How I Blog

Not surprisingly, given my semi random content, I arrive at my posts a few different ways.

1. I better write this down or I’ll never remember it

These posts are the result of a rather frustrating night of problem solving. After reading tons of documentation and googling around, reading forums and discussing on IRC I finally got it working. Now I better write it down so I know how to do it next time.

2. I read something

I either read something that I very much agreed with or very much disagreed with or that interested me enough to go on an ADD journey that took me to the post I eventually wrote.

3. I had a spontaneous epiphany (is there any other kind?)

These usually are typed out as fast as possible and then I go back in a day or two later. They often require more refinement than a normal post, but the point is just to capture as much as I was thinking at the moment.

Often I’ll think of a topic and say.. “hey I should blog that”. I have a list in Evernote I maintain for this specific purpose.

My Approach

When It actually comes down to writing the post my typical approach is to open VIM or Pages and type it out as fast as possible until I become stuck. My rough draft is usually pretty good the first time through. I usually wait a day or two and then go back and read it again fixing any issues along the way.  I try to keep my posts to a page or so, anything longer I’ll usually break up into a couple.

On my site I have a separation of features and posts or articles. Often #1 style posts become a feature. They are less about a given idea or thought, and usually how to do something. Also they are somewhat timeless unlike articles which are often a reaction to something either in my life or in the world. Lastly I update features. One of my most popular features is how to customize vim (a text editor) of which I frequently update as my usage evolves.