How to start blogging? Start with a platform you enjoy.
To some, this may seem obvious. Others may be writing on a platform they don’t enjoy. Some will also still be looking for a platform they enjoy writing on.
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Why am I saying this now?
I say this now because it’s the mistake I made, and I didn’t even realise I made it in the first place. Sometime last year, something went wrong with my WordPress blog. Restoring from a previous version didn’t seem to fix it. This made me think it was time to ditch WordPress and go elsewhere.
It was at that moment when I started looking at static site generators such as VuePress, Gatsby etc. In the end, I chose VuePress because it was using VueJS. A language I was using alongside Laravel, and I thought it would be a great experience. At first, things went well, and I managed to export and re-import all my current blog posts. They were converted from HTML into Markdown.
The site was then hosted with Netlify, which is an awesome free static website hosting company. During this time, my writing started to slow down, but I didn’t notice. After a while, I thought my site looked too much like a documentation website which is understandable because that’s what VuePress is primarily built for.
Gaining some inspiration and motivation
A graphic designer on Twitter inspired me with his amazing website designs. Someone on Slack also spoke about a new static site generator called GridSome. GridSome looked better for creating blogs, and so I went to use it for the next iteration of my blog. Inspired, I created a really nice design and moved everything to GridSome.
It was still on Netlify, and I used Forestry to create my blog posts. It felt slick, and I was happy with the results. At least, I was at first. After spending some time writing, I found I couldn’t fully manage my posts. I couldn’t create drafts, and I couldn’t schedule them for later.
It still wasn’t enough to keep me going
This really slowed my writing process down, and I found I was no longer enjoying the writing experience. I was trying other tools and apps such as Notion, Bear and Evernote. None of these was as enjoyable as using WordPress.
Finally realising something was amiss
However, I still didn’t realise this until today. Even though I purchased a WordPress hosting subscription a couple of weeks ago. I only did it because I thought it was something I needed to do, but I wasn’t sure why. Now it’s as clear as daylight. The reason I chose to go back to WordPress is that I truly enjoy the experience.
They have everything you need to make a start. You can write drafts, schedule posts and connect to a huge community. Unfortunately, I lost my community the day I left and moved to static websites. However, I really hope that now I know this is where I want my content to stay, I can rebuild my community.
Please don’t make the same mistake I did
If you’re not enjoying your writing process, maybe it’s time to find another platform that can help make it more enjoyable. It doesn’t have to be WordPress. It can be Notion, Medium, Facebook, Twitter etc. The possibilities are endless, and it’s completely up to you. Find your platform, and find your community. Spread your wings and fly, but also enjoy the process and feel the wind through your fingertips.
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