I’m not saying that this is a trend (the sample size is far too small to draw any general conclusions), but I’ve noticed some people make a gratifying return to publishing on their own websites.
Phil Coffman writes about being home again:
I wasn’t short on ideas or thoughts, but I had no real place to express them outside of Twitter.
I struggled to express my convictions on design and felt stifled in my desire to share my interests like I once had. I needed an online home again. And this is it.
Tim Kadlec echoes the importance of writing:
Someone recently emailed me asking for what advice I would give to someone new to web development. My answer was to get a blog and write. Write about everything. It doesn’t have to be some revolutionary technique or idea. It doesn’t matter if someone else has already talked aobut it. It doesn’t matter if you might be wrong—there are plenty of posts I look back on now and cringe. You don’t have to be a so called “expert”—if that sort of label even applies anymore to an industry that moves so rapidly. You don’t even have to be a good writer!
Writer Neil Gaiman is taking a hiatus from Twitter, but not from blogging:
I’m planning a social media sabbatical for the first 6 months … It’s about writing more and talking to the world less. It’s time. I plan to blog here MUCH more, as a way of warming up my fingers and my mind, and as a way of getting important information out into the world. I’m planning to be on Tumblr and Twitter and Facebook MUCH less.
If you are used to hanging out with me on Tumblr or Twitter or Facebook, you are very welcome here. Same me, only with more than 140 characters. It’ll be fun.
Joschi has been making websites for 14 years, and just started writing on his own website, kicking things off with an epic post:
I know that there will be a lot of work left when I’m going to publish this tomorrow. But in this case, I believe that even doing it imperfectly is still better than just talking about it.
That’s an important point. I’ve watched as talented, articulate designers and developers put off writing on their own website because they feel that it needs to be perfect (we are own worst clients sometimes). That’s something that Greg talks about over on the Happy Cog blog:
The pursuit of perfection must be countered by the very practical need to move forward. Our world seems to be spinning faster and faster, leaving less and less time to fret over every detail. “Make, do” doesn’t give any of us license to create crap. The quality still needs to be there but within reason, within the context of priorities.
And finally, I’ll repeat what Frank wrote at the cusp of the year:
I’m doubling down on my personal site in 2014. In light of the noisy, fragmented internet, I want a unified place for myself—the internet version of a quiet, cluttered cottage in the country. I’ll have you over for a visit when it’s finished.