2022 a year in review
Having started this blog in 2022 and keeping to a regular routine, I thought it would be interesting to capture some lessons learned.
Observations
Writing is easy enough, filling a page with content is easy enough. Writing content that people like and engage with is really challenging. I have a long way to go in that respect, I’d love more engagement.
Aside from the ego aspect, I want the engagement so that I can learn from my readers in terms of what works and what doesn’t. So far, the only meaningful metrics I’ve managed to get from Medium are around views and average time on each article.
I see a general correlation that shorter articles do better than long, but I don’t really know why that is. Is it reader preference or am I boring people and waffling on? These are areas where I’d like to learn and improve.
Quality
I’ve typically taken an iterative approach to refining my content, I am not a perfectionist. I am keen to improve the quality of my writing, I also appreciate the ability to go back and edit content for readability / conciseness etc.
Some options I’ve explored:
- Beta readers: sending out a draft copy to a few people for input → it can be useful, but results may vary and if you are working to a clock / schedule this may not be a good option.
- Listening to your article using text to speech (have it read out), this is quite a good mechanism for me as I tend to hear things better than reading them off a page (hence why I listen to audio books over traditional reading)
- Writing the content in advance and then revisiting a day or two later with fresh eyes → this has worked well for me where I’ve been able to stay organized enough. My fall-back option here has been to simply re-read what I’ve published a couple of days later and then make tweaks and republish.
Motivation and frequency
This one has been challenging, sticking to a weekly cadence, and publishing has done a lot in terms of habit forming and discipline but it has taken its toll in terms of work life balance. Taking a time boxing approach is useful here in terms of not spending too long on an article and separating ideation and research from the writing itself has yielded the best results.
I now keep a concise list of ideas for articles which I continue to maintain and refine but don’t constrain myself to if inspiration strikes, I can write something I wasn’t planning to.
I might experiment with having multiple articles written in advance so that I have a short buffer of content I can use, instead of writing and publishing all in the same step (which creates a lot of unnecessary pressure).
Looking to next year
I’m going to continue to write this blog, the location / platform I use may change for better analytics and engagement. I enjoy the outlet especially as it helps me crystallize my thoughts and keeps as I learn and reflect. Perhaps you will find the information useful to you too!
I have enjoyed the dialogue I have had this year with readers, I’ve made lots of awesome new friends and look forward to strengthening my network and knowledge.
What would you like to see out of this blog in the new year? (content / format etc.)
What article did you enjoy reading the most?
Happy new year everyone!
