Every now and then my RSS client lights up with a trend. Kev kicking it off, then Luke, and even mike. Might as well toss myself into the mix.

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

I started back in 2021, with the 100 days to offload challenge. I fell off after day 6. But the blogging bug still had me, and took its hold slowly over a few years.

What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?

I’m using Hugo. I went with it because I wanted to move to a locally generated site, and I didn’t like the other options for that.

After Hugo builds my site, I send it to my web server (a Debian VPS on Digital Ocean) using rsync.

Have you blogged on other platforms before?

I’ve moved around a bit. Starting out on write.as, then moving to Wordpress. After getting fed up with Wordpress, I moved to blot.im. Got fed up with blot not updating when I pushed changes, so I moved to Hugo.

How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that’s part of your blog?

Locally with IA Writer for posts, pages/layouts I do in NOVA, and for photos I have a script that does everything for me.

Because I like to fly, I wanted a system that would allow for full offline development and writing. I only need the internet for syncing, and sending the site build to my web server. I can write a full blog post on a plane, prep some photos, and get everything set up. When I get off and have free internet again, all I have to do is run git push && ./deploy.sh.

When do you feel most inspired to write?

Whenever I’m doing something worth writing about. I know that’s vague, but this is a personal blog, so it works. That can be anything from traveling, doing something I like, or even changing my car’s oil.

As for non personal blog things, I tend to just wait until I get a thought. If that thought grows to to a size worth writing about, and it’s not one of the things I won’t talk about here, I’ll spin up a draft. If it survives that, its a post.

Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?

It depends on the post. I tend to simmer on something before I write, so I tend to just proofread, and post. Sometimes though, I let it sit for a bit. Usually because I want it to line up with a specific date. Or, in the case of an upcoming post, I can’t post it before a specific date.

What’s your favorite post on your blog?

That would probably have to be Watching Plane Crash Documentaries, On A Plane. It goes over my preferred form of inflight entertainment (yes), and dives into why. I wrote it because I didn’t think much of watching plane crash documentaries on a plane. Sure I thought is was a little funny, but that’s about it. My friends and co-workers however… Well, they looked at me like I was crazy, to say the least.

Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?

I don’t really have any big layout changes in mind right now. That will probably change in the future, as I do like to tinker.

That also goes for new features. I recently added a photos section, complete with exif extraction. So I don’t really have any ideas of things I’d actually want to add.

I also don’t have any plans of changing platforms. Hugo lets me do pretty much everything without an internet connection (except post), and I like that. So I’m sticking with it.