Caleb Mohamed

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im going to blog now

I’m going to blog now.

In my drift through internet land I’ve stumbled across the beauties of the IndieWeb, blogging and RSS.

For most my life, I’ve been placated by so many various algorithms feeding me content to quiet my thoughts. And I want out.

Curating the ideas I consume through RSS feeds and trying to produce stuff myself really seems like a way forward. I still struggle with the pull of algorithmic feeds but hopefully as I try to replace those habits I’ll find something new and wonderful.

I have loads more thoughts on the ‘algorithms’ in my life, but I’ll get back to the topic at hand and pick that up another time.

Inspired by Matt Webb’s list of rules for blogging I thought that I’d set some ground rules to keep this party going for the long run!

  1. Blogs are weekly+
  2. We play by friendly rules
  3. One idea per blog
  4. Don’t edit too much: it doesn’t have to be perfect
  5. Don’t edit too little: respect the reader
  6. Don’t be an expert: share your uncertainty
  7. Don’t be a coward: speak up when you’re confident
  8. No brand, style, or theme: write what you want

weekly+ - at least one blog a week (once in each Sunday - Saturday period). I’ve chosen the old-timey week split so that I’m never rushing to get a blog done on a Sunday.

friendly rules - its more important that I continue than I do it perfectly. If I miss a week, “no worries, we play by friendly rules”. If I post a blog infested with typos, “no worries, we play by friendly rules”. You get the idea.

I started playing by friendly rules when I began writing daily poems. If I missed a day I could write a poem the next morning about that previous day and move on with the ‘streak intact’. Similarly if I went to bed super late the poem at 00:15 still counted. This made the momentum much more robust and the point isn’t really about the streak at the end of the day.

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