On Writing with Laura Hilliger

Last week I did my first “On Writing” chat of 2026 with gym teacher/blogger Laura Hilliger. Laura and I have been circling each other on the web for a long while, and her fun Reclaim Open submission “My Website is a Junk Drawer” had a really wonderful conceit about how she imagines her online presence. I spent some time reading through Laura’s site, and you should too. She has an incisive and poetic voice that makes reading feel like an escape from the drab walls of social media. It’s an outpost of the real, something that is harder and harder to find in the online spectacle that has become more about content than concern—and to be specific the idea that a concern is a “matter of interest or importance to someone.” There’s certainly someone on the other side of her website—it’s refreshing and hopeful.

Unfortunately for Laura, I couldn’t help but use this chat as a kind of therapy session around my recent struggles with AI and writing. Her clear-eyed understanding of why she writes and what it means to her offers a welcome reminder that the act of writing has far less to do with the product and much more with the person. My only real regret about this conversation is that we didn’t have it sooner, Laura was an absolute delight to talk with. I immediately felt a sense of connection with someone else who is trying to make sense of a moment—in many ways it reminded me that these chats are about that sense of communion around who we are and where we might be headed. Thanks Laura, I’m a big fan!