When Refreshing Blog Posts: Some More Lessons

I published the first version of this blog post three years ago, after two years of blogging. Although most of the lessons in that post are still things I keep in mind when reviewing and editing old blog posts, I though that I would expand the list with more specific (and slightly different) lessons I’ve learned since then.

First, the topics I covered in my last “Refreshing” post (read the whole thing here): 

• Time and Research
• Development
• Emotions
• Pride

<< Now for Round 2 >>

Scheduling Past Content on Social Media

This may seem misplaced, but I can honestly say that scheduling some of my past blog posts – especially those with evergreen content – has been one of the easiest ways for me to revise and fix any errors in my writing. I always carefully read an old post before scheduling it, so I can ensure I’m still putting my best thoughts forward, whether that be thoughts from 2015 or last week. This is not to say I completely change a post. Sometimes I find that I haven’t explained something thoroughly, or that a few sentences should be structured differently – if I feel like I’m changing too much or I just feel like a post isn’t a reflection of me anymore, I’ll change its visibility to private. Which leads me to my next point…

Old Posts Can Work Like Drafts

I prefer to change posts I’m no longer fond of, or posts that I didn’t have any business publishing in the first place, to private rather than delete them, because sometimes new ideas can grow from their detritus. This also goes for drafts – I use unpublished posts as a sort of notebook to input quotes or random thoughts that could one day spark more lengthy inspiration for a new post or one I’ve already written and need to revise.

 

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Personal Change Can Take You By [intense] Surprise

I am a scattered reader of e-books, and although I used to be a huge snob about e-readers, I never realized how much I talked about my disdain for e-reading in my blog posts. It’s quite embarrassing. For example, In my 2015 blog post discussing Yes, Please by Amy Poehler (it’s not there anymore because I’ve edited it out), I randomly mention that I will never read an e-book. How obnoxious. I’ve had great book review opportunities that would not have been possible without the convenience [and inexpensive cost] of e-books; in other words, I can’t believe I held off from reading them for so long. Plus, disparaging methods of reading outside of physical books is a completely inappropriate, not to mention privileged, thing to do. Scolding my past self is probably not what you expected when you clicked on this post, so let’s move on.

It’s Better to Keep Track of Post Formats From the Beginning

With a little over 500 published blog posts, I am now realizing how frustrating it can be when formats of similar posts are completely different. Even more frustrating is the fact that it’s my own fault for making them that way. For example, I have a couple of book reviews that I didn’t feel needed “Book Review” in the title, which is something that is important to me now. I now have a list of the important logistical parts of the main posts I write, so I can refer to it and format them correctly before hitting “publish”. I highly recommend doing this if you don’t already.

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Have you gone through anything similar when looking back and revising your old blog posts? I would love to hear what you’ve learned – whether you’ve been blogging for six months, six years, or since the beginning of blogging.