[koevet]

There is no lack of technical choices when it comes to starting a blog. I can start five blogs in the next 30 minutes, each one on a different platform/infrastructure.

What I do lack is something interesting to write about, in a consistent manner. I have been writing code for a long time. I did build some interesting stuff. I'm currently working on a startup that does use some blog-worthy tech: any attempt ends up with very long essay-shaped posts, which are extremely time-consuming to write and frankly not so interesting.

Any suggestion on how to find a niche and consistently write about it?

[jefftk]

I typically write about things I want to tell people about. Maybe we had an interesting lunchtime conversation, something unusual came up, I'll read about it more and write a post.

Or maybe there's a decision I'm making: I'll write up how I'm thinking about it, where I am so far, and publish that. Often I get good feedback on these posts that makes me think about the problem differently.

I try to notice when I get ideas that would make good posts and write them down. Then, in the evening, I'll sit down, look over the ideas, and see if there's anything I feel like writing about.

[sharcerer]

This might be helpful. https://www.perell.com/blog/my-writing-syllabus

Follow David Perell for writing inspiration. https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1213894632943296516

[zigzaggy]

I also follow Perell and find him inspiring. Writing is a lifelong passion but since a big part of my work is writing, the flame has gone out. These days is all about relighting the fire.

[cloverich]

Start journaling. Just keep a daily log of stuff you do, that you either think is interesting or that you want to reference later. Focus on getting the key points out succintly, writing as you go and then (quickly) editing once you have the problem all worked out. If you do this regularly, you'll get better at producing short and interesting summaries which are great blog topics.

[Ntrails]

[in my opinion] Don't write to be read. Write for you, write because you enjoy the process and the exposition helps you process and crystallise a concept. Write because you are interested and engaged.

[cujo]

But then why blog? Why not just journal in a notebook or on your "notes" app and be done?

[jborichevskiy]

You can definitely do it in a private journal and would likely experience many of the same effects. But putting it online gives other people a chance to learn from it.

[Anthony-G]

If the blog has a commenting feature, it also provides the author with an opportunity to learn from the readers.

[onefuncman]

Absolutely journal privately... then, curate journal entries into blog posts. Information wants to be free.

[Ntrails]

Sometimes because publishing helps people stick to doing it. Sometimes because publishing forces someone to a higher standard of care. Sometimes because the mere possibility of feedback or a connection is worth it. :)

[koonsolo]

My most popular blog post was 'deWiTTERS game loop', which ended up with plenty of links referring to it, including the "game programming patterns" book.

I wrote it because there was nothing else like it.

So if you're researching something, but have to combine various sources and figuring out stuff, because there is no easy blog post, write that easy blog post yourself.

[Matty1992]

Write about yourself and what you know, its probably the most interesting thing you could write about anyway.

I've been preparing articles for my future blog about my interests and struggles (security, beer, books, mental health). Weird mix but theres no doubt that its more interesting than me trying to force myself to write on one of them consistently

[soapdog]

I used to feel such pressure as well because mostly of the current zeigeist that your blog is your platform to market yourself. This adds an enormous pressure for doing quality and interesting post as if you're attempting to publish a paper into a prestigious journal. I'm done with that. These days the main audience for my blog is myself. I like writing and I'm equally prone to write about the coffee I just had and about some clever coding thing.

We all have stories to tell. Treat your blog as a public journal. A place to organize thoughts, share ideas, it doesn't need to be longform in deep stuff. And if you end up doing longform in deep articles, just break them into a series.

[docuru]

What is the purpose of your blog? It heavy depends on this and your target audience.

If you do want to share things that usually end up a long essay, try to make it shorter and easy to understand. It means cut off ideas. Select only general knowledge, so that everyone can understand.

If you follow Medium.com, that’s what happens. Most of popular posts share basic knowledge. And posts with more technical details (some of them are great), often don’t get popular since less people want and understand it.

Also you can start writing random things and share it to learn what interest the audience

[njacobs5074]

I disagree. I think you have something to write about. Your comment shows this perfectly. And I mean that in all seriousness.

Just remember that when you write something, you're making an implicit promise to the reader: I will learn something new by reading your blog.

Keep them bite-sized. If it's more than 1-2 pages, probably worth turning into a series.

[lui8906]

I'm no expert, my recently minted blog has one post (book review). I came to the conclusion writing is more of an exercise for myself than a venture to produce content for others. Maybe you should first think about why you feel the need to write and who your writing is for?

[tenaciousDaniel]

I'm not one to give advice, since I don't have a blog of my own. But I'd assume you want to look for an area where (a) you have a natural interest, and (b) for which there aren't a lot of existing resources online.

[dredmorbius]

What's worked for me:

Find an interesting question.

Investigate it.

See where that leads.

In particular:

- What are the foundations of that question?

- What are the implicit assumptions or beliefs? Are those valid?

- What references or sources are frequently cited or quoted? Are those valid?

- What questions, concepts, or sources are studiously ignored or deprecated? Why? Are those valid or invalid?

- What are the dimensions / what is the internal structure of the question? What are its elements, dynamics, and/or relationships? Where do those lead?

- What are the issues encountered in trying to realise solutions, mitigations, or models of the problem? Working in idea-space is one thing, working in instance-space quite another. ("In theory, the same, in practice, different.")

- What new questions emerge? Rinse, wash, repeat.

My problem isn't that I don't have enough to write about, it's that I've far too much I'd like to address, and am looking for a structure and system that fits this.

If you're not at this stage, simply writing, regularly, is good practice. Things you have to say may not seem to be meaningful, and perhaps never will be. More likely though you'll discover a through-thread in the problems and approaches to those problems you're drawn to, though it may take years or decades to discover this.

Writing is a great way of documenting your sources, discoveries, thought process, and evolution of understanding or approaches. It took me several decades before I'd read my past writing without constantly crigning. I still frequently revise or correct older essays (even years old), and HN's very limited edit window is a constant frustration (as are Mastodon and Diaspora's complete lack of re-editability). Your own git-managed blog provides both for editability and a history of those edits.

I've found the process of exploring writing and research methods (tending strongly toward cross-referenced systems: index cards, Zettelkasten, POIC, Wikis) to be fascinating in its own right. Often to the exclusion of writing itself ;-)

Capabilities of a particular platform also matter. If you're writing-as-marketing (a frequent mode), there's one set of tools which may matter, generally fairly well addressed. If you're writing-as-dialectic, exploring ideas or seeking a better understanding of truth, there are others, less-well supported. I find that comprehensive search, thematic organisation (a very good tagging system), and, if feedback is supported (comments, etc.), an exceptionally effective, efficient, and low-cognitive-overhead moderation system matters a lot, as well as the ability to structure posts sufficiently to the needs of expression. A reasonably robust semantic structure (emphasis, lists, sections, tables, figure/images, footnotes, possibly equations) can really matter, and many solutions support this poorly (or require much wrestling).

Content-appropriate themes and styling also matter, with a narrow band between "not enough" and "too much". Again, many solutions support this poorly.

Finally, there's the ability to move your content elsewhere, when (not if) your current platform becomes inadequate or inappropriate, for whatever reason. Something I've come to discover is inevitable.

Another interesting discovery has been writing on microblogging sites. My preference is Mastodon, though Twitter is similar. I'd realised that Mastodon's default 500 character toot length is roughly the same as an index card, which means I can post in threads of roughly index-card-sized chunks. I know this is somewhat annoying for readers, but as a writer, the immediacy of feedback, at roughly paragraph-level granularity, to elements of a longer essay, is invaluable. There's also the notion of publishing in chunks, and committing yourself to a direction publicly, whilst still composing. Several of my longer "tootstorms" really just started as an aside or observation and grew on me.

A key distinction between writing and conversation is that in a conversation, you get immediate feedback. In writing, you commit yourself to a much longer exposition without having a good idea how your audience will respond. (Even speechwriting or presentations are like this, though in delivery you can adapt to audience response.) Microblogging has at least the possibility of bringing writing closer to the conversational mode, which is interesting.

[unlimit]

I am also on the same boat. I am on my 3rd blog and after writing about 10 or so posts I am not finding anything to write about.