The Blog Question Challenge
I saw this Blog Question Challenge mentioned on Robert Berming's blog, and it originated from Ava.
Back in the day I loved answering questions like this. I also liked random questions from people via email, so this feels a bit nostalgic to me.
1. Why did you make the blog in the first place?
Having a blog is a way to unload some mental baggage. I find it a good calming ritual to write words out and publish them. With the chance of finding interesting blog posts.
2. Why did you choose Bearblog?
I chose Bearblog as it has a similar feel to the early 2000's platforms I started on. It's fast and not bloated with features I don't need.
It also has a strong community feel about it with people that are blogging because they want to and not trying to get subscribers.
3. Have you blogged on other platforms before?
Yes. In the very early 2000's before blogging was called that I had a diary on Diaryland. Over the course of 2.5 years I wrote over 800 posts.
I met some of the most important people in my life via that website.
Almost all of those posts don't exist anymore, only a few can be viewed on Internet Archive.
I played with LiveJournal as well, but was not a fan of it.
I've tried to replicate the blogging feel on my Wordpress website over the years, while it was nice to have a space to write, it wasn't the same.
I've played with Tumblr, and more recently I had written some posts on SubStack. Which felt very commercial and not the vibe I was going for.
My last post there was talking about how I wanted the feeling of how it was like back in the day when writing.
That post led me to do some searches and it's how I found Bearblog.
Once I saw Bearblog I was all in, I got the domain, paid for the upgrade and deleted my SubStack account.
4. Do you write your posts directly in the editor or in another software?
If I remember I will write my posts into Obsidian first. Partially I find it less distracting and partially to make sure I have a backup of my writing, even if it is only a draft.
Not having your writing in the future can suck, so doing the writing in Obsidian helps mitigate things for me.
5. When do you feel most inspired to write?
I'm a morning person so I like to write early in the day. I will have ideas all the time and might do drafts or notes when I get a free moment.
6. Do you publish immediately after writing or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
I used to publish straight away, but have found benefit to letting it sit as a draft for a bit. Not from the topic point of view, but the structure or spelling.
7. Your favorite post on your blog?
So far I like: Find Your Authentic Self Again
It's something I believe in and think more people need to do. If not in real life at least online.
8. Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, changing the tag system, etc.?
Nothing major. I could easily tweak and change things, but that's just busywork that is distracting me from either writing or other tasks I should be doing. I am wondering if I should go and add tags to all the posts though.
One thing I am working on is building out "The Hub" page and working out what I want to put on there. What might be useful.
I'm also figuring out how I want to do the Small Spare Notes page and if I have an archive and if i do will it be weekly or monthly?