Hi All! 🤗
It is one of the most common reasons why we abandon our personal sites and blogs: at some point, we stop publishing.
But why? Weren’t we so enthusiastic when we started (or restarted) our sites? Didn’t we tell ourselves that this time, we would really post more regularly? And didn’t it also work well for a few posts? But then, everyday life interfered. Other things needed our attention. And before we knew it, two months had passed since our last post. Then four, then eight… And, just like with other habits, once you let the series break and more and more time has passed since your last post, it is getting even harder to publish again.
You would be right in pointing out that that’s part of the beauty of having a personal site. You are free to decide how regularly you post and there is no obligation to post anything. You don’t owe the world or the people out there any posts, after all.
But then again, what is the point of having a personal site if we don’t put stuff out there from time to time, if we don’t document and share random thoughts, things we learned, and nuggets we found? And even though you definitely don’t have to publish daily to enjoy having a blog, it is only when you post more regularly that many of the advantages of having a personal site really start to emerge.
One key to posting regularly lies in finding your very own cadence of writing, a habitual practice that works well for you personally and that fits your lifestyle and comfort. For some of us, this means finding set hours for writing. Maybe it becomes your morning ritual, a quiet moment to collect your thoughts and transpose them before the day’s demands grab your attention. Or perhaps you're more of a night writer, documenting your day’s thoughts and ideas when the world around you has slowed down. Or maybe, you just need to give yourself permission to jot down a quick first draft of a post whenever you have an idea throughout the day, taking advantage of the momentum when it is still fresh. Still others like to batch-write a few articles in advance in longer, uninterrupted sessions on certain days of the week or when they are traveling, for example. Whatever works for you, in the end it all comes down to making writing or working on your site something that you do consistently and repeatedly, maybe even daily.
If you establish this consistent rhythm, you will find that over time, it will become much more frictionless to publish new posts and you’ll leave the resistance behind. Now, the rhythm of your writing habit is the beat that carries you. You’ll also have more ideas on what to write about, because your brain is constantly watching for opportunities for future posts. And you’ll learn to not wait for inspiration to strike but to sit down and get past the inertia of those first few words, because you can trust in your ability to work your way through even the shittiest first drafts.
At the same time, it is equally important to not overthink the process of writing and publishing in the first place. It is your site, so you are allowed to post regardless of what others think of it or how polished it is. It is still a blog, not an academic journal and nobody expects a blog post to have Pulitzer-winning quality. Perfect is an illusion. So just put stuff out there and experiment. And if it is only for yourself.
And then, there’s a third secret to publishing more regularly, and that’s enjoying the process of creating something and making it really convenient and frictionless to publish. Above all, working and posting on your website should be fun. Your CMS, SSG, or other tools you are using are an import factor in how enjoyable and easy it is to post new things. If every new post takes a huge amount of work besides the pure writing, it adds unnecessary friction and makes the whole process more cumbersome. If, on the other hand, drafting and publishing a post is almost as smooth as writing a post on social media, there is not much between your thoughts and the next published post. This will allow you to enjoy the act of creating itself even more and you will much more likely find that rhythm that works for you – and keep publishing on your site.
What writing habit or publishing cadence have you found to work best for you? Or are you still struggling? Hit reply and let me know.
Links
Here’s another mixed bag of links. Please let me know how you like them! And if you can think of someone who would enjoy reading this newsletter today, feel free to forward along.
Shoptalk Show Episode 606: Web Sustainability with Michelle Barker
Michelle Barker visited the ShopTalk Show and talked with Chris and Dave about a topic that is, given the urgency of the climate emergency, easily one of the most important challenges on the Web today: digital sustainability and the environmental impact of our websites and digital life.
👉 https://shoptalkshow.com/606/
Kottke.org Redesigns With 2024 Vibes
I already shared another post about the recent redesign of kottke.org in the last issue, but I didn’t want to withhold this interesting post by Jason himself, in which he explains a lot of the decisions that influenced the new design with all it’s 2024 “social media energy”.
Kottke.org Redesigns With 2024 Vibes
Well. Finally. I’m unbelievably pleased, relieved, and exhausted to launch the long-awaited (by me) redesign of kottke.org
CSS :has() Interactive Guide
The CSS :has selector is now supported in all major browsers (yes, also in Firefox) and Ahmad took the opportunity to create another one of his amazing interactive explainer posts. This time, he explains :has() and also provides a ton of useful examples of how to use it in clever ways, not only as a parent selector.
CSS :has() Interactive Guide
Everything you need to know about CSS :has() selector.
Talker’s block
An all time classic by Seth Godin about why no one ever gets talker’s block and why precisely therein lies the cure for writer’s block:
“Just write poorly. Continue to write poorly, in public, until you can write better.”
Talker’s block | Seth's Blog
No one ever gets talker’s block. No one wakes up in the morning, discovers he has nothing to say and sits quietly, for days or weeks, until the muse hits, until the moment is right, until all…
What the world needs
A beautiful piece by Jeremy about writing, why sharing your experience is always valuable, and the right response to the assertion that “the world doesn’t need another opinion.”
Adactio: Journal—What the world needs
Write for yourself.
🎧 Personal Site of the Week ⌨️ Cassidy Williams == https://cassidoo.co
Cassidy Williams is a software engineer, CTO at Contenda, a startup advisor and investor, and developer experience expert. She loves to make memes and dreams and software. Her personal site not only changes colors from time to time, but also includes a “blog AKA digital garden AKA mind dump land” where Cassidy regularly shares all kinds of things she explores and learns, like her publishing workflow, the productivity apps she uses, or, famously, that she misses human curation. Also, sign up for Cassidy’s newsletter if you like newsletters (you do, right?).
And that’s it for today. How did you like this issue? Which one of the links was your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Do you have any other suggestions on how to improve this newsletter? Hit reply now and let me know.
Cheers! ☀️
– Matthias