Blogging

I use AI all day and get incredible benefit from it. From coding, to brainstorming, to designing, I am an AI-maxer. So why am I now writing a blog manually? I think the two go hand in hand. Writing has always been a way to organize your thoughts and help you better understand a topic. I’ll admit that there are things AI says to me or codes for me that I don’t fully understand. In some ways this is me taking back…

I just read a headline about the “Rise and Fall of the Blogosphere” and it made me pause for a minute. I guess the height of blogging has long passed us. So why am I starting to blog again? The true reason is this - my legacy. As I hit middle age, I guess I’m starting to think a little about what I’m going to leave behind in this world. What do I want my kids, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and all of the ar…

So far so good with the new blog. I added two must-have features - RSS and email subscriptions. I’ve been an RSS reader for the past 20 years. I’ve used Reeder for a long time. The latest update added support for Mastodon and BlueSky so I pretty much spend all my time in it. Many people like email subscriptions. I’ve never been into that, but I can understand if you don’t do RSS, it’s the next best thing. I’…

Testing a post from the mobile web. I figure I’ll write posts on the desktop web and mobile app. But Codex did a really good job of making the mobile website work for posting. The real reason I wanted an app was for a custom share sheet. I think many of my posts will be links and quotes. I could probably make it work using Shortcuts. But when building an iOS app is this fast and cheap, why not?

For the past 20 years of my career I have known that I should blog. I’ve watched so many people use blogging as a way to advance their career. As makers, investors, or just writers. I know how hard it is. I’ve had starts and stops. Mostly stops. In fact I haven’t really blogged since 2015. In the heyday of Tumblr I had a blog that had some followers because of Streampad and Exfm. As Tumblr sold and lost its way…

My number one tip for blogging is to lower your standards! Aim to hit publish while you are still actively unhappy with what you have written, because the only alternative is a huge folder full of drafts and never publishing anything at all.

— Simon Willison