Matthew Lang

My first bike. A Kona Fire Mountain. I think it was the 1995 edition of the bike. Gold P2 forks with a dark green frame, cantilever brakes and of course a quill style stem. Those were the days. When mountain biking was still young. When bikes were all built to similar sizes and specs. It was like this for years.

Then innovation trickled through the industry in small, slow waves. Quill stems were gradually replaced with the new headsets. Cantilever brakes were slowly replaced by V-brakes and then after that disc brakes became the standard way of scrubbing down your speed on the trails. Rigid forks were replaced with suspension forks to allow for more comfort for the rider.

One component remained constant through all these innovative changes though. The 26" wheel. Since the first mountain bikes sold to the public, up until now, 26" wheels have been the standard wheel size for mountain bikes and its many disciplines. Cross country racing, downhill racing, trail riding, 4X, trials and street riding. Different disciplines and different types of riding, but they all used the same wheel size.

Then it started. The fragmentation as I like to call it. It started with a new bigger wheel size. The 29" wheel. The arguments for a bigger wheel were good. A bigger wheel would roll better over obstacles, the contact point where the wheel meets the ground is greater so there is more traction and you lose momentum slower than you would with a smaller wheel.

The downside? It's too big for your current frame and therefore you need a new frame and a new fork.

Then the 27.5" wheel came along. The old standard wheel size is too small and the 29" wheel is too big. Let's make a wheel that fits exactly in between they said. The benefits of a bigger wheel than the old standard 26" but without the much added weight of a 29".

Now, I'm not sure on the facts of this, but I have heard of riders who have in fact managed to fit 27.5" wheels onto a mountain bike frame with just a marginal change in the geometry of the frame, but if you're going to ride 27.5" wheels then I would at least think that I would only ride them on a frame that is designed to take them.

Wheels sizes are now forcing bike companies to assess what wheels they will pair with the bikes in their range. Already we're seeing bike companies with different wheel sizes in their range. You don't get the option of simply picking your preferred bike and wheel size. Certain models in the range will be tied to one of the three 'standard' wheel sizes.

And that's where I think it's sad for the mountain bike industry. Gone are the days where you can gradually over time upgrade your bike with better components as you know your bike is designed with sizes that almost every other bike uses.

Once you buy a bike that's designed for that one wheel size, you're basically stuck with the size for that particular bike. There will still be plenty of choice in components such as suspension forks, tyres and rims for those opting for one of the new wheel sizes, but nothing like the choice we had before.

I'm all for innovation and change. I'm a programmer for crying out loud. Most of my job is dealing with change and moving applications forward to use new platforms and software, but part of me wants to see a standard wheel size back for mountain bikes. I don't care what size it is, just a size that I know is going to allow me to upgrade my bike for longer.

Still though, part of me wants the 'one size fits all' wheel for mountain bikes.

James Shelley has some great thoughts on private correspondence.

In this age that champions transparency, this confession may at first be scandalous: if you ask me a question on a public forum and then again during a private coffee date, you may very well receive two different answers from me. Not necessarily contradictory answers, but different answers just the same.

— Private Correspondence by James Shelley

via FGGT

In the past I've tried to read two books every month. One fiction, one non-fiction. In the last couple of years though I have rarely been able to do this. Ultimately, I don't have that much free time to read, so instead I'm reducing my expectations and setting myself a goal of just one book a month. Here's my proposed reading list for the next six months:

• Frictionless Freelancing - It's been a hectic six months and I'm glad I made the jump to freelancing, but there's still so much more that I need to learn about.
• Pragmatic Thinking and Learning - I've had this on my list of books to read for years. Thought it was definitely time to purchase it.
• Crafting Rails 4 Applications - Rails 4 has been released. No time like the present to get myself up to speed.
• The Mauritius Command - I'm currently halfway through book 3 of the Aubrey/Maturin series and I'm really enjoying it. Can't wait to start this.
• War of the Roses - Stormbird - Conn Igggulden's Emperor and Conqueror series are some of favourite books of all time. If the quality of them are anything to go by then Stormbird will be another cracking read.
• The Second World War - Ever since I was kid, I have been fascinated by the Second World War. The planes, the tactics and the politics behind the countries involved. I've heard so many good reviews of this book I had to add it to my list.

Here is this years list of tools that help me on a day to day basis in my role as a web developer. There are other tools I use throughout the day for social networking and other things, but I've purposefully left these off the list, as I don't deem them necessary in helping me do my job.

Hardware

My hardware selection is very minimalistic, at least I think it is. I've read about various setups from other developers that include multiple machines and usually more than two monitors. I stick with the view that I need only one machine and that I need it to powerful enough to build web applications but also portable enough that I can carry it with me.

• MacBook Pro - I previously owned a black MacBook that I have used as my main development machine for over 4 years, but owing to it's lack of expandable memory and that it won't upgrade OS X to anything beyond Lion, I decided that I needed something new. At the start of the year I plumped for a new MacBook Pro and I've been amazed at the capabilities of it as my main development machine. Also the Retina display is rather purdy.
• Mighty Mouse - Still trying to get my head round the gestures for this, but needless to say, it's a very comfortable mouse to use.
• Apple Keyboard - I've had this keyboard for a number of years now but I'm starting to find it a tad small to use. It's the actual size of the keys I find too small.
• Asus Monitor - Just a 24" external monitor. Nothing fancy.
• External Hard Drive - At the moment I have a Seagate 250MB external hard drive. It's sole use is for my Time Machine backups.

Hardware nice to haves

These have been on the nice to haves list for a while but I think I'll consider at least one of these as a purchase before the end of the year.

• A NAS - To help with the day to day grind I have a massive iTunes library that I code to, however it is taking a lot of space on MacBook. I would love to have extra storage at home that I connect to easily and just pick my music and photos from it.
• A better keyboard - Not sure what I am looking for in terms of a keyboard, but one definite criteria I have is that it is slightly bigger than the standard wireless Apple keyboard.

Software

This is the software that I use every day. These are the essential applications I need to work. If I had nothing else in terms of software, then these applications would be all I would need.

• Mail - Newsflash, well at least for me it is. Mail, the default email client with OS X, is actually a great email client. I previously used the Gmail web client for email but since going Google free, I've been surprised by how much I enjoy using Mail.
• Firefox - An open source browser that is gradually making improvements in performance, but it's mostly because it's open source software that I like using Firefox.
• iTerm2 - This is my preferred terminal emulator as it provides more functionality over the terminal emulator provided with OS X. One particular nice feature is the splitting of terminal windows into panes.
• Sublime Text 3 - I've used Sublime Text 2 for a couple of years and I immediately jumped to the next release when it was available.
• Dropbox - I keep everything in Dropbox. I probably don't need to. Over the last few weeks though it's fallen into my "Do I need this service?" category of thoughts. I'll be assessing Dropbox closely over the next few weeks.
• Skype - Everyone has Skype so it makes sense to use it for calls with clients. Very handy as well for group calls.
• 1Password - Who wants to remember all their passwords or write them down or make them the same for all your logins and sites? Not me, but I still can't believe it took me to this year to start using 1Password.

While I do use the following software every day, these are more like nice to haves rather than essential. Still, they make me more productive every day, so I'm glad I have them.

• Alfred - A very nice replacement for the default Spotlight application launcher. Also I've started to see the power behind extending Alfred to do custom searches on things like my Pinboard bookmarks.
• Fantastical - A little application that sits in my menu bar and allows me to update my calendar easily. The great thing about Fantastical is that I can quickly add meetings and deadlines to my work calendar.
• RSS Notifier - I use Feedbin for following blogs, but for service updates from Amazon and Heroku, I use this application.
• Divvy - Great little application for managing your windows. I have a few shortcut keys setup to resize my windows accordingly.
• MultiMon - Divvy doesn't let me move windows from my MacBook to my external monitor which is where MultiMon comes in. Great little application.
• Broom - Diskspace is a premium at the moment, so while I am reviewing different external storage options I have Broom to let me know when folders get too big.

The Web

A web developer's playground. Just a small selection of the many services and products that I use online.

• DuckDuckGo - I'm still sticking with this as my preferred search engine. Yes it does lack the comprehensive results that Google has, but I'm finding that if I don't find anything on the first page of results with DuckDuckGo, then I do have ready to roll searches for StackOverflow.
• Github - My preferred source code management tool. Nothing to fault here. Easy to manage repositories and plenty of collaboration tools for both private and public projects.
• Heroku - I've worked with the Heroku platform for over three years now and I love its simplicity. Might be more pricier than other options but that's the trade off when you don't want the hassle of being a sys admin.
• LinkedIn - I closed my LinkedIn account a couple of years ago only to find that I actually needed it at the start of the year to get myself marketed as a freelancer. Jury is still out on it's usefulness but I am trying to make more use of it on a daily basis.
• FreeAgent (Referral link) - I've only been using FreeAgent for six months now but it's already paying for itself in terms of usefulness. Having your accounts in order as an independent contractor is a necessary evil, but the FreeAgent application does such a great of job making mananging my income simple.
• Instapaper - Reading development articles is part of development life if you want to stay up to date on the ever changing Internet.
• Pinboard - You never know when you are going to need that article on nested resources on Rails or that article on implementing 'Remember Me' functionality in Sinatra. Good job I keep a nice archive of the articles I read and find useful with Pinboard.
• Feedbin - My new RSS reader of choice. Check out a more complete review by myself here.
• Gauges - Another service that I picked in the move away from Google. Okay it doesn't have the number of different metrics that Google Analytics has, but it provides all the information I need in a simple and easy to read interface.

Backups

One backup is good, two is better. I've been lucky so far, but I think I need to beef up my backup strategy.

• Time Machine - It would be sort of crazy not to use Time Machine if you own a Mac. Background backups without the fuss. Still, it shouldn't be your only form of backup.
• Dropbox - Which brings me to Dropbox again. I keep backups of a few folders in Dropbox so that if the worse was to happen with my MacBook Pro, I could be at least up and running on another machine regardless of which operating system it is.

There was more to this list but I had to limit it to just my essential tools. If I included all the extensions, addons, plugins and other tools I used, this post would just be too long to read. I wanted to just give an overview of a typical set of tools that web developers use.

I wanted to share my apps setup on my iPhone for two reasons. Firstly, I wanted to see if any one had similar setups on their devices and secondly, it's something worth writing about.

So how do I have my iPhone setup?

Right from the first day I got my iPhone I had my own specific setup in mind. The setup I'm describing is very similar to the setup I had on my previous Android phone. The first screen, the home screen, on my iPhone is limited to apps I use on a daily basis.

For a long time now I've stuck to the same types of apps on my home screen with just a few changes to the actual apps in the last six months. Here's what's on my home screen just now.

• Fantastical - I started using this a few months ago, was previously Google Calendar synced to Calendar app.
• TaskPaper - I've tried Wunderlist, TodoList, Things and others. I keep coming back to TaskPaper due to it's easy to use UI and use of a flat text file for my lists.
• Reeder - I started using within the last month, I was previously using Feedly synced to Google Reader.
• Path - I've had this on my phone since day one.
• Forecast - Started using this year.
• Felix - Started using this year, I was previously using Wedge but Felix has really came on in the last six months.
• Instapaper - I've had this on my phone since day one.
• Pop - Started using this year at the recommendation of Patrick Rhone. It's really handy as just a scratchpad or dumping ground for thoughts and ideas.

These are the apps that I use every day. I purposely keep this screen limited to just eight apps as it leaves some screen space so that I can see my wallpaper if it's a nice photo.

On the second screen is the rest of the apps that I use but instead they are categorised into folders.

I initially had these folders grouped by the verb that describes the action of each app after reading about the idea on Gina Trapani's Smarterware blog, but grouping them by a verb was difficult for some of the apps. Instead I just a name them to something that makes sense to me.

• Schedule - Scheduling and timekeeping tools.
• Network - All my App.net apps. It's the only social network I actively take part in now.
• Words - Writing and reading apps.
• Bytes - Apps for services that I use online like Trello, Github and Pinboard.
• Photos - Camera apps and photo albums.
• Listen - iTunes, Instacast and other apps related to consuming visual and audio media.
• Shop - Finance related apps.
• Setup - Setup and connectivity apps.
• Games - Handy when we're out and about and I need my oldest to sit at piece for a few minutes.
• Travel - Hardly used.

I've tried in the past to limit myself to eight folders on this screen however it just wasn't possible. I have enabled most of the notifications on this screen as a reminder that I have things that need to be done or reviewed. I very rarely switch to this screen unless I have a notification for one of these apps. Bookstand is also sitting on this screen awaiting the release of iOS 7 when I can finally put it in a folder.

I've had this setup on my phone for some time now, and I'm very unlikely to change it. I'm quite selective with my apps and I tend to stick to one app for one type of function. The only exception to this is the number of writing tools I have on my phone. I've had PlainText and Pop installed for some time, but I have been trying out Drafts recently.

Michael Wade is a management consultant currently based in Arizona and has been blogging since 2005. I found Michael's blog, Execupundit, through Nicholas Bate's blog and ever since I subscribed, I've been hooked on Michael's views on management, the workplace and life.

I'm always envious of bloggers like Michael who continually turn out not only excellent posts, but posts that make you question yourself and your work. Michael's posts take the form of random thoughts, quotes, links to other blogs, link posts and topical news.

Michael's blog isn't just for those in the levels of manangement though, it's for everyone. Michael is one of my blogs for recommended daily reading.

... is the best hour to write for Curtis. Maybe it is for you too?

... with nothing more than a sheet of paper and the guidance of Steven Pressfield.

Okay it's not a fixie, but I'm really looking forward to heading over to YNOT Cycle HQ to purchase one of the their fine messenger bags in the next few weeks.

via PedalConsumption

Carl Holscher recently wrote about the sharing culture in social media and his preference for remaining private in some of the services he uses.

Yesterday I signed up to the habit tracking service Lift on the recommendation of Curtis McHale. Lift at the moment say they have no settings to keep your profile private, however they do have a setting there to say that you are interested in such a feature.

Habit tracking is definitely something I'm interested in but this is something I would like to remain private in the long term. While I'm only in the initial phase of evaluating this product, I'm prepared to put up with a public profile for the moment. I don't wish to share on Lift mainly due to the reason that I don't know that many people using it and if I wanted to share, it would be with people I know.

And that sums up my rule really for sharing. If I'm a user of a product or service that involves such actions, I'll restrict my account settings so that I remain private or as private as I can be. If there's a number of people I know on that service, then I'll be a bit more public.

I like sharing, but I prefer my daily interactions such as habit tracking to remain private or only to be shared with people I know. So how do you know people without ever actually meeting then? That's another blog post for another day.

Markdown has pretty much been my default markup language for the last few years. All my writing is done using Markdown as well as my journal, notes and other forms of textual data. Although using Markdown for writing is easy now that I know the syntax very well, I still need good tools around me to make the most of Markdown.

I live in my browser on an almost daily basis so I have started accumulating a number of bookmarklets that help me when it comes to using Markdown

Marky the Markdownifier

This is a bookmarklet that converts the current page you're viewing to Markdown. If you're like me and use Markdown for all your documents, then this is really handy. There's also a number of other bookmarklets from Markdownifier that provide different results.

Markdown Link Bookmarklet

Crafting Markdown links from urls is something I do a handful of times everyday. It makes senses then that I automate this little chore.

Jason Seney has a great little bookmarklet that once clicked, converts the current url and title to a Markdown link for you and pops it up in a modal box for you to copy it from.

Kiwi Bookmarklet

Although I use my browser for a lot of day to day work, I use a dedicated client called Kiwi for posting to App.net. The nice thing about Kiwi is that it now supports Markdown style links when you are writing your posts.

Much like the my previous bookmarklet, this one creates a Markdown link for a new App.net post in Kiwi. If you select any text on the page then it will also use that for your link.

This is by no means a finished list. There are probably lots of others addons and extensions and for browsers out there, but I like bookmarklets due to their flexible nature in being able to run on different browsers.

Yesterday I was working on a new feature for a client when I ran into an issue. The ActiveRecord model I was working with had a number of constraints on the table that prevented me from creating a record. I removed the constraints from the table, as I decided that in this case they were unecessary. Unfortunately decisions like this aren't always as straight forward.

I tend to avoid using constraints when possible in my applications, especially when I am using Rails. I can rely on validations and associations to act as 'soft constraints' to my data and ensure that my data is valid. These are also backed up with tests for each model and its validations and associations to other models. This is by no means a perfect solution, but it has sufficed in the past.

Now, a lot of developers might think that constraints are not required as ActiveRecord provides all the necessary plumbing for validating and joining tables together with relationships. That's fair to say if your application is thoroughly tested and doesn't house critical information, but we all want to be good developers so really we should be using constraints where required.

In the past I've worked on a number of healthcare systems that required certain fields to be populated in specific tables. Domains that are directed by rules and regulations on what data you should persist are a great place to use database constraints. Enforcing the data integrity rules on your database reduces the risk for having missing information that could potentially land you in trouble. Domains such as healthcare, law and even education are all examples of domains where by database constraints could be needed.

Applications that also share their data are another good case for database constraints. While you do have validations and associations for your Rails application, can you make the same assumptions about other applications that can access your data? Using database constraints here can ensure that your data remains valid.

In Rails it's all too easy to assume your database is simply a place to hold data, but your database can provide extra validations and checks when needed. I tend to favour not using database constraints until a feature or bug requires that I absolutely need one in place. I find it's much easier to work with code that isn't restricted by countless constraints that have been placed on a table from the start merely because the developer at the time thought that field 'x' was a required field and should have a constraint on it.

It's been six months since I started working as a freelance web developer. In this time I worked harder than I've ever previously worked. And that's a great thing. I'm actually enjoying the work that I do. This wasn't always the case. As a seasoned cubicle worker and a developer in a number of small companies, adjusting to working independently was difficult, but the transition has been worth it. A couple of things have really stood out for me in the last six months.

I'm enjoying coding again

Now that I am using Ruby and Rails on a full-time basis, I've never enjoyed programming so much. Most of my time is spent working on traditional Rails applications. I practice behaviour driven development using Cucumber and RSpec for these applications. In the past I've had limited exposure to Cucumber and RSpec, but the last six months have really seen me gain the experience I needed to cement my knowledge on these tools.

With this new found love for coding, I'm also much more invested in staying as a freelance web developer for as long as possible. To do this, I've been re-reading books like The Passionate Programmer and other books aimed at the Ruby programming language.

I have flexibility

Working from home does require discipline, but there's also the added bonus of being more flexible. I still do a typical day from nine to five, but I've found that without a commute to do I can use that time for other things.

One added bonus is that I can walk my oldest son to school or in the better weather cycle to school with him. It's only a minor thing, but starting the day with a walk (or cycle) to clear your head is better than having to make a daily commute to a remote office.

I'll be making another freelance update in six months (hopefully) with a view to discussing my finances, goals for the next 12 months and looking at side income. Here's to another six months!

Keeping up with posts on a daily basis is becoming a little more work than I anticipated. Previously I would try to write a couple of blogs every couple of days and then maybe a couple at the weekend.

In the last two months though this plan have suffered. Scheduling time in during the day is quite difficult with the the day starting early with a school run and then I need to hit client work as soon as I get back home. At the end of the day it is time to get the kids their dinner, have a play with them and then get them ready for bath and bed. By the time that's done and everything is ready for the next day, it's nearly 9pm and the thought of sitting at the computer is just not that appealing.

I need a plan of sorts. Simply picking off ideas for writing every couple of days is becoming difficult. I have enough ideas, I just need a plan to get them written.

Here's what I'm thinking. I should schedule what I am going to publish in my calendar and then work towards writing the articles that are due to published in the coming week.

One benefit of this is that deciding what to write about is taken out of my hands at an early date. I'm planning on scheduling blog posts at least a month ahead. The second benefit is that I can start writing posts even if they are not due to be published for a week or two.

I'm tired of deciding what to write about not the actual writing itself. So I need to schedule ahead and take that decision out my hands at an early stage. Time will tell if this idea for a publishing calendar pays off or not.

... and Steven Pressfield knows it.

The person who is going to change is going to change anyway. She has no choice. She is impelled by inner necessity. While the person who is not going to change is not going to change no matter how many seminars or retreats she attends or how much money she pays to those who promise to help her make the change.

— How hard is it to turn pro? by Steven Pressfield

I really regret not having more time to spend here when I first visited. I'll be sure not to make that mistake again.

via Mme Scherzo

via PedalConsumption

Alex Kessinger has compiled all his blog posts on the future of feed readers into one handy little book. The full document is here but there's also downloads in the form of a PDF and a Kindle book.

It's great that Alex has done this as feed readers really are an underappreciated tool. I'm actually glad to see that Google's Reader platform being turned off. It's opened the market for more feed readers that each have their own thing to offer.

With Google Reader going soon, people have been looking for a replacement RSS Reader. Fortunately for me I decided look for an alternative a few weeks ago when I wanted to go Google free. I looked at a number of different options for an alternative RSS reader at the time, but Feedbin really stood out for me.

It's a paid product. Not free. That's important for me because I want to use the product in the long term. Supporting this product by paying money to use it is just common sense. Free products can come and go but investing your money in a product provides some sense of insurance that it will be around longer. This is by no means a guarantee that Feedbin will be around forever. An annual Feedbin subscription is just $20 per year.

As an RSS reader, Feedbin does everything you expect a reader to do. You can subscribe to feeds using the textbox at the top of the screen. Underneath this are three panes. The far left is your list of feeds or folders of feeds if you like to be organised.

The next pane is the items in that RSS feed or folder. You can navigate these easily with the mouse or with keyboard shortcuts.

Finally the far right pane is the current item you are viewing or the reading pane.

Keyboard shortcuts can be used to move about between feeds, folders and items. From what I remember most of the shortcuts are similar to Google Reader so those migrating from Google Reader should be able to pick up the new shortcuts quite fast. As an ex-Reader user, I find it easy to navigate about Feedbin.

Feedbin also has support for sharing to an extensive range of services. You can share items to many services like Instapaper, Pocket and Evernote. This is done through the use of URLs that many services provide. Feedbin provides tokens that can be used within these URLs so that you can include the entry title, url and feed name within the URL to the service you wish to share to. I love this feature as it simple to customize what you're sharing. Some people may not like that it's not truly integrated with other services and instead relies on just URLs to share to other services, but given the number of services Feedbin can share to, I can wait for better integration.

Finally there's iOS support. The Reeder app is the best way to view your Feedbin feeds on your iPhone. Unfortunately at the moment there is no Reeder support for Feedbin on the iPad or OSX, however Reeder development will resume at the start of July and hopefully we'll see more Reeder support coming.

It's an interesting time for RSS readers. Many people are turning to Feedly as a replacement for Google Reader, but I just didn't like the Feedly interface or the it's iOS applications. In the time that I have used Feedbin I've had no reason to complain about the service. Aside from the unread counts being a little out on some feeds Feedbin really is a great little RSS reader. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Feedbin.

Update: Shortly after this review was written, Feedbin was moved to much faster servers. Performance of Feedbin on the previous hardware wasn't much of an issue for me but I did read about others complaining of speed and response time. On the new setup though Feedbin is definitely faster than it was previously.

This is the hardcore hardtail of the big wheel world. I don't know if I'm convinced that bigger wheels are better for mountain biking, but I'd be prepared to give it a try with a frame like the Bigwig.

via Ragley Bikes

While going through my Dropbox, I came across a number of programming ebooks that I have yet to start reading. Shocking I know. I mean, who buys books and then doesn't read them?

At the time I thought the book was a necessary purchase but after buying it, I simply forgot that it was there. Over the months it seems I have built up quite a collection of unread programming ebooks.

I never had this problem with a book. You buy it, you read it. You read it because the book takes up physical space in your surroundings and therefore you are continually reminded that the book is there to be read. Most of the time I would place my book beside my bed. It's the one time of the day where I can get a quiet half hour to read. Every night the book is there as a reminder that the book needs to be read.

Wat about ebooks though? They're there somewhere in your room, you just have to look for them. And that's my problem with them. Out of sight, out of mind. There's no reminder in my space that I have a book to read. I have a Kindle yes, but there is at least eight books on there that I haven't read, but by looking at my Kindle from across the room, I just can't know that there is eight books on it that I have yet to read.

So what's the answer? Being accountable for the books you read and publish your reading list for others to see? Perhaps. Maybe people can give you a poke when you haven't updated the reading list for a while?

It's worth a try. I'll do anything to try and get my money's worth from my unread programming books.

I get asked this quite a lot. "Why do you do it?" people ask. Here's just a few reasons why I blog.

I Have Ownership

My blog is my own. My little space of the internet. Okay, so I don't own the hosting server that my blog runs on, but the text, images, links and videos are all carefully crafted or curated by myself to form a timeline of my thoughts, likes and dislikes. And I own that little timeline. I don't need to ask permission from a third party to get that timeline back. It's sitting on my MacBook Pro at home as a series of little Markdown files, that when passed through a program, form the lovely little timeline that is my blog.

A Network Tool

My blog isn't just for me though, it's for you. It's for everyone if they're interested. To reach a wider audience though, it helps if you have a network of other bloggers to rely on. This is something that I was late to realize when I started blogging. The power of a network. I wouldn't say I was part of a formal network like Svbtl or Medium but I do have a circle of fellow bloggers who link to my blog frequently.

Every once in a while a fellow blogger in my network will like my post and link to it from their blog. In return I too will link to blogs of those in my network. There isn't a "tit for tat" rule though. This is simply sharing content that we like and recommend. Over the last couple of years I've built up a nice network of fellow bloggers who not only have interesting blogs to read, but also find my own content interesting.

No Restriction

Take a look at any social networking tool and you'll find restrictions that limit the content that you can publish. Post length, media type and reach are all restrictions that will prevent your post from reaching the world. No fear of that with a blog.

• Your content doesn't need to be finely worded so that it adhere's to the 140 character limit that's imposed on you.
• Your content is easily accessible to the world. Nobody needs to sign up to read your content.
• Depending on your choice of blogging platform, your content is free to move anywhere you want it to. No requesting of data from a third party just so that you can move your blog to another host.

Writing Practice

For me though the main attraction to blogging is the practice of writing. I love writing and using my blog as a way to practice writing is time well invested in my eyes.

Sitting down to write a novel is a serious long-term commitment, but a blog allows you to work using a smaller commitments. You can write something about 500 words in length, then edit it until you're happy with it and publish it for the world to see. My blog gives me this chance to practice my writing.

So that's why I blog. What's your reasons for blogging and what motivates you?

...blue or gray?

In this age of always on firehose content, it can be too easy to simply read something and forget to retain any meaning from what you have read and use it.

Maybe you just shared an article about the importance of open communication, but then disregarded comments from someone who tried to bring up a problem with you. Regardless of what it is, you’re wasting your time with all your reading if you don’t use it to drive action.

— Do you really read? by Jason Evanish

I'll definitely be making more of a point in the future to review more of what I read online.