I’m now hosting my main blog on Pika, a straightforward blogging service from the folks at Good Enough. Pika is a simple platform—and that’s the point—no bells, whistles, or distractions.
Why Pika?
Pika does one thing, and one thing well (or Good Enough, as they would say). There is no complicated process to start writing. Just open the editor and begin. I even added Pika to my toolbar, so I can open it as an App, instead of as a browser tab. The less friction, the better.
You get a simple but powerful post editor. It supports markdown but also has keyboard shortcuts and a toolbar. What you see in the editor is precisely what you see in the published post. It also works great with LanguageTool.
I also enjoy the list of all posts and the introduction, right on the home screen, tags, and simple themes. The out-of-the-box layout and theme are nice, and fit my style.
New domain?
The other significant change is that I’m experimenting with a new domain, Focustivity.com. I’ve been sitting on this domain for years and haven’t used it much.
I wanted to have a name for my site rather than using my real name, partially to create a bit of anonymity (although it’s not difficult to make the connection).
Is the name stupid? Please let me know what you think.
Why move?
I’m moving my long posts from Micro.blog. I don’t have any gripes with Micro.blog, but I just wanted to try something different (again). I will continue using Micro.blog for my short posts and continuing to support my Cards Theme for Micro.blog.
I’m hoping Pika sticks for me, at least for a long while (I’ve been on Micro.blog for a couple of years). But, if (when) I get bored with Pika, I can quickly return to Micro.blog or nearly any other service. I’ve become skilled at moving my content, changing my domain, and setting up redirects, and I’ve done this so many times. I know I shouldn’t do this, as I always lose something when migrating.
More writing
My main goal is to start writing more. I enjoy writing but keep putting it off. I’ll continue writing short posts to Micro.blog and Mastodon, but will keep my longer posts here.
I’m hoping this new site will be a place where I can share more. It’s on me to get into a habit of writing more. The challenge for me is always getting started.