Falling off the wagon (again...) and some goodies
Where have I been?
You may have noticed that I haven’t put out a post in a while and some may even be wondering why. The truth is that I just haven’t felt motivated to do so. At no point did I forget that I had a blog, I just couldn’t find the inspiration or motivation to create any content for it. This led me to wonder if I will continue to do this moving forward or if a change to my approach will be enough to keep me coming back for more. Let's hope so.
I thought writing about Apple tech, software and other forms of digital content would be an endless stream of inspiration but it turns out that creating content is much harder than consuming it, which is what I have been doing for most of my life. I also feel that the content I have been creating is fairly unrewarding from a writing perspective. Lists of apps are great for getting people to the blog but I don't feel they offer anything unique enough to keep you all coming back. This then, is where I think some changes have to be made.
Why come back at all?
As the site has lay dormant I stopped checking the stats, the view counts, the retention, the bounce rate and every other metric available to web owners these days. However, what I did still see were new subscribers. Now, for the majority of my absence, there were no new subs but lately, there have been a few newcomers to the site which got me thinking that the content I have created is of value and that my future content will also be of value.
I think it would be a disservice to both myself and all of you to throw in the towel just yet.
Moving Forwards
So it would appear that if I intend to keep up with the blog I need to take a new approach to what I thought my blogging life would be like. Here is what I am going to try.
First up - I’m going to write about what I feel like writing. I think I could have fallen into the trap of identifying my niche too early and therefore restricted, in my own mind, what I could write about. This is now out of the window. Prepare yourselves for some different content.
Second - I’m going to ignore the boring parts of blogging. SEO, promotion, word & view counts. I find all of this monotonous and although this can help massively in getting seen, what really is the point if it puts me off writing in the first place? Content is King and if I can up my content quality then I think the people will come.
Thirdly - Consistent posting is desirable but is now not a driving factor for my blog. I will post when I feel I have something interesting to contribute.
Fourthly - Enjoy it
Let's add some value to this post
Ironically here is a list of a few things that I have been using recently ✨ Click the headings to take a look.
Arc is a new browser, currently available on Mac and iOS. It takes a new approach to how a browser should work and is an interesting concept. I have been using it for a while and although I haven’t fully committed, it is currently my daily driver.
Is a simple note/writing app which I am currently using to write this blog post on. It’s minimalist, clean and has some great features specifically for writing.
An open-source Notes app and Evernote alternative. There is a free and paid-for option. I haven’t used it yet but I like the fact it is open source and I will see how I get on with it when I do have time to take a look.
We have probably all heard of it by now but I started using it for work to help me with some tricky code I was writing and it proved to be really useful so I thought I should give it a mention.
TextPal brings a Slack-inspired emoji picker to all apps on your Mac. Type \brain in any app and press Return to see 🧠.
I used to use monitor control to get around Mac’s inability to control my external displays volume/brightness. However, that stopped working for me and BetterDisplay not only fixed that issue but also offers much more.
Like Magazines, eBooks & Audiobooks? Download Libby and save yourself a fortune. All you need is a local library card (you can sign up for one in the app for free) to access your local library’s available content.
Cheers Rory
Does it not trouble you that ChatGPT demands a smartphone number in order to sign up for it? Having our landline rendered useless by an overwhelming number of spam/junk calls, I am therefore reluctant to give out my iPhone number. I have been using Google's BARD instead which requires only that I log into my Google account. BTW have an RSS feed to your blog and enjoy reading your posts. Glad to know you plan to continue to post to it from time to time. Also, just signed up to give Arc a shot. All the best.