For my last post, I won’t lie, it took a lot longer than I was expecting. But when I learnt of the blog questions challenge here, and typed that into Google. Wow! There you all are. Anyway, my turn now. Please be quiet while I concentrate…
Why did you start blogging in the first place?
- I’ve always enjoyed writing.
- That’s what the web is for! It belongs to all of us. Everyone should have a homepage.
- To remember what I was once like (failed as I’ve lost more blogs than I remember).
What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?
Since about 2016 I’ve used Pelican. I chose it because it did everything I needed it to. Anything missing can be found (or written) as a plugin.
Have you blogged on other platforms before?
Just blogger.com as I remember. Actually, I also used Wordpress a couple of times on my original site simonharrison.net along with Jekyll and Hugo before settling with Pelican.
How do you write your posts?
I use Xed on Linux Mint. Everything is written in Textile (used to be Markdown). I know I should be a real man and use Vim or Emacs but I can’t be arsed with the learning curve. Maybe one day…
When do you feel most inspired to write?
When I haven’t got an active coding project on the go. Also work has to be quiet as it is over Christmas. I plan to write at least one post a week from now on though. Even if’s just a short one.
Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
Publish immediately. I am quite thorough to check for typo’s and silly mistakes before publishing. Like most bloggers, I find myself rechecking though, and updates are often required.
What’s your favourite post on your blog?
Can I have two? Ok great, thanks. My what’s it like to be bitten by a cat? one and my banned from linkedin one. The second one because I realised that social media and I will never coexist happily. Here, I can write whatever I want. Funnily enough, that makes me more considerate of other people! I try to avoid swearing in case youngsters land on one of my pages.
Any future plans for your blog?
Not really. I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the last few weeks making tweaks, getting things just so. I wrote a post about that of course: Spruced up my blog.
