Click here for the audio version of this post
Welcome back!
Firstly I want to thank anyone that came to check out my blog over the past month, it has actually been fun to maintain and try to create content on a regular schedule. I hope you have found something that speaks to you, whether it be a picture or something I have written. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts, even though we’ve never met, I am grateful for you.
Secondly, I want to just give myself a brief pat on the back. You stuck with it, you haven’t missed a day yet but even if you did you are still here. Too often you doubt yourself or care about what is going out into the world and overcoming that is a challenge. Well Done!
So twenty days into this self experiment, what are my thoughts on it all? I’ve enjoyed typing out each post, writing itself is never the problem. I think a lot of the motivation is that primarily this is something I want to do, not something perscribed. For those posts, check out my other, soon to be retired blog. Its also been an opportunity to explore not only my interests, but my own thoughts. I think I stated in my original revival post that isolation from the pandemic had impacted me, even if I was not aware of it at first. Seeing my thoughts reflected back to me on screen has helped me reconnect with who I am.
The struggle hasn’t really been with writing the posts, but with finding interesting ways of displaying content and coming up with relevant and timely discussion topics. Some days I feel like writing about something I read, some days I just feel like painting. Other days I feel like doing both and struggle with which to put first. Other days I have nothing to add but don’t want to break the streak. I worry that the filler content dilutes the overall product, that somehow producing more makes everything somehow less than the sum of it’s parts. I reflect on why I revived the blog and while part of the motivation was that I needed to fufill the requirements of a university assignment, the main motivation was that I wanted to. With my studies concluding soon, I had no more excuses to not do SOMETHING. If the worst happens and the blog fails but what have I really lost? Time? Effort? To be honest a lot of the blog would happen anyway, it just happens without documentation.
I know I’m getting off topic a bit here but I touched on failure and now I want to talk about it so here goes. Too often we don’t try things because we worry about not succeeding, that somehow our failures are bad and we will be judged by them. I’m writing this blog post now thinking about my blog and I don’t even know what “failure” here would be. If no one ever reads this, I’m fine with that. I’ve done my part and will continue to do so. If I miss an update, then that’s fine too. I don’t fail if I take a day or two off. Failure here would only be to not try, and I’m not about to do that.
OK, back on topic. So I’m thinking about things I want to experiment with and things I want to change going forward. Here are some ideas I’ve had
- Audio versions of longer posts
- Video content, possibly including vlogs when I feel more comfortable
- Making stuff easier to find on the blog
- Community content
I’ve already started on the audio blogs, here are a few I have already put together:
Has the Ship Sailed
Euthia – from Riches to Rags
Battle Report: Kruleboyz vs. Bonereapers
Warcry: First Impressions
Magic: The Gathering – New Capenna as an Observer
These are automatically generated by anchor which has been great because I lack decent audio equipment and recording space. The posts above were on the longer side so this gives an alternative way to access my content and possibly opens it up to a bigger audience. This post too will have an audio version when it is published.
Video content is coming, I finally invested in a tripod and am working out how to film and paint at the same time. I also have a few other ideas in the pipeline that I am keen to experiment with. Again, the thing that usually lets me down here is recording space, no closed door on my office means the cat or a TV being a little too loud becomes an issue. Currently my daughter is being homeschooled and my wife is in COVID isolation so there is always some background noise. Anyway, those are excuses and I just need to find a way around the issue rather than complaining about it.
I started making stuff easier to find on the blog by overhauling the painting section for current projects. Now that I have more posts, I can see what content I am generating and better categorise it. I don’t have any ideas beyond what I discussed previously in On Blog Design, perhaps it is worth revisiting my ideas from then an expanding on it. I want all my content to be easy to access and for a user to land on any page and be able to navigate to something else that might interest them. Most people check out one or two posts when they visit, I want to make it easy for them to visit four or five.
Finally, community content. My views were boosted incredibly by a single link from another blogger and I think that was a really awesome idea. I would like to maybe link to three other relevant blogs a week to highligh some other awesome people out there. It also gives me the opportunity to engage further with the blogging community and get more inspiration for things to do.
Thank you for making it this far! I look forward to seeing what the future brings to this blog!
According to Gamer Dad 