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What to blog about

simonwillison.net

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Re: What to blog about

#21

Post by examplary_cable »

guynamedloren wrote: post #6

My problem is I get stuck at the very last step: publishing. I take copious, detailed, organized notes for everything I do (house renovations, DIY projects, programming projects) with a robust system that I've fine tuned over the years. This habit has proven to be invaluable for me, as I continuously reference notes and learnings from many years prior. However, by the time it comes to editing and publishing, I've alr…

Have you seen the "Learn in Public" thing?

This is where everything you do is by default public. You might want to look into it.

Re: What to blog about

#22

Post by hexis »

twic wrote: post #2

> It’s easy to get hung up on this. I’ve definitely felt the self-imposed pressure to only write something if it’s new, and unique, and feels like it’s never been said before. This is a mental trap that does nothing but hold you back. No! It's absolutely correct and considerate! This advice to write a blog even if you have nothing new to add is why the blogosphere is now absolutely overgrown with low-content dross, a…

My website is not about whatever I learned today, it's about me. As it happens, what I learned today is a thing about me, so it can end up on my website. But, if you're coming to my personal website to see exclusively brand new information, never before published, then I'm sorry but I'm a person much like most other folks and my experiences overlap with them quite a lot. My website will be full of ordinary, shared experiences and facts, with the occasional novelty thrown in, much like myself.

I'd hate to only show the parts of myself that are perfectly unique to the world, I think that'd be very lonely.

Re: What to blog about

#23

Post by Smaug123 »

fm2606 wrote: post #9
twic wrote: post #2

> It’s easy to get hung up on this. I’ve definitely felt the self-imposed pressure to only write something if it’s new, and unique, and feels like it’s never been said before. This is a mental trap that does nothing but hold you back. No! It's absolutely correct and considerate! This advice to write a blog even if you have nothing new to add is why the blogosphere is now absolutely overgrown with low-content dross, a…

So my very first thought of reading this comment is "I 100% whole-hardily agree". But... I have read a few posts from different people who say blog about it even if it isn't new or unique. The thought being is that it 1) improves writing skill and 2) if learning something, helps cements the concepts of what was learned. It appears the Simon Wilson shared the same feeling about posts being new and unique as can seen h…

By the way, "whole-heartedly", as in "with your whole heart". As opposed to "foolhardily", as in "with the hardiness (boldness) of a fool [who doesn't understand the need for caution]".

Re: What to blog about

#24

Post by twelve40 »

twic wrote: post #2

> It’s easy to get hung up on this. I’ve definitely felt the self-imposed pressure to only write something if it’s new, and unique, and feels like it’s never been said before. This is a mental trap that does nothing but hold you back. No! It's absolutely correct and considerate! This advice to write a blog even if you have nothing new to add is why the blogosphere is now absolutely overgrown with low-content dross, a…

isn't yours more of a complaint about the _searching_ part? people shouldn't self-sensor out of fear of unoriginality and it's really up to the fabled algorithm to sort this out.

Re: What to blog about

#25

Post by mminer237 »

twic wrote: post #2

> It’s easy to get hung up on this. I’ve definitely felt the self-imposed pressure to only write something if it’s new, and unique, and feels like it’s never been said before. This is a mental trap that does nothing but hold you back. No! It's absolutely correct and considerate! This advice to write a blog even if you have nothing new to add is why the blogosphere is now absolutely overgrown with low-content dross, a…

I don't think only person should only ever write on each topic. It's good to have some retreading so healthy disagreement can be shared, views reinforced, different nuances explained, or everything just put another way. I've often read something, not really got it, and read someone else explain the same thing a bit differently where it clicked better for me.

I think the important thing is just to know what you're writing about. Too many people write about things they think will tell highly but they only have the most surface-level knowledge of. That's the real problem.

Re: What to blog about

#26

Post by fm2606 »

Smaug123 wrote: post #23
fm2606 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So my very first thought of reading this comment is "I 100% whole-hardily agree". But... I have read a few posts from different people who say blog about it even if it isn't new or unique. The thought being is that it 1) improves writing skill and 2) if learning something, helps cements the concepts of what was learned. It appears the Simon Wilson shared the same feeling about posts being new and unique as can seen h…

By the way, "whole-heartedly", as in "with your whole heart". As opposed to "foolhardily", as in "with the hardiness (boldness) of a fool [who doesn't understand the need for caution]".

