Why a Blog?
Why did I start a blog?
That is a fair question. It is widely considered that the hay day of blogging has past for quite some time. There isn't much to gain financially by blogging these days. It is still possible; just more the exception than the rule. Making money from this is not my goal. I want to exercise a different part of my brain. I want to try my hand at creativity. I expect writing to encourage me to approach things differently. I think it's important for all of us to push beyond ourselves.
The Past
I had a blog several years ago. I did not write many posts. I never took the time to determine what I wanted to write about. I also never really made it a priority. I mostly wrote think pieces; for example, what I thought about something Apple did. I even started writing about things in my personal life. I had no focus and ended up doing what I could more easily. It was easier than actually performing a task, document it, and then write about it. That is work. And it requires dedication. I never decided to stop, I just didn't continue.
The Present
That brings me back to why I started this blog. I think I have something to add. I have done a lot a lot of research recently and a large amoount has been for setting up this site. I tend to do a lot of research for most things I do. During the past several years, I have discovered the importance of taking notes while doing anything I want to remember. I anticipate this level of detail will be useful to some.
I find a lot of how-to articles assume certain a level of knowledge. I think including detail about a required step is useful and a time saver. Even if it's just a link to another article. And maybe not mine. When starting out, it can be frustrating when attempting something only to find out that you need to learn five others things and you have to spend time just to find useful information on those new items. I get that this is a normal occurrence.
A lot of articles also do not include the missteps made along the way. Sometimes the context is important and useful. I think there is value in mentioning steps that were attempted and failed. It is ok to show the failures on the way to success. I like to see ideas in addition to steps; so I can understand the concept. I don't want to accomplish something but at the end not understand what I did.
I expect my articles to typically cover these areas.
- How-To's
- Interesting things I have found
- My thoughts on something
Most of my posts will be around the first two areas. I expect thought pieces to be infrequent. I want to focus on more practical areas. Things people can do something with. Not just ponder on.
The Future
Where do I expect this to go? I'm not sure. For me to write instructional pieces I need do things. I do plan to do this at least this year. I think I have ideas for that much content. The other part is the frequency of content. I don't have a solid answer now. I think I can write something every couple of weeks. The reality is that I don't really know how much effort a post will take. For my current ideas, are my notes thorough enough to just write? Or will I need to re-do portions for a good post? I won't know that until I go through this a few times. I will revisit this topic after I've done several.