A Year in Blogging
Cake is an important part of my writing process
I began 2025 with a fairly strong writing streak, publishing posts about games, technology and even air fryers. Sadly, this burst of enthusiasm gradually tailed off between April and June. I can’t even recollect if there was any particular “real world” reason for this or whether it was just a case of I wasn’t especially motivated. Fortunately, I started writing again in July in preparation for Blaugust: Festival of Blogging and subsequently wrote throughout the entirety of August. Revamping my blog in September and moving it to the latest version of Squarespace proved a positive move and since then I have kept up a writing schedule of posting to Contains Moderate Peril every second day. At present I have a lot of draft posts pending and I am not struggling to come up with ideas and write in general. I intend to nurture this positive approach and see if I can build upon it in 2026.
I have been part of a wider, informal blogging community for fifteen years. During that time a lot of people have come and gone. However, a core group of habitual writers still regularly post their thoughts. Something that I find immensely reassuring. Although I only know them through their writing, exchanging comments on each other’s blogs and conversations on social media, I am immensely fond of our community. I actually gain creative strength through reading their work, their comments online and their general good nature and amiable disposition. Although we’re quite an eclectic bunch from various parts of the world, we all have a common interest in sharing our thoughts online, along with our bemusement of the current state of the world. I feel I should make some sort of Bilbo Baggins quote here about liking people. I’m sure you get the point.
As I mentioned earlier, this year’s Blaugust: Festival of Blogging was very well attended and I discovered a lot of new bloggers. I have hundreds of active blogs in my feed reader and I find it very encouraging that so many are still writing online, rather than using other mediums. I was also reminded this year that things change and that there isn’t a “one size fits all” approach to writing online. Hence I feel I should be fully supportive of microblogs, or those who choose not to have comments on their posts. The important fact is that they’re writing and sharing with the wider community. Also let us not forget that bloggers are people and behind the text there are folk dealing with the day-to-day bullshit of real life and that sometimes life is hard and unkind. Hence a kind word and some human empathy is important. Unless it’s Colin. He can go piss up a rope.
With 2026 fast approaching, I fully intend to keep writing and maintaining a fairly regular schedule of content for Contains Moderate Peril. I’m not sure what the Chinese bots that regularly scrape the site make of my musings but I thought I’d give them a mention, as they are the lionshare of my audience growth this year. As for this year’s ambition of increasing traffic and building a wider audience, it hasn’t been a total failure. Overall there’s been a 16% increase in visitors, which upon mature reflection and sober consideration, is better than a 16% decline. I also have a couple of projects on the go at present that I’m hoping to launch in the New Year. However, it is pertinent to remember that quote about the plans of mice and men. In the meantime, to all my fellow bloggers I would like to say thanks for all the interesting posts in 2025. Keep writing.
Roger Edwards