FUNNY NOTE: After writing this post, I recalled I'd seen this blogging question challenge last year and couldn't remember if I'd answered the questions back then. It turns out I did, so I have now answered the questions twice, which makes me a bit of a dope, but also provides an interesting comparison between what I wrote on January 26, 2025 and today, June 3, 2026.
It's worth reading the older version, some of the answers are more fleshed out than in this post. But read both and enjoy the blogginess of it all!
While perusing Bubbles, I came across a blog post that linked back to a Blog Questions Challenge that I believe originated on Bear. That link led to a non-Bear version, which I am posting and replying to below.
The questions:
- Why did you start blogging in the first place?
- What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?
- Have you blogged on other platforms before?
- How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that’s part of your blog?
- 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, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?
Answers:
Why did you start blogging in the first place?
I like to write and I’ve always enjoyed journaling and noodling around writing my thoughts down. When blogs started to become a thing, I was just technically capable enough to slap together a blog of my own in February 2005.
What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?
I am using WordPress and creolened.com has been using WP for over 21 years now. When the WP CEO started getting, er, a bit eccentric a few years ago, I started looking at alternative platforms, but none had all the things I wanted. And 20 years of inertia is hard to fight. In 2005 WordPress struck me as having the right balance of features and ease of use that worked for me. Admittedly, I didn’t really try anything else, because WP clicked pretty quickly.
Have you blogged on other platforms before?
I have dabbled and experimented with the following:
- Ghost
- Posthaven
- Bear
- Pika
- Write.as
- Probably more I’m forgetting
The only ones that survive today are Write.as as a free account and Pika, which I subbed to for a year, then never really used (not a reflection on the platform).
How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that’s part of your blog?
I used the built-in editor in WordPress. And yes, I use blocks, I’ve tried fighting them before, but for the most part have adapted to them. But I have also used other programs to write and save blog posts before posting them here, with Obsidian, iA Writer and Ulysses (Mac) being the most common. If there’s a program that lets me export to WP, I’ll usually try it at least once, but most of the time I’m typing in the built-in editor.
When do you feel most inspired to write?
It varies, but it tends to be on the extremes, either early morning or late evening, probably because of the quiet (sometimes in the morning because I’m feeling zesty).
Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
Drafts are where posts go to die. I rarely come back to a draft, so I write “live” and post immediately. This is also reflected in that most of my posts are not planned, just whatever flits through my mind at the moment.
What’s your favourite post on your blog?
There’s a few that I like going back to. For nostalgia, there’s My computer and video game history, an abridged edition and Magazines of yore -or- Back when I bought things to read on paper. I am also partial to my long review of the movie Prometheus. Re-reading the review is a lot more entertaining to me than watching the movie again. I also have some fiction here and there on the blog that is not bad, though most are prompts and experiments, so a little rough or incomplete. This one is nicely creepy: 1,000 creative writing prompts: 7 of 1,000 and of course I wrote a time travel story about a barista trying to kill Hitler. I have over 200 book reviews if you’re into those.
My viewpoint tends to be a bit jaded, but ultimately hopeful and a bit sarcastic. I realize it may not work for everyone.
Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?
My blog is pretty much done as far as features and whatnot. I’ve actually been trying to prune back the number of plugins I use, though it’s hard to resist some 1Like these pop-up footnotes, for example. I do occasionally tweak the layout and design of the blog and assorted elements and will continue to do so. I need a new logo as of writing this (June 2026) but haven’t had anything really speak to me yet.