
## In General

2021 was a difficult year, but I'm so grateful I was able to end it with a new job on a healthy team and a lot of space away from projects and social media to reflect. I'm looking forward to approaching 2022 and my projects in healthier ways.

## Posts Published

I didn't get to publish as many posts as I wanted to, but I still published 10 different posts and I'm very proud of all of them.

- "Build a Blog Site with Next.js and Firebase" ([now archived](https://ashleemboyer.com/blog/archive/nextjs-firebase-blog-01--archived))
- [My Writing and Planning Process](https://ashleemboyer.com/blog/my-writing-and-planning-process)
- [How to Create Your Own Next.js RSS Reader App](https://ashleemboyer.com/blog/create-your-own-nextjs-rss-reader-app)
- [How I Added an RSS Feed to My Next.js Site](https://ashleemboyer.com/blog/how-i-added-an-rss-feed-to-my-nextjs-site)
- [What the heck is "web a11y"?](https://ashleemboyer.com/blog/what-the-heck-is-web-a11y)
- [Speaking My Truth—I Did Not Leave for Personal Reasons](https://ashleemboyer.com/blog/speaking-my-truth)

## Speaking Events

I was hoping to do more speaking events this year, but a few were canceled or postponed due to the pandemic. Here is a list of the speaking events I did get to do, three of which were live streams on Twitch! I had so much fun on the streams and it's interesting to see how far I've come in public speaking. I _hated_ it in high school and most of college and used to be terrified to speak in front of groups of people.

- ["Getting started with accessibility" interview with Kevin Powell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr0ujkLLgmE)
- ["Debugging Semantic HTML Elements for Accessibility" SomeAnticsDev Twitch stream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vAo0-puheM)
- ["Accessibility August 2021 on Dev Roulette LIVE" with Stephanie Myers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWpj7t8I6SM)
- ["Build a Dark & Light Mode Switcher in React using Context", React.Indy meetup](https://github.com/ashleemboyer/react-indy-20210922)
  - _Note: I'm realizing I still have to upload the finished code from this event! I'll try to do that as soon as I can._

## Books

I am really good at starting new things, especially books. Part of my difficulty with finishing books is ADHD. It takes me a long time to get into a reading focus if I'm only reading. If I use an audiobook or speech-to-text in addition to reading, however, I have a much easier time. What's difficult about that is being deaf. If I don't have headphones to listen while I read, then I can't really listen. I've found that I can also read/listen better when I have a simple knitting project. I didn't finish a ton of books this year, but what's great is I'm learning all of these things about myself and working on carving out the right space for myself to read more.

### Books Started

This list is currently all the books I could find with my Goodreads account (I read on a Kindle). I'm 100% sure there are more books that belong here because I purchased multiple from people that self published. When I find them, I'll add them to the list.

- [It's About Damn Time: How to Turn Being Underestimated into Your Greatest Advantage](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48927823-it-s-about-damn-time)
- [Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41646234-sissy)
- [Real Life](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46263943-real-life)
- [Their Eyes Were Watching God](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37415.Their_Eyes_Were_Watching_God)
- [Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40651827-burnout)
- [How to Live With the Internet and Not Let It Run Your Life](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57000631-how-to-live-with-the-internet-and-not-let-it-run-your-life)
- [Conflict Resolution Playbook: Practical Communication Skills for Preventing, Managing, and Resolving Conflict
  ](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56164760-conflict-resolution-playbook)
- [In the Land of Men: A Memoir](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45730112-in-the-land-of-men)
- [Brag Better: Master the Art of Fearless Self-Promotion](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53105899-brag-better)
- [Sorry I Missed You](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52951550-sorry-i-missed-you)
- [Women in Tech: Practical Advice and Inspiring Stories from Successful Women in Tech to Take Your Career to the Next Level](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25852961-women-in-tech)
- [The Beginner's Guide to Stoicism: Tools for Emotional Resilience and Positivity](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52085903-the-beginner-s-guide-to-stoicism)

### Books Finished

- [Changing the Conversation: The 17 Principles of Conflict Resolution](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24751306-changing-the-conversation)
- [Such a Fun Age](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43923951-such-a-fun-age)
- [Help for Women with ADHD: My Simple Strategies for Conquering Chaos](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30248423-help-for-women-with-adhd)
- [Weird in a World That's Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F\*ckups, and Failures](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33913476-weird-in-a-world-that-s-not)

## Projects

Like I mentioned already, I didn't get to finish as many projects as I wanted, but I'm really looking forward to getting back to all of these!

