June Blogging in Review

I don’t want to get too meta, so I’ll keep this pretty short.

Back in April I decided that June would be a month of blogging every single day. My plan was to write a series, then spend May writing, and finally, in June, post them.

That did NOT happen. While I had ideas for a couple series, I just couldn’t pull them together like I wanted, so I ended up winging it every day! I did cheat a bit and I counted my normal weekly Interesting Links post, even though when I first conceived the idea, I planned on those posts being “extra.”

Anyway, I think “winging it” worked out pretty well. I’ll be transparent though-most of them were written after 7pm on the day they were “due.” I would sit down at my desk first thing in the morning knowing I had to get something done, but it wasn’t until after work and after dinner when I was able to sit down and really focus. Some days the writing came easy, other’s it was a struggle to come up with something.

Most nights, I would sit at my desk with my new M3 MBP on my lap, my back turned to my desk, my feet up, with headphones on and music playing. Other times I would sit at my desk, looking at my “old” MBP, still with the headphones on, and I’d surf or chat with friends until I thought of something. Sometimes I’d look over the top of my monitors at my bookshelves, looking for inspiration. I’d look at the Trello board I have set up for my blog where I’ve collected ideas for a couple years.

By the way, the description I use for most of my posts is modeled on the way episodes were named for the sitcom Friends.

Here are the posts:

Date	Title	Notes
June 1	Failure	The one where I discuss my thoughts on failure.
June 2	Revisiting old code (and more)	The one where I revisit some things I found on old backup CDs.
June 3	ILOTW 2024-23	Interesting Links from the previous week.
June 3	ILOTW: The Best from 2024-23	I do a deeper dive into my favorites from the week. This is for Medium subscribers only.
June 4	The information we have at the time	The one where I talk about decisions.
June 5	From the code archives: Delphi and figuring out who I am	The one about some Delphi code I wrote back in the day.
June 6	How much are you willing to put up with?	My thoughts on tolerating things in our lives.
June 7	Don’t get upset; do this instead!	The one where I talk about a great tactic for when things are getting under my skin.
June 8	Memories (and lessons) in a manilla folder	The one where I go through some memories and relearn a great lesson.
June 9	Career flashback: A Huge WTF and Making Things Better	The one where I talk about my efforts to make a chaotic environment better.
June 10	ILOTW 2024-24	Interesting Links from the previous week
June 10	ILOTW: The Best from 2024-24	I do a deeper dive into my favorites from the week. This is for Medium subscribers only.
June 11	Blog throwback: How did you get started in software development?	The one where I talk about how I got started in software development!
June 12	Blog throwback: When the going gets tough, or how to improve your life as a developer	The one where I revisit some advice I gave back in 2008.
June 13	TIL 22: How to Count Words in Powershell	The one where I learned how to count words in a file using Powershell.
June 14	Surround yourself with amazing people	The one where I talk about surrounding yourself with amazing people.
June 15	The Six Books You Should Read in the Second Half of 2024	The one where I ramble on about some books you should read.
June 16	Be Happy	The one where I talk about the importance of being happy.
June 17	ILOTW 2024-25	Interesting Links from the previous week.
June 17	ILOTW: The Best from 2024-25	I do a deeper dive into my favorites from the week. This is for Medium subscribers only.
June 18	The Joy of Reading	The one where I talk about the importance of reading.
June 19	Career Flashback: One Gig, High WTF Count	The one where I talk about one of my earliest gigs as a consultant / contractor.
June 20	Want to reduce stress and be happier? Do these 5 things.	The one where I talk about how to reduce stress and be happier.
June 21	Busting common leadership myths, part 1: You definitely don’t need this to lead	The one where I bust a common myth about leadership.
June 22	What’s your biggest career accomplishment?	The one where I talk about my biggest career accomplishment.
June 23	Career flashback: Small companies are small	The one where I talk about a small company I worked for back in the day.
June 24	ILOTW 2024-26	Interesting Links from the previous week.
June 25	ILOTW: The Best from 2024-26	I do a deeper dive into my favorites from the week. This is for Medium subscribers only.
June 25	Stir Trek 2024: My Leadership Journey	The one with the video from my session at Stir Trek 2024.
June 26	Always Be Learning	The one where I talk about the importance of learning, along with some ways I learn every day.
June 27	My 5 favorite ways of keeping the technical axe sharp	The one where I talk about keeping my tech skills sharp.
June 28	Question: What’s one thing you really enjoyed at a previous job?	The one where I talk about things I’ve enjoyed at previous jobs.
June 29	Summer Learning Plan 2024	The one where I talk about my learning plan for the summer of 2024.
June 30	This post	The one where I talk about my goal for blogging every day in June.

So, there it is, 30 days of blogging. This exercise taught me a lot, and I’ll probably continue to blog daily for as long as I can. What I really want to do is build a buffer of at least a week. I have lots of topics, and I still want to tackle a series focused on one topic, so we’ll see how it goes!

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