Blog questions challenge 🙋‍♂️

These are my answers to the blog questions challenge, inspired by Glyn and Lars-Christian.

Why did you start blogging in the first place? #

I started this blog as an outlet for my thoughts. I often feel that my head is full of random thoughts, so having somewhere to put them provides mental relief. The blog also helps me refine my thoughts. In order to put them into words, I am forced to clarify them and ensure I really understand the topic.

It also works as a way to document my thinking. I have written several posts that represent “principles” that I try to apply in life, such as Feeling smart is a warning sign, Will it be harder tomorrow?, As little as possible, and Find three solutions. These form something like a personal “vocabulary”.

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

I like the idea of static site generators (SSGs) which produces a lean site which can be served anywhere. I also use Markdown for all my note-taking. The two seemed to fit well together as many SSGs use Markdown as source format.

I chose Hugo mostly because it seemed like a popular and stable alternative. I wanted to focus on writing, not on figuring out how to make the tool do what I wanted. While there was a bit of learning curve with Hugo, it has mostly worked as expected.

There are also plenty of themes to choose from, and I chose one named Congo which was modern and clean.

Have you blogged on other platforms before? #

I’ve blogged sporadically on and off for the last 25 years. Initially I mostly produced hand-written sites. Later I experimented with Blogger and WordPress as well. While both worked fine, I always ended up feeling that my content was “locked up” inside something I did not control.

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

A blog post often starts as a quick note somewhere, typically in my todo app Things or in my work notes. Later I sit down and write a full post in Obsidian, my tool of choice for any kind of writing.

I store the blog in a git repository and have set up an automated publishing workflow using GitHub Actions that updates henko.net whenever I push my changes.¹

When do you feel most inspired to write? #

The initial idea for a blog post can come to me at any time. Often I just jot down a quick note and let it wait. Sometimes the idea is so captivating that I just “have” to write the blog post immediately, but that only works when I actually have time to do so. The actual writing is often done in the evenings, after the kids have been put to sleep.

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

After having finished a blog post I typically let it sit for a day and then proof-read it the next day. Sometimes I just fix some typo, but other times I make major changes to improve it.

Once I’m satisfied with my post I schedule it to be published the next available Tuesday. I keep a weekly schedule to force myself to keep a sustainable pace. Publishing once a week avoids “burning out” by publishing posts every day for a short period of time, but is still enough to require some effort and become a habit.

Every now and then I just can seem to finish a blog post, and it may end up in my drafts folder for some time before I finish it (if I do finish it at all).

What’s your favourite post on your blog? #

My personal favorite is Functional foundations which is the post I’ve spent most time and energy on. It also summarizes my personal insights as a programmer during the last decade.

I also like Does this scale down? which is my most popular post by far, and the only one to go “viral” on Mastodon.

Other than that, my favorite is often the last post I wrote. At the time I wrote it, it always seems interesting. However, it is not always that the posts I enjoy most writing are the ones that become popular. As a hobby writer, this feels a bit weird. I can sometimes feel the tug of writing things that I think would give me more readers. But if I do, I think I might lose track of the primary purpose of my blog—to provide mental relief.

I also like writing posts in reply to other things I read. It makes me feel part of something larger.

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

The main goal is to keep publishing weekly.

I’ve toyed with the idea of adding comments, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

I used to generate images for each blog post using ChatGPT, but I figured it did not make much sense as everything else is written by me. It would be cool to draw a custom illustration for each post, but I don’t have enough time for that.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with how the blog works.

A very long-term dream would be to eventually collect and rework the best posts into some kind of book.