Hi all! With the end of 2020 just a few weeks away, I've started doing my end-of-year reviews.
My questions to you all: how did you do this year with content creation, and what do you plan on doing differently next year?
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Top comments (32)
I joined DEV half-way into this year and been having an awesome experience so far, have been blogging more than ever before. I always struggled with getting content out to people but this platform has enabled me to gain an audience of great like-minded people 😄
I feel like I struggled a bit with consistency, it's easy to get discouraged when consecutive posts don't do as well as expected. Looking to stop stat watching as much and just post more consistently and not overthink it
Sounds like a great approach, Michael! If you're getting a lot out of writing, sharing, and being a part of the community that is definitely something worthwhile that stats and analytics can't capture. All the best in 2021!
I know I covered this on Twitter, but here's an expanded version (but simplified):
Next year, I am going to:
I'm in for a busy year, but I am really loving tech again at the moment, so want to share that going forward.
I love this, Gary. Would absolutely be interested in reading a post from you next year (heh) where you explain your system and how you were able to double your output!
"My blogging process" - That's going in the backlog under "Concept". No, really...it's now in my backlog:
It's a great idea for a blog post
Woo hoo! :)
I have a feeling my struggle throughout the year is going to be getting the topics to blog about.
If I stuck to 1 post a week, I have enough ideas to keep me going until September. Because I am splitting "general" and "GitLab features", then I have enough GitLab ideas to keep me going until June.
Whilst I am sorted with written content for January, scheduling that far in advance also means I have to do a lot of shuffling around if something topical but time-relevant comes up. Something else for me to consider.
I got the dev.to 16-week streak and I guest posted for Exception Not Found. And I wrote about one of my hobbies on Fluent in 3 Months. I can say I'm more conscious about post structure, sentences and tone in general.
That's great! Do you think you'll do anything different next year?
Yes. I would like to come up with a list of topics and be more consistent with the publication day. And, find some paid writing opportunities, I feel more confident with my writing now
Very cool. Wishing you the best of luck next year! :)
I was doing really well in the beginning. I changed jobs in June and completely lost momentum. I don't believe that I've published more than once or twice since then. I DID make sure to have my entire workspace pushed into git between jobs so that I wouldn't lose anything in the move. So there's that.
I hear that! So what's your goal for next year? What do you think you'll do differently to stay on track?
I'm not really sure that I'll be able to do much. My work days are much more busy than they were before. I may be getting a chance to create content AT work, so that could be really cool.
I started blogging this year! Largely thanks to your book on content creation! 🥳 (Thank you so much for writing it, it's been a huge help!)
I have a personal site where I publish blog posts, and then I cross-post them here on DEV. I've written a handful of posts about a bunch of different topics, trying to figure out what content and style I like. I also started a Trello board where I can keep track of my half-finished ideas.
Next year, I want to get better at posting more consistently. I want to get into the habit of writing more regularly, but I'm still trying to figure out a sustainable routine.
That's awesome, Megan! Congratulations!
I started on writing on dev on Nov 1 and got a good following here. Hope to reach big heights next year.
That's great! What do you plan on doing differently next year?
Planned to launch atleast three mobile apps made with react native and firebase. Right now one app is under processed.
And make them into electron desktop apps and website products as well.
Get internships outside India as a react developer.
And a lot more!!!
Very nice. Are you thinking of creating content related to any of these projects? :)
For sure I am gonna make a series on firebase as it is a tremendous tool for frontend developers like me to create a rest api with backend facility.
The series will be called Firebase for react and frontend developers(including react native mobile app developers)
Cheers.
I did pretty good. This year, like many others, I was suddenly unemployed. I leaned into the unknown and tried a lot of new types of content creation to build myself a foundation for the future. Mainly I wanted to get a lot more serious with writing consistently, and I'm happy with what I've accomplished. This week I posted my 16th consecutive weekly post on DEV (hopefully badge soon!).
I plan on writing a reflection on what I plan on doing next year, but the gist of it is to continue refining my voice, along with the process that works for me. Starting out with a specific audience in mind, with a narrow objective has made it a lot easier to write and edit.
I don't plan to post as regularly in 2021 (unless I see DEV offering a 32 week badge?), but the experience helped me with creating my own structure and setting appropriate expectations. I want to publish high quality content (that I enjoy) more often, and that's harder to do without a backlog.
Also opened my eyes to how random content might be what resonates with audiences. And it can happen at any time, so it became important to me to adopt a long-term perspective when self-reflecting.
I'm sorry to hear about the unemployment, T.J., I know from experience that is difficult. But I'm really glad to hear that you were able to devote your time to content. A 16 week streak is nothing to scoff at!
How are you planning on populating your backlog? If I may, I've outlined four ways to source new content ideas that may be helpful in this regard. Best of luck with 2021!
From a blogging perspective I found the perfect formula for myself a few years ago, the name of my blog explains it all: 1 Thing A Week! 😊
This year I started to test it more like a blog rather than a magazine type format which meant I had content I could cross-post here. That actually led to a few DEV originals which was a nice surprise.
I also executed on a plan that was 10 years in the making! I’ve always enjoyed browsing website galleries but find they’re bloated. It too a few weeks to flesh out but I finally started and finished a gallery that focused on sites that are fast and responsive. I’ve really enjoyed curating it and cross-posting it to Instagram.
I relaunched my portfolio this year and I realised how much content I’d created over the past few years. In around 7 months my gallery is now responsible for around 15% of the content I’ve created these past 3 years.
Easier said than done, but finding the formula that works for you is worth the time. I’ve really found it to be quite exciting to put my thoughts out there and share them with the world.
Congrats, Charanjit! This sounds amazing. :)
I'm trying to start a habit, by writing a minimum of 100 words a day. I'm using open accountability and a Twitter thread to keep me honest. Currently on day 44. Some days are better than others, but it seems to be working so far. I'm publishing 4 articles this week in various blogs.
That's great, Alex. :) I like the 100 word minimum; for years I did something similar to this — I'd write minimum 2 pages per day in my journal (an idea from the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron). It helped me remain consistent. And congrats on the 4 articles!
It is my first year and was kind of good "I created my first programming course" :)
That's really impressive! What was it like to create the course? Do you think you'll do something similar next year?
It was awesome and kind of tiring to be honset. And yeah I am planning to make 6 courses the next year!! :)