ShareThis1 |
Instead of my long "deep dives" (as Dan puts it) I'll try forcing myself to write little bits at a time, what Mark Forster calls "little and often." I'll use an external blog editor as a way of shifting my perspective on posts. |
2 |
Success: 1) Setting up Drupal to allow blogging via external editors, 2) writing a number of small posts, 3) experiencing how it feels to do it this way, collecting any user feedback as it progresses. I'll also see if I lose any subscribers (2,269 as of 2009-10-05). |
3 |
I'll shoot for one month, then evaluate. |
4 |
Saving time, sharing more, being curious the response (if any), seeing if I can actually stick to writing short posts! |
Created Oct 05, 2009
| Category
Other
Comments & Observations
Matthew Cornell I'm amazed that I actually got the editor-to-drupal connection working. Sweet! I'll celebrate with a tasty morsel at Rao's.
Oct 05, 2009
Matthew Cornell Did my first post. As part of the experiment I'll also lower my standards. No spelling errors, and no glaring grammatical ones, but I'll craft each sentence with a tad less care.
Oct 05, 2009
Matthew Cornell Another time-saver: I will not save the source (html, previously) on my local drive, as I've done with my (almost 300) longer posts.
Oct 05, 2009
Matthew Cornell Ohhhhhh-kay. Published a second one, and found some irritating problems:
o the default formatting doesn't honor the HTML sent from the editors
o auto-path feature (pretty URLs) isn't invoked
This was all fine in my posts to the SquareSpace test blog.
SS is looking pretty good at this point.
Oct 06, 2009
Matthew Cornell More on external editors: I *could* use the editor, copy the HTML, then create the post in Drupal as I've been doing, but these extra steps kill the momentum I need to make quick posts. Decision: Do this multi-step process using the tool, but activate a GetAFreelancer project to move to SS. Ugh!
Oct 07, 2009
Matthew Cornell Tool -> HTML -> Drupal is better than HTML hacking directly in Drupal. Images are still a pain, though, with some bizarre surprises, such as the green-tinted image here: http://matthewcornell.org/2009/10/iphone-redlaser-wheres-george-cultural-enlightenment.html . I'll continue the SquareSpace conversion project in the meantime.
Oct 08, 2009
Matthew Cornell *Really* liking the shorter format. The tool change made a big difference - more here: http://matthewcornell.org/2009/10/how-else-can-you-see-perspective-and-value-a-tool-change.html
Oct 08, 2009
Matthew Cornell I realized the format shifted my topics some from straight productivity to the classic IdeaMatt style - a mix of the latter plus my idea stream. This too is an experiment. After my other experiment of marketing my guide, I might be shifting productivity to the newsletter... Needs more thought , ideally more data.
Oct 11, 2009
Dan Owen A possibly dumb question: what is the relationship between your ability to write a shorter post and the editor you're using? Is it the case that your existing editor imposes a time cost that makes short posting too "expensive" in terms of time? Is that the problem?
Oct 11, 2009
Matthew Cornell Good question. Yes, you got it exactly. It's easier to write WYSIWYG, but more interestingly, the tool with its WYSIWYG bias somehow gets me into keeping it brief, fast, and loose. Novelty probably plays a part too.
Oct 15, 2009
Dan Owen I've now Wikipedia'd WYSIWYG -- the lightbulb has gone off.
Oct 18, 2009
Matthew Cornell Update:
o # subscribers as of 2009-10-23: 2,314. So I've gained some, and haven't lost any.
o # comments has gone up a tad
o no pushback from readers
o having more fun, but last two days were a challenge to post
o far easier to post, mostly because I'm giving myself permission to be looser
o today I'm feeling some "What's the whole point?" about the blog. probably need a break
Oct 23, 2009
Matthew Cornell # subscriber stats are flat since starting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewcornell/4056003850/ . for ha-has I'll do a little poll.
Oct 29, 2009
Matthew Cornell I'll submit a simple poll in a few minutes asking for reader opinion on the new style. I'm curious how many votes I'll get :-)
Oct 29, 2009
Matthew Cornell After some great feedback from Dan, and reflection, I've decided to continue the practice. Also in the mix is the tiny % of people who voted, which of course is self-filtering: 2/3 of them liked the new format. Mainly, it's a chance to write the same kind of stuff, but with permission from myself to just push it out with a little less care. Going for post quantity, while still providing something to think about (me and/or my readers). It's a perfectionism buster, and I like it.
Nov 02, 2009