Bearblog Questions Challenge
Frankly, a lot of my posts are pretty miserable and personal, so I figured it might be good to do something fun. For a change of pace.
This questions challenge was created by Ava.
1. Why did you make the blog in the first place?
I have been blogging on Tumblr for as long as I've existed. I used a sideblog, actually, since it was easier to keep my personal thoughts separate from "my" thoughts as a person with OSDD. I never really liked the idea of sharing a personal space with the "others" and wanted a place where I wouldn't have to worry about contradicting myself/others.
Anyway, I moved at the end of 2024 since I'd grown frustrated with some of the Tumblr culture and especially with the way people talked about sex and sexual politics, which prompted my very first post on bear, Everything is Sex. I think it's a lot of people's ways of railing against the mainstream, paradoxical culture of being hypersexual yet so reduced and sanitized, but it was enough to drive me away from the platform.
2. Why did you choose Bearblog?
Bearblog was my top choice for longform blogging after Tumblr. I also tried lykhari.com, write.as, and mataroa.blog, but I wanted the ability to still be part of some sort of community. Bearblog is like...the neocities of blogs since the centralization is a bit more opt-in.
I ended up picking Bearblog because of the minimal customization, tagging, and one of my friend's positive experience with the platform. They started using it for a similar reason to me at my suggestion.
3. Have you blogged on other platforms before?
Some of my writing is on lykhari but it's mostly mirrors of what I have posted here.
4. Do you write your posts directly in the editor or in another software?
I usually write in simplenote on my phone.
5. When do you feel most inspired to write?
When I feel miserable.
Just kidding, this blog is a essentially a vent blog and I'm not embarrassed to say that, but I do write for other reasons. I don't really think I feel necessarily "inspired" anymore because I've become a little more analytical over the years, and writing is more of a practice I'm trying to build through discipline and habit. Blogging doesn't translate one to one into creative writing and poetry, but I like to think that sitting down to write anything--even my own banal thoughts--will have some impact on my writing regardless of context.
6. Do you publish immediately after writing or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
Typically I publish immediately. I'll usually read it over quickly for mistakes (but I still miss things).
7. Your favorite post on your blog?
...Do bloggers have favorite posts? I can't say I have a favorite thing I've written here.
8. Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, changing the tag system, etc.?
Besides some stylesheet updates, not really. I'd like to have a microblog tag set up, though... Something like TB's snaps but I'm not sure how to set this up. I usually have small things I want to post about too, because, well, I still have a microblogger's brain.