blogging challenge

The Blog Questions Challenge: My answers (for 2026)

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.

Blog Question Challenge, 2025 Edition

This apparently started on Bear blog, a minimalist blogging service, where people answer questions about…blogging!

I’m not going to tag anyone or anything, but I love lists and answering questions makes a list, so here are my answers to the Blog Question Challenge.

Why did you make the blog in the first place?

This blog, creolened.com, was started on February 2, 20025– nearly 20 years ago! The first post is here: Bloggity blog blog

That short post doesn’t explain why I started the blog, but does suggest blogging was a hot thing in 2005, and I wanted in on it. Also, I like writing and rambling, so a blog seemed like a good place to do this. Journals and diaries are fine (I keep a daily journal now and have kept journals in the past as well), but there’s something about having my thoughts hanging out in public that makes me write a bit differently. I have a voice and it comes through regardless of whether I am writing just for myself (diary) or not (blog), but there’s a little extra zestiness when I write on the blog. I know others can see what I’ve written. It adds pressure to at least check for typos. And maybe organize my thoughts and make them occasionally interesting.

Also, I find writing about something, then referencing back to it years later is just neat. And handy.

Mostly, I started the blog because I like to write and have things to say. Those things are not always serious or well-articulated, but that’s why this blog never had a particular angle. It’s just me rambling.

Why did you choose bear blog?

Sorry, bear, I tried you and liked you, but you are too minimalist for me, because I am a weirdo and spend too much time playing around with formatting and images and junk like that. It’s a fine service, though! Hopefully the person running it isn’t a monster. There is a weirdly large number of monsters on the internet these days.

Have you blogged on other platforms before?

WordPress was my first blogging platform. Prior to it, I posted on various forums, and had a gaming website I updated by editing the HTML files, then seeing how things looked in Firefox 1.5 or something.

I have more recently dabbled/tested many different blogging platforms. Search this blog to find my thoughts on them!

Do you write your posts directly in the editor or in another software?

It varies, but most of the time I write using the built-in WordPress editor. I occasionally use the Classic block editor when the block system, uh, blocks me from doing what I want.

Sometimes I write in other apps and then copy and paste over. For a time I thought of doing this permanently, so I’d always have a local copy of my stuff, but it just seemed like more work than I wanted. Other programs I’ve used to write for this blog:

  • Notepad
  • Notepad++
  • iA Writer
  • Ulysses
  • Obsidian
  • Maybe Microsoft Word at some point?
  • Probably a few others I’m forgetting

When do you feel most inspired to write?

Never! Inspiration comes and goes, and I have yet to observe any particular pattern to it. Sometimes I can get up and write a long, lovingly handcrafted post first thing in the morning, other times I scramble to find a cat pic to post at 11:30 p.m. It just depends.

I will note that when I am feeling down, I rarely feel inspired to write, so I reject the idea that one must suffer for one’s art (or writing). On the other hand, writing about weird or bad things that have happened to me is something I enjoy doing after the fact, when I’m at least one step removed (see my recent ER visit for an example).

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

I publish immediately, baby. Sometimes I will look over the post for typos or awkward phrasing just before hitting Publish or just after it goes live. If I come across the same in an old post, I fix these things.

If a post is especially long or complex, I will sometimes save it as a draft, then come back later to finish it, but most drafts tend to go to the place where drafts die. Then they die.

Your favourite post on your blog?

At the time of writing this, I have 5,462 posts, so trying to pick a favourite one is pretty much impossible. I used to maintain a small list of favourites, but tossed it aside at some point.

Rather than specific favourites, I’ll list a few general themes:

  • Some of the writing prompt posts are entertaining, and not bad when you consider they are written in the moment, without any editing afterwards.
  • Some of my own (silly) writing prompt lists still amuse me. Others don’t, so this is definitely “your mileage may vary” kind of thing.
  • Birding posts with actual photos are nice. I’ve fallen out of the habit of posting the photos, but I’ve still got some decent ones up for viewing.
  • Some of my art is okay! These are found under Creative.
  • I tried to learn how to swim in 2009. It didn’t go well, but was kind of funny.
  • And more. I have a billion tags because I am a chronic tag abuser, but some of the odder ones sometimes have cute/interesting posts to go with them.

Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, changing the tag system, etc.?

I have redesigned my blog multiple times through the years and will no doubt do so again. Right now it is sporting a more minimal look, with little colour. I’ll probably change that again sometime.

The biggest upcoming change will be moving to a different platform. I am still thinking through this (and have documented the process here on this blog, to go all meta). I no longer have confidence in the WordPress platform, and it’s really more than I need. I am very used to it, though, so moving to something new is going to have a learning curve, accepting certain compromises and other stuff. But I feel I should, and the time to do so is pretty much now.

And that’s about it. Here are some other people who also took up this challenge: