Why I Started
I started blogging back in year 2006 when I finished high school, after my first serious contact with computer (I had my fair share of computer lessons in school). Blogging seems to be the natural thing to do during that period - when Blogspot (currently Blogger) is a great platform for green writers. When I decided to resume my writing venture years later in 2014, I opt to restart my journey on WordPress and now porting into Steemit.
Over the years, I witnessed most of my blogger friends (virtual friends) vanished from the blogosphere. Some of them simply lose the fervent to write for their dwindling reader base; some of them moved out from the cyberspace and focusing on real life issues - Say Cheese, Tal! is one the last few that still stay around. It is the persistence that count.
When I first started to blog, it is more to an exploration and learning about internet technicalities. On top of that (yes, internet keeps evolving), my current intention of writing is to fight for freedom: freedom of expression. You can read about it in my About page and Who Am I? I might still write about random mess, but critics and reviews should be my focus from now on.
What I Like
Blogging is never just about writing. This time consuming activity also involves website maintenance, networking, marketing and researching. Therefore, blogging opens up a door to whole lot of learning opportunities.
Reading the feedbacks, especially those positive and constructive ones can really made my day. I have quite a few readers who told me not to change my writing style simply because they enjoy reading my frank and honest words. Otherwise, it might come from community members whose content I have flagged for being 'unworthy' - I ignore those most of the time.
To survive in the cyberspace, there is no other tips but to establish extensive networks. I dislike meeting people in real life, but I enjoy the sense of belongings in online communities. Information sharing is my goal in online interactions, as I can never learn everything with my own efforts.
Sadly, there is no other ways to prepare for quality content but to research beforehand. Most of the time while I am writing a topic that I think I have a certain grasp on, research always turn up point that surprises me. I often have to ditch the initial perspective but to include other perspectives, or to discard the whole draft altogether. I take this as part of intellectual improvement.
What I Dislike
The worst nightmare is when something breaks. Due to my limited knowledge in website development, I rely mostly on other users experience, plugins and online tutorials. If nothing works, I might have to reset the whole website if even the hosting support fails (which is quite often). It happened quite a few times on me, so I usually make sure everything works first before start pouring my sweat.
The common problem that most bloggers (and probably all creators) share is to hit a wall when finding ideas for the next posts. While I can simply churn out rubbish posts that include random things, but what the internet needs is more quality content. I will try my best in writing detailed and accurate posts (though I might get lazy occasionally), but I never like the hard work that is necessary, especially when the post does not garner enough attention.
Marketing for your own products (my blog in this case) is something that I am still learning. I am staying anonymous currently, but still have to build an honest image as a Malaysian without telling too much too be identifiable. How I wish I can simply dish out crap into the ocean and people will still love me, but the reality is always cruel.
When interacting in online communities, the toxic groups of spammers and trolls always anger me. In Steemit particularly, random pictures and gibberish texts without semi-decent explanations anger me for being wasteful of precious resources. Do not let me to start yelling on the rampage of bots in ruining the fun of grinding and creating.
What I Learned
Managing a website can be analogised as managing a residence. As time goes by, there are things that go expired and need updating. While the wheel of technologies keep revolving, it is up to us to keep improving, in order to get control and ride above the wave.
Writing is part of the human history, and I wish mine will be beneficial for the archaeologists to come.
The contest post on Ordinary Reviews
The contest post on Steemit by Alvin Lau
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://lordkipas.com/2018/09/14/long-live-blogging/