Blog Questions Challenge
I don't believe I was tagged by anyone but wanted to join in as it seemed like a fun writing challenge. A different version of this lives in my colophon but this is possibly a more readable and easier to understand version.
1. Why did you make the blog in the first place?
I'm not sure if I consider my site a blog. I wrote the first versions of this website in 2015 and it just used to be a landing page with links to other sites and the rare blog post. Sometime later I learned more about the IndieWeb and I decided that instead of posting random thoughts, movie watches, book reads, and photos elsewhere I would use my site as the main place where I post things and here we are.
2. Why did you choose [the blogging software/platform/tool you use]?
Everything was originally handwritten HTML but this involved a lot of copying and pasting code which was OK when there were only 5 pages. A static site generator made sense to me since I wanted to be able to build and upload to a server with minimal setup on that side. After trying out a few, I stuck with this fairly new project at the time called Eleventy and haven't looked back.
I've also been on and off selfhosting and using Netlify to publish my site. Lastly, I wrote a serverless micropub endpoint which would be able to add posts to my site by using a Micropub Client and, even though it hasn't been really updated in a few years, I'm happy to say it's still working well for my setup.
3. Have you blogged on other platforms before?
I've posted online in several places including forums, Blogger, MySpace, Tumblr, Medium, dev.to and they all worked for me well at the time. I have also tried out other blogging platforms for work but never have really used them for myself.
4. Do you write your posts directly in the editor or in another software?
Most of the stuff that I post on my site I write directly in my micropub client: spakles. There are a few situations where if it's an article with a little more complex formatting and styling, I load up my local dev environment and write the post in my text editor.
5. When do you feel most inspired to write?
Inspiration usually comes right after reading something from other blogs I follow.
6. Do you publish immediately after writing or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
I find myself writing and never posting more often than actually posting. I think writing is good practice for me and it helps me build confidence for when I actually hit publish. I currently have eight posts in drafts and some may stay there forever while others my eventually get posted.
7. Your favorite post on your blog?
I really liked writing my Films To Be Buried With post as that is a podcast I really enjoy and I already spent my time while listening to it thinking about my answers. In terms of style or fun features, I liked writing My Favorite Mugs as I got to play around with SVGs and interactive images.
8. Any future plans for your blog?
I sometimes wish I had time to redesign things but the truth is I'm quite happy with how things look and I also don't have a better idea. In terms of things you may not see but I've been planning to work on for a while is rewritting my Micropub Endpoint as I want that to be a little easier to use for others than the current way it's setup. I do sometimes add things to my /TODO which aren't necessarily tasks as much as they are ideas for someday.
I won't be tagging anyone but if you're reading this, I definitely want to read your post. Here's some of the posts I read that inspired me to write this one: