I’ve now written blog posts on 5 consecutive days. Below are my reflections on how it’s going so far.
Positives
I like making it a daily habit
Forgetting about it no longer becomes an excuse because it happens everyday, like eating or sleeping
The daily habit helps build momentum (5 consecutive posts is honestly, probably more than I had total posts in my past blogging attempts)
It’s satisfying seeing the list of posts start at nothing and continue to grow
Jekyll is quite flexible as a blogging platform. I can add code, \(formulas\), links, and more pretty easily
I like the more free-form nature and that I’m not constrained to any particular topic
I like that the posts are shorter
Areas for Improvement
Despite the shorter posts, they’re still taking me more time than I would like: ~1 hour for even the shortest posts (everything included)
I’m sure I’ll get faster with time / practice
That said, I also think I need better processes / automation
Images are a pain in the butt in Jekyll
I’ll have to figure out a better way to add images because right now this feels like one of the biggest time sucks
My goal would be that it’s as easy to add images to a post as it is to paste an image into an email or Word document
Writing the posts has basically consumed all the time I would normally use to work on personal projects
I still think that work is important, so want to steal back some time for it
I also expect having the personal projects going will be important source of ideas for future blog posts
Final Verdict
Though there have been some real pains / challenges, all in all it’s been overall positive. I would definitely recommend the small daily post approach to others who are interested in starting a blog, but worry about motivation / keeping momentum. That has been huge for me.