Thank you! One would think with as much education as I've had and amount I've read that my spelling would be a bit better, but, here we are!

My smart-ass comment would be "I knew that and just wanted to see if someone would catch it!"

Re: What to blog about

#27

Post by csydas »

twic wrote: post #2

> It’s easy to get hung up on this. I’ve definitely felt the self-imposed pressure to only write something if it’s new, and unique, and feels like it’s never been said before. This is a mental trap that does nothing but hold you back. No! It's absolutely correct and considerate! This advice to write a blog even if you have nothing new to add is why the blogosphere is now absolutely overgrown with low-content dross, a…

I think you're conflating SEO blogspam with genuine passion for writing.

One claims to be the other in order to shield itself from accusations of being SEO blogspam, the other is just a person wanting to share their experience.

I have no issues reading about how someone discovered how TTL can help in a Wireshark investigation, even though I already know it. I do have issues with someone's blog showing in online searches simply because they figured out which keywords to place (and where) in order to get to page 1 of Google, displacing actual articles of relevance to what I'm seeking. It's an absolute shame that actual companies have fallen to the same trap and even intentionally push preferable articles that result in fewer Support cases while burying the actual issue under SEO'd garbage. (The less said about Microsoft "dead-links" where they retroactively remove the content, the better)

I would love to read about a first timer understanding recursion; my hopes would be either that I would learn a new way of understanding it myself because of the enthusiasm they had as a result of their moment of inspiration, or I can add to the discourse on my own understanding.

I want to read about discovery and education! I don't want to read inspirational articles or how to monetize/appeal to investors when I'm looking for technical things.

My favorite part of mentoring is seeing my mentees make it work by their own inspiration and mental skill; I don't care if it's inefficient as long as they did it on their own. We can discuss optimizations later, I just want to see people pushing themselves to a new level and be excited about it. They can write an entire Russian-Novel length post as far as I'm concerned, I will read and revel in every word as long as it's their excitement because of their success.

Re: What to blog about

#28

Post by philzook »

guynamedloren wrote: post #6

My problem is I get stuck at the very last step: publishing. I take copious, detailed, organized notes for everything I do (house renovations, DIY projects, programming projects) with a robust system that I've fine tuned over the years. This habit has proven to be invaluable for me, as I continuously reference notes and learnings from many years prior. However, by the time it comes to editing and publishing, I've alr…

It's not for everyone, but I keep running notes in a special section of my blog, which is hosted on github pages, so it all just stays in sync across multiple computers on a repo. I have found it useful even for myself looking up stuff, and maybe people find your half finished notes useful or not. I'm a big fan of lowering the barrier. Perfect is the enemy of the good.

If I leave something as an unpublished draft, it's game over. There's too many things.

Re: What to blog about

#29

Post by philzook »

twic wrote: post #2

> It’s easy to get hung up on this. I’ve definitely felt the self-imposed pressure to only write something if it’s new, and unique, and feels like it’s never been said before. This is a mental trap that does nothing but hold you back. No! It's absolutely correct and considerate! This advice to write a blog even if you have nothing new to add is why the blogosphere is now absolutely overgrown with low-content dross, a…

I don't agree. If someone has gotten to the point they think they can write anything about a subject it's kind of interesting. Many, many things are undocumented because they are trivial to some and completely unknown to others. Experts rarely want to spend time writing about trivial things, so the best way to get these things written is during their journey to expertise when they are new and exciting and when it feels the most scary and embarrassing to do so. In addition, I think people overestimate how long they will retain insights even for personal use. I really, really wish I had been blogging during my education.

Re: What to blog about

#30

Post by r4v3n »

I agree with this article and the advice given in it. Running your blog is very rewarding and it's your digital corner. I always find sad to see people writing exciting things in twitter threads that last 40 tweets. It's painful to read and your content may disappear one day. Nowadays it's so easy to have a blog technically that you shouldn't miss it. Have a blog and enjoy yourself.
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