(Blogging) Challenge accepted.

I’m really enjoying being part of the recently launched Blogging Community of Practice, AKA Bloggers Anonymous. As well as working with the Reclaim team behind the scenes, I love being part of a group of bloggers, and it’s been fun to see more posts appearing in my timeline.

This one from Brian Lamb caught my eye. It reminded me of just how HARD it can be to keep blogging when you are in a senior leadership role, representing an institution (more on that soon)… and at the same time it introduced me to this little blogging challenge: you answer the questions below, and then tag/ping others to take up the mantle.

I am pinging Debbie and Pilot to invite them to take part, and here are my answers:

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

I believe that blogging is a very rewarding habit to cultivate and given that I have blogged for two decades, it must be working for me. And it does. I get a lot out of the process, other than ‘having a blog’. Here is why I blog:

• I’m excited about something I want to share
• I need some space to think through or reflect on something
• I want to document something for future use
• I want to keep a record of things I have done
• I want to journal (in a public way)
• I want to have things to put into my newsletter
• I want to share an image I love and talk about it
• I want to celebrate something
• I want to contribute to a conversation or discourse
• I want to show my solidarity
• I want to amplify the voices of others
• I want to do something helpful

All of these motivations ultimately mean that blogging makes me feel good. I write plenty of posts that no one reads and no one comments on, and it doesn’t make a difference to my process. Of course I want people to read what I blog about, but I don’t focus on that as I blog and its not my main motivation.

I would, and often do, blog, where no one can read my thoughts.

What platform are you using to manage your blog and why do you use it?

I recently started to review my tech stack, and here is what I wrote about my blog:

My primary domain, https://marendeepwell.com/ , is where my WordPress blog lives, and it’s been safely and happily looked after by Reclaim Hosting for over a decade. I am a big fan of this independent hosting company for many reasons, including their excellent service, personable support and fair pricing.

I have been a Shared Hosting client for a long time and was also converted to Reclaim Cloud as my needs grew. I also have several domains which I manage here. My blog and domain on Reclaim include my newsletter and mapping of my domain to my Google Workspace email account.

Have you blogged on other platforms before?

Yes! Blogger (or its predecessors) was my first one, and I still have several of them. I also “blog” privately in docs and sites, and I have tried out Ghost, Substack and so on.

How do you write your posts?

Practice, practice, practice. I keep blogging and that helps the words flow. Sometimes I feel super inspired, other times its more about documenting a piece of work, spreading the word about an event or sharing a piece of work.

Some days I spend a lot of time thinking about my post, other times it’s more quick. It’s much more about the process, not the output for me.

When do you feel most inspired to write?

Early in the morning.

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

Usually I press publish as soon as I am ready (and then I proof read it again).

What’s your favorite post on your blog?

Last year, I had three: Post that I enjoyed writing the most: The joy of not working. Post with my favourite cover image: Christmas Jumper Day. A story. Post that made me smile: … we did it again.

Any future plans for the blog?

Keep blogging #4life (and… fix/figure out newsletter properly).