I’ve been trying to write a blog for many years. I published my first post back in 2017. By now, I wish I could say I’m a good writer with hundreds of posts behind me. But the reality is different. In this article, I’ll share the mistake I kept repeating — and what I wish I had done differently if I could turn back time.  My first blog. Source: [https://web.archive.org/web/20170710170315/http://marcin-kwiatkowski.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20170710170315/http://marcin-kwiatkowski.com/) ## TL;DR Programmers who want to be writers should focus on writing, not on endlessly rebuilding their blog platforms. If I could turn back time, I’d stop chasing the perfect blog setup and just write. Reinventing the wheel was a great excuse to avoid the hard part: writing. ## My first steps into the trap My first blog was a WordPress site written in Polish — a solid choice to get started. The quality of my content wasn’t great, but I enjoyed it. I felt like I was making progress, and each new post was a little better than the last. ## Chasing performance, losing Purpose A few years later, I worked on a project using React and Next.js — and I was impressed. I thought, _why not build my blog with it and fully customize the experience?_ What could go wrong? I spent weeks crafting my shiny new blog platform. Then more weeks importing posts from WordPress. I even chose Storyblok as a headless CMS. It was a big re-platforming effort, and during that time, I wasn’t writing anything new. I believed that a Next.js blog would be blazing fast and score perfectly in PageSpeed Insights. And it did. But now I know: the most important part of a blog is the content — not whether it gets a score of 100 or 45. Honestly, I never even finished implementing all the features I had planned. After a few months, I realized it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. Writing on WordPress was easier.  Blog on NextJS (unfortunatelly CSS doesn’t work in the archive so it looks ugly. Source: [https://web.archive.org/web/20210602071506/https://marcin-kwiatkowski.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20210602071506/https://marcin-kwiatkowski.com/) ## Wordpress again After failing with my custom setup, I decided to go back to WordPress — which meant more weeks spent on yet another migration. This time, I also set up a multilingual platform. I thought I could write in both Polish and English at the same time. It kind of worked. But I quickly realized it wasn’t as easy as I had imagined. Instead of focusing on writing good content, I was spending my energy on translating. (Later, I started using AI for that — but that’s another story.) I should have resisted the hype and shiny new tech — but I didn’t. Every new tool fascinated me, and I kept running away from what truly mattered: improving my writing and actually writing. Instead, I jumped from one technology to another like a man possessed.  New Wordpress blog (also CSS is broken in archive). Source: [https://web.archive.org/web/20230606020832/https://marcinkwiatkowski.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20230606020832/https://marcinkwiatkowski.com/) ## Go away from WordPress again and migrate to Astro Then I met astro.build and I was fascinated. I thought that a static website with Markdown as an engine for content is a good idea (and of course it is). I migrated to Astro. I spent a lot of time because this time I thought that I needed to use this re-platforming opportunity to create a beautiful blog. It was kinda beautiful.  Blog migrated to astro. Source: [https://web.archive.org/web/20241005174031/http://marcinkwiatkowski.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20241005174031/http://marcinkwiatkowski.com/) I was really satisfied with this implementation. I wrote more about this here: [https://medium.com/gitconnected/how-and-why-i-moved-my-blog-from-wordpress-to-astro-and-markdown-3549672d5a86](https://medium.com/gitconnected/how-and-why-i-moved-my-blog-from-wordpress-to-astro-and-markdown-3549672d5a86) Writing in Markdown is perfect. I also started using Obsidian. I could focus more on writing. Anyway, I still used a lot of my time on improving the blog platform, refactoring, adding new features, optimizing, etc.  ## The AHA moment In February, after a 10-year break from engineering studies, I started my master’s degree. During one of the first lectures, something the lecturer said made something click in my head. It was a Saturday, already late — around 6 p.m. We were sitting in a small classroom, everyone visibly tired. The kind of moment where you’d expect nothing meaningful to happen. And yet, that’s exactly when it did. The lecturer was an older professor with a sharp sense of humor. His shirt peeked out from under a worn sweater, and his piercing gaze made you pay attention. There was something about him — calm, thoughtful, quietly commanding. What truly stayed with me was something he said during that lecture. He spoke slowly and clearly about what awaits every student: the master’s thesis. He said something like this (I’m paraphrasing): > _If your master’s thesis is truly good, you can write it by hand with a pen — and your supervisor will copy it himself, because he’ll know it’s worth the effort._ > _But if your work is weak, even if it looks beautiful and polished, no one will care._ This is a very interesting point of view. It may be obvious, but it made me reflect on how I approach writing. I thought, do I really want to be a writer, or am I just pretending? ## Facing the truth about my writing It was hard to face the truth: I hadn’t been focusing on the right thing. At one point, I even asked myself — _maybe writing isn’t for me? Maybe I’m just pretending?_ Still, I gave myself another chance. So… what did I do? Replatformed again. 😅 This time, I ditched the beautiful Astro website and went back to basics. I stuck with Markdown and write in Obsidian. Now, Obsidian is my writing engine. My website is plain — some might even call it ugly. But I don’t care. I’m finally focusing on what matters: **writing**.  My new ugly website. Source: [https://frodigo.com](https://frodigo.com) So now I’m writing — and I’ve made a deal with myself: no replatforming for the next year. Just writing. Can I stick to it? We’ll see. --- *Published: 04/05/2025* #blog #writing #BloggingTools #SoftwareEngineering #Productivity #PersonalGrowth