I’m closing in on the big 100 articles milestone (this is number 91), and I’ve learned some things along the way. I’ve learned about the process of writing itself, and how the Model T style of writing has a few quirks that do not translate to the Autonomous Tesla era. I’ve also gained a little more insight into where I’d like to take my writing as I’ve pursued the craft. Most of all I’d like to thank you, my readers, for the feedback. As always, make sure to sharpen those pitchforks.
One of the things that I have learned over the course of writing nearly 100 articles is how to properly format my writing for LinkedIn and espinola.blog. We are taught in English class to indent all of our paragraphs, and while that is true for more traditional forms of written prose such as books, it doesn’t translate well to blogs and online articles (here’s an example from The Peter Fucking Adney!). Essentially, it was a habit from traditional education that needed to be un-learned.
Along with the physical formatting of the articles themselves, I’ve become much more research-heavy with my articles. This went hand-in-hand with me learning how to embed links as regular sentences into my writing. Here’s an example from one of the best to ever do it! While this seems like a minor lesson to learn, this technological skill has allowed me to weave far more research into my articles. While my book was research-and citation heavy, traditional source citations do not really translate well to online articles-after all, who reads a blog’s bibliography? Earlier posts of mine were largely opinion-only, where my mindset was to stick to only commonly known facts that didn’t require citation or just to disclaim my views away. However, now that I can weave much more official sources into my articles, I can become much more uninhibited with my writing. Topics like banking regulation and other bullshit laws are now within my grasp for evisceration, because now I have the means of backing my not-so-fringe opinions off of hard facts and official sources, without looking like a conspiracy theorist. Learning that skill (which by the way, isn’t taught in schools), has unlocked yet another perk; making my articles stickier. By that, I mean that I am now able to embed links to other works of mine, thus creating a spiderweb in which a reader can spend more time enjoying Dan Espinola content and fall into a Dan Espinola rabbit hole. Don’t bullshit, we all do it on Wikipedia.
The combination of physical formatting and the embedding of links creates a stark contrast between my recent works and earlier articles. Truthfully, it is almost difficult for me to go back and re-read posts of mine from several months ago; all I can see is how they aren’t up to my current standards. This isn’t to say that I don’t stand behind those earlier works; I absolutely stand behind what I wrote. I’m merely saying, as Reid Hoffman has famously quipped, “if you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late”. The same concept applies to writing as well. Suffice it to say, Future Dan will definitely look back at my present-day writing and shudder. But hey, that’s growth.
I alluded to the lack of clear direction for my writing in my self-critique article, however a trend is gradually forming. I have noticed a libertarian slant that has started to form with my articles. Blatantly political posts will continue to be blog-only, as LinkedIn will not be the place for that type of content, regardless of how heavily researched and defendable it may be. With all of that said, I certainly don’t plan on becoming solely a political writer, since I still loathe pundits (eww…pundits). I’m also not running for office anytime soon, either. Fear not though, my “random brain spatter” articles such as this one will certainly continue. After all, my brain works differently than yours.
As for looking toward the future, I have a few ideas for the blog. First, I’d like to create a logo for espinola.blog, one that is on-brand. Thanks to the feedback from my readers (a larger and more diverse group than I anticipated), my yellow legal-pad artwork is a consistent fan favorite. However, the logo I want is beyond my limited artistic capability. Therefore, I’d like to find a graphic designer to create black pen on yellow legal pad design. If anyone in my professional network or my readership knows of such an artist, please let me know.
Beyond artwork, I’d like to drive more traffic to my site (don’t we all). Of course, search engine optimization is going to play a large part of that. I’ll have to find a tool that will help me boost my visibility. I should also pick up a library book or take a course on SEO, that way I can at least gain some understanding on the topic and not get scammed (I should learn some latin as Jocko Willink likes to say). However, I don’t obsess over the metrics of my articles (trust me, the metrics on my writing aren’t that impressive anyways). I’ll need to be cognizant of not letting the metrics guide my writing; it’s crucial to not let the tail wag the dog.
However, SEO is not a topic I foresee myself spending too much time on either. First and foremost, I want to write. It’s practically all I ever want to do now, as previously discussed. I wouldn’t even mind leaving my current career field in favor of writing, once I figure out how to monetize my writing (of course, this has to come after building a readership, as discussed in the previous paragraph). My current line of work isn’t bad, though it doesn’t fully align with my core beliefs.
I’m not sure when the next writing -related career update will be. After all, The Man Himself has written over 1000 articles, so what the hell do I really know anyways? Who knows, maybe one day I might even become a real writer…
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