Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters
I was tagged by Anders Thoresson to answer the challenge. I accepted.
Why Did You Start Blogging In The First Place?
As you can see from the first blog post on this particular blog, I'm coming up on just 3 years of blogging here. This is the first time that I have blogged in any manner that you could call consistently. It all started at that time when I discovered Eleventy, the static site generator. I was quite excited to find it and thought that it would be a good way to start writing about something that interested me.
What Platform Are You Using The Manage Your Blog, And Why Do You Use It?
I use Eleventy to generate this blog and I host it on Cloudflare. I used to host it on Netlify, but the combination of bandwidth usage of this blog and the 11ty Bundle site that I created and maintain had me bumping up against the limits of the free tier on Netlify. So I moved this blog to Cloudflare. As for my use of Eleventy, I like that it is simple and flexible. I can write my posts in Markdown and use Nunjucks for templating. It's a great combination and works well with my mental model of how a blog can be built and maintained.
Have You Blogged On Other Platforms Before?
Way way back in the early 2000s, I had created a blog using MovableType, an early pioneer in the blogging tool space. I also had a blog on Tumblr for a while. Yet neither of those stuck as I didn't have a particular interest to write about. Being rather introverted, I never felt terribly comfortable writing about personal stuff, though that has changed now that I have this blog up and running and have made a lot of friends in the Eleventy community.
How Do You Write Your Posts?
I write the posts directly in a VS Code markdown file as I am writing this one. That said, I have outlined drafts of posts in Obsidian in the past as they were just starting points for drafts or possible future posts.
When Do You Feel Most Inspired To Write?
I can think of two situations when I'm inspired to write. The first is when I've learned and/or built something new that involves using Eleventy in some way. The second is when I have been having some persistent thoughts about a personal episode or health condition. I learn about what I'm writing about by writing about it. It's a way to process and understand what I'm going through.
Do You Normally Publish Immediately After Writing, Or Do You Let It Simmer?
I sometimes want to publish immediately after writing something. I will definitely proof read my posts before publishing. Yet there have been a couple where I will let it simmer for a day or two as I know that more thoughts will come and that time gives me space to think about what I've written and in those cases, I often have either more to say or want to clarify something that I've alread drafted.
What’s Your Favorite Post On Your Blog?
That's a tough one. If I look at the analytics for my site, since installing analytics, the most read post seems to be this one about my CSS pipeline. That doesn't answer the question and it'd certainly not my favorite. I'd have to say that my favorite is the one I wrote about losing my brother to cancer. I revisit it from time to time as I often think about him and the impact that he had on my life.
Any Future Plans For the Blog?
I just hope to continue writing. I've got a couple of drafts in the hopper and some ideas in my head. And I may consider adding a few slash pages. For me, it's about what I call surfacing content, i.e., bring more of myself to the surface...in public...which can be a challenge for me.
Who Will Participate Next?
I officially tag Simon Cox to answer the challenge. We've come to enjoy each others' remote company in the Eleventy community. And he has already agreed to be tagged. So, Simon, it's your turn.
- Previous post: How I built the Books page
