I know how much I love a good challenge, and I know too that there are a few of you out there who, like me, love to answer blogging questions. So when I saw this challenge online I knew I had to do it. So, welcome to The Blog Question Challenge.
And, the questions are:
- Why did you make a blog in the first place?
- Why did you choose your platform? (Blogger/Wordpress/Bear Blog/Pika)
- Have you blogged on other platforms before?
- Do you write your posts directly in the editor or in another software?
- When do you feel most inspired to write?
- Do you publish immediately after writing or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
- What’s your favourite post on your blog?
- Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, changing the tag system, etc.?
Feel free to copy the questions and answer them on your own blog. And then, when you’ve answered them, how about asking three fellow bloggers to accept the challenge?
And, of course, here are my answers.
Q. Why did you make a blog in the first place?
A. Way back when, it was to join in a blogging social community (remember LiveJournal and MySpace?) and share in this new thing with other people online. Swapping photos, ideas, and book recommendations.
Q. Why did you choose your current platform? (Blogger/Wordpress/Bear Blog/Pika)
A. I chose WordPress because it’s something I’ve been using, on and off, for years now. It’s a platform I know and understand, and feel comfortable with using on a daily basis.
Q. Have you blogged on other platforms before?
A. Oh, of course. I think at any one time, here and there, I’ve probably used them all. Well, maybe not Xanga. I don’t ever remember creating a blog there. But most of the big names? Yes. I was there from maybe a couple of months to a couple of years.
Q. Do you write your posts directly in the editor or in another software?
A. I’ve learnt from a lot of bad experiences losing lengthy posts to not write directly into the editor. Instead I use a combination of writing in Apple’s TextEdit or Apple Notes, both of which save to the cloud, which is another way of ensuring I don’t lose another post.
Q. When do you feel most inspired to write?
A. I’m a first thing in the morning kind of person. I like to come and sit at my desk straight after breakfast, and write. I feel like my thoughts are clear and fresh at this point, and I’m more likely to have better focus than later in the day.
Q. Do you publish immediately after writing or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
A. I try, where at all possible, to write my posts in advance and schedule them a couple of days in advance so, if need be, I can check the morning of posting for errors or spelling mistakes. I say I try to do this. Some days it’s not always possible. I find this works for me, and gives me time to really think about what it is I want to write.
Q. What’s your favourite post on your blog?
A. Oh gosh. That’s a hard one. Do I chose the one that speaks to me, or the most popular post by visits, or comments? I guess the post that speaks most to me and that would have to be: There Is Life After Death, a post I wrote about the loss of my parents. A difficult post to write.
Q. Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, changing the tag system, etc.?
A. Quite honestly, I love my current theme, Zuki, which does everything I want in displaying content in a pleasing way, with gorgeous fonts. So no, not really. I might tweak the actual layout, as there are sections I could add. But right now, this set up works beautifully for me.
Why did you make a blog in the first place? I wanted to have a blog for years (and did actually have one for a short period when I was a new mother). I was participating in a time management study and one of the rules was “three times a week makes a habit”. Blogging is what I chose to be my habit! And it stuck.
Why did you choose your platform? I use WordPress and it is the standard for blogging, so that’s what I chose. I think people who use Blogger all started long before I got into blogging. In fact, I don’t think you can even sign up to use Blogger anymore?
Have you blogged on other platforms before? Nope. Only WordPress.
Do you write your posts directly in the editor or in another software? Directly in the editor.
When do you feel most inspired to write? It seems whenever I have no time to write. Sigh.
Do you publish immediately after writing or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft? Almost always a simmer.
What’s your favourite post on your blog? Oof. Not sure! I don’t know if a single post stands out as my favuorite?
Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, changing the tag system, etc.? There are probably some things I could do, but I’d rather just stick with what I have for now! I find changes to the blog overwhelming and I’ve had some issues with things going wrong before, so it’s likely safer to leave well enough alone!
I love asking questions like this to see what other people’s experience is, especially when it comes to blogging. While I have been online a long time. I never really thought of myself as a blogger till I started a book blog way back when.
And I can see why it’s so hard for you to choose a fav blog post given you’ve been blogging longer than me. How do you choose just one post? Like one movie, or one song? Hard.
And glad to know you are not planning a change on your blog, it pretty much looks perfect to me. Easy to navigate, and to read.
Why did you make a blog in the first place? I was in graduate school far from my friends and thought it would be a good way for them to keep up with me. They never read it, though. LOL.
Why did you choose your platform? (Blogger/Wordpress/Bear Blog/Pika) – Blogger because I’m cheap.
Have you blogged on other platforms before? No
Do you write your posts directly in the editor or in another software? Directly in the editor. I’ve never lost a post.
When do you feel most inspired to write? When I have time. LOL. I have to fit it in among the rest of my life, so if I have 20-30 minutes, I’m going for it.
Do you publish immediately after writing or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft? 99% of my posts are written well in advance.
What’s your favourite post on your blog? I have a post about how much money I spent on personal care (it’s called “Beauty Tax”) and the comments on that post are GOLD.
Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, changing the tag system, etc.? My plans are to just keep blogging. I should probably migrate to a big girl platform, but I’ve been on Blogger for twenty years, so I probably won’t.
Yeah, blogger for all the adverse comments about it, has been a pretty constant platform, and seems stable to me. I think people blogging have either chosen Blogger as they started way back when, or WordPress more recently for the same reasons. Stability.
Oh, now I have to go find that post and have a read. I’m intrigued.
Hey, why change when you’re happy where you are, right?
Why did you make a blog in the first place? I loved writing and wanted to be a Serious Writer so I started a blog to have a place to write.
Why did you choose your platform? (Blogger/Wordpress/Bear Blog/Pika) I just liked the functionality of WP better than Blogger.
Have you blogged on other platforms before? I was on Blogger, Xanga, Diaryland… you name it!
Do you write your posts directly in the editor or in another software? Directly in the editor
When do you feel most inspired to write? I’m always inspired, it seems!
Do you publish immediately after writing or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft? I schedule my posts but I’m usually scheduling it the night before because of time.
What’s your favourite post on your blog? I’m not sure – that’s a great question!
Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, changing the tag system, etc.? I just went through a major blog categorization project, so I need a few years to enjoy being done with that lol.
Aw, thanks for answering the questions, Stephany. It’s such fun to see how everyone came to blogging and how they like to blog. We all have similar reasons about wanting to share. And I have to say, WordPress is a really good platform to write on, there are so many great themes to choose from.