division](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-IiVeGAydE).
25.  drinkhaven!
    
    ![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/f9a8cd0ed14b061e146595c79ceae6472d77001330b627d3.jpg)
    
26.   Jenn was surprised that we all think “parsimonious” is a compliment.
27.  Amanda organized a showing of [*Palm Springs*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9484998/). The film exceeded all my expectations.
28.  I made a sticker! 
    
    ![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/5083a886d244eb39e03ad8667083874028d1c01afdb8b17b.png)
    
29.  [Vishal covered for us](https://vishalblog.substack.com/p/inkhaven-day-30), and [Claire made us cry](https://substack.com/home/post/p-180210467).
30.  Nobody failed. Sometimes, optimism and realism are the same. Congratulations to the prolific!

Thoughts on the Format
======================

During a one-on-one, Ben told me that people were skeptical about the idea of requiring one 500-word blogpost every day. He was right and they were wrong.

Sharpening a skill is like sharpening metal: short, consistent strokes are more effective than all-at-once bursts. Inkhaven gave us the carrots of celebration, good food, great coaching, and amazing friends— but it was the whip of the posting requirement that made all this effective.  

Unfortunately, I feel like the format coerced me into to salami-slicing my longer posts into short posts that could fill multiple days. I tend to write long, integrated pieces, so every time I sliced that salami I cringed a little. Ben [has proposed](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/LyuLYuBup4kvb3BYN/8-questions-for-the-future-of-inkhaven) a solution called “Weekhaven”— to have people write one long 3500-word effortpost every week. I could not endorse this more.

Advice
======

  
There will be more Inkhavens. I hear whispers that it will occur biannually. 

If you want to be a great blogger, Inkhaven is the place to get your reps in. Please apply. If you get in, here’s some advice:

1.  Build a buffer. There will come a day when you really don’t want to write. Lend your future self a hand by being prepared for that day.
2.  Socialize a lot. Inkhaven is a rare place and time where the world’s best rationalist writers congregate. This will be easier if you follow #1.
3.  Take advantage of opportunities for coaching, both from your assigned coach and from the contributing writers. Try to schedule one-on-ones with the writers you admire most. Ask them how they do it— you will learn a lot. The path to greatness is both wider and steeper than it seems.
4.  As with everything, savor the journey. I never wrote for the same Inkhaven twice— they were not the same posts, and it was not the same Inkhaven.

*So long for now, and thanks for all the memories!*