I found a fun prompt list of blog questions from Leilukin and Starbreaker (completely independent of each other, as it happens). Nobody asked me for my opinion, but here I am anyway!

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

I got my start in the personal website/fansite scene of the late 2000s, where it was customary to include personal updates in the same stream as website updates. I think it's fair to include that under the personal blog umbrella even if it's not explicitly labeled as such. Everyone was doing it, and it was an easy way to keep up appearances with friends and visitors even if you weren't actively updating your content.

What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?/How do you write your posts?

I've written my own janky system for managing blog posts. I've thought about publishing it, but the system itself is pretty clunky and inconvenient. Also, if you know enough that this all sounds appealing, you could probably execute it better than I have!

The blog runs out of one PHP file, which lists and fetches posts from a SQL database. While the post metadata is stored in the database, the content is stored in separate raw HTML files that I edit locally. I didn't want to add the unnecessary step of a frontend post interface if I was just going to write everything in HTML anyway. This also means I can keep a post rotting in my files for as long as I want, but it won't go live until I manually add its information to the table.

I wanted to have "Read more" cuts in the Livejournal way, where you place them manually, instead of having a cut inserted by default after [x] characters. I comment <!--CUT--> where the cut goes, and the PHP script will stop reading the text of a post once it reaches that comment. I have no idea if there's a better way to accomplish this, but it works!

I have no interest in trying to adapt an SSG or other blog/content management system to my needs. I don't like trying to work around things other people have built and would rather do everything from scratch so it's as simple as possible. I also like being able to write my posts exactly how I want them (i.e. without using Markdown — I hate writing in it, and it doesn't give me enough control over formatting).

Have you blogged on other platforms before?

My first website was all manually-updated HTML, including the blog/update part of it. I used Livejournal too. I thought about trying Dreamwidth, but I would rather keep everything where I have control over it.

I've self-hosted Wordpress for a few other blogs, but the current iteration of it is more of a website builder than a blogging system. It's too bloated. I also never liked the theme or plugin development aspect because, once again, it's something that forces me to work around something someone else made.

When do you feel most inspired to write?

I'll write about whatever, really, but lately I've been writing a lot about things I've made. For the past year or so, I've been doing art for the process and not to produce a polished final product; I don't consider myself an artist as much as a person who has creative hobbies. (I don't say this to be self-deprecating! Reframing my mindset here has removed most of the pressure to make perfect art to post online.) I find more satisfaction in sharing my art with written commentary than putting it all into a gallery without any context.

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

So many things have been simmering in my drafts for so long that they're mush. Most posts take me several days at minimum to write and revise, although horter posts will usually go out immediately. Either way, I'll usually continue the revisions for weeks/months/years later if I decide I don't like a post or want to add to it. That's not great for the blog format, but oh well. (Actually, this did make me think to add a "modified" timestamp to my post template. Progress!)

What's your favourite post on your blog?

I don't have one. This is not serious, and having a favorite post would imply that it is. I'm just writing shit and sending it into the ether.

Any future plans for your blog?

I just want to post more. I rewrote all the code for the blog relatively recently and am still content with how it's working. Also, overthinking the mechanics of the blog will keep me from actually using it.

Why do you write?

It's fun! I should be doing this because it's fun!

I started this blog feeling like I should be creating Content(TM) about something — hot takes, education, media reviews, product reviews... something! I cycled through various topics and "niches" for my posts but could never get any of them to stick because I burned myself out. It was very hard to find things to post about during the early stages of this blog, as you'll notice if you look at the dates in the archive.

I've been trying to internalize the "You're a blogger, not an essayist" philosophy. I don't want to do 3 days of research for a stupid blog post! I didn't like writing research papers in school. I had to drag myself through my Master's thesis. I hate doing research and writing about it. Why would I do that for "fun?"

I also don't want to spend my limited time on this Earth writing about things that piss me off. There are plenty of things that I have a reason to be pissed off about, but nobody would benefit from reading me, an internet rando, scream about how angry I am with no constructive input. I'm still happy to write about things I don't like if I have something intelligent to say about them, but the primary emotion driving the writing shouldn't be anger.