> _Note: I can't remember all my projects right now so I'll have to update this post as I remember them._

### Projects Started

**Knitting Projects**

- Socks in (yarn I can't remember the name of, I'll update ASAP)
- Triangle shawl in Cascade 220 Superwash Merino, color number 86

**Coding Projects**

- StaySemantic.com, a web accessibility resource that will have demos and explorations of various components, their properties, and how they sound with screen readers. Check out [a preview of the Disabled Button Demo](https://staysemantic-com-git-dev-ashleemboyer.vercel.app/demos).
- "Build an Accessible Blog with Next.js and Semantic HTML" course for egghead.io, which will get into the importance of semantic HTML in regards to accessibility, how to navigate documentation, and how to identify accessibility issues. I have [a GitHub repository that will get updates](https://github.com/ashleemboyer/egghead-accessible-nextjs-blog-course) as I work on the course.

### Projects Finished/Shipped

**General**

- 25-cube IKEA KALLAX shelf
- IKEA BEKANT standing desk

**Knitting Projects**

- Plain hat in Boss Kitty Hand Dyed DK Weight, Rock-A-Doodle-Doo colorway

**Coding Projects**

- What Can I Plant? For determining what you can plant in Stardew Valley and make the most money off of. _Last updated January 2021._
  - [Link to code](https://github.com/ashleemboyer/what-can-i-plant)
  - [Link to site](https://what-can-i-plant.netlify.app/)
- The Golden Girls Quotes API. Just for getting random quotes from The Golden Girls. _Last updated October 2021._
  - [Link to code](https://github.com/ashleemboyer/the-golden-girls-quotes-api)
  - [Link to site](https://the-golden-girls-quotes-api.fly.dev/)
- [React, TypeScript, Less/CSS modules, Jest, and Enzyme boilerplate.](https://github.com/ashleemboyer/webpack-typescript-jest-less) I did this for the learning experience and don't use it as a boilerplate. I mainly use Next.js for everything these days. _Last updated May 2021._
- [Discord bot for eventually doing cool things in Discord!](https://github.com/ashleemboyer/ashleemboyer-discord-bot) I like the idea of having a cool Discord server for engaging with folks. Maybe it'll happen this year? _Last updated August 2021._
- [Discord bot API for custom webhooks.](https://github.com/ashleemboyer/ashleemboyer-discord-bot-api) It currently sends various notification message in channels only I can see about my new newsletter service and subscribers. I'm hoping to have that newsletter live soon!


2021 was a wild ride. Here are some details from my year.

2021 in Review


When I first started seriously writing in early 2019, it was because I committed to a 30-day blogging challenge. My main goal of this challenge was to see if I even liked blogging and sharing my ideas so publicly. I'm still here and telling you about my process, so hopefully it's clear that I like it!

## Why I Needed Something Different

What I discovered is that publishing a post a day wasn't sustainable for me. I think it takes a special kind of person and a special kind of content to publish daily and I applaud anyone who does that. I personally can't keep up with a schedule like that because I have chronic issues that make my spoon levels unpredictable. As I write this, I'm pretty low on spoons but I've been looking forward to this post for several weeks, so that's what's motivating me. :)

Not only was I looking for a schedule so that I can get back to writing at a regular cadence, but I'm also launching a support site soon where folks can do monthly subscriptions to support my work and get some fun benefits in return. One of the membership tiers includes 2-week early access to blog posts I write for my website. That means I need to have posts written and scheduled ahead of time.

## How I Came up with a New Process

Once I figured out I needed something different, I started thinking about all the things I love doing. I love writing about accessibility. I also love sharing the little things I learn every once in a while, such as [setting up a React App for testing with Jest and Enzyme](https://ashleemboyer.com/set-up-a-react-app-for-testing-with-jest-and-enzyme) or [how to dynamically create many similar CSS classes with Sass](https://ashleemboyer.com/how-to-dynamically-create-many-similar-css-classes-with-sass). I knew for sure that I wanted to write more technical content this year than I have in the past.

Then I thought about live streaming on Twitch. I love it too! I have my [Build an Accessible React Component](https://ashleemboyer.com/blog/series/build-an-accessible-react-component) live series that I plan to continue and knitting on stream is a nice change of pace. I knew I wanted to be able to publish posts regularly and also be able to stream on Twitch a couple of times a week.

In November 2020, [I wrote a tweet asking if anyone batched blog posts](https://twitter.com/AshleeMBoyer/status/1331636783768096770). It's more common than I thought! This thread is also where I was connected with [Stephanie Morillo](https://twitter.com/radiomorillo) (pronounced moh-REE-yoh) and signed up to have a 1:1 content coaching session with her. It went very well and she gave me a lot of great ideas! She also checked in with me afterwards to see how I was doing. I highly recommend following her and reading her content! She's the same person that inspired me to [create a /links page and share it on social media](https://twitter.com/AshleeMBoyer/status/1345569348652568576).

## What I'm Doing Now

I use 3 tools to stay organized: Google Calendar, Trello, and GitHub. It might sound like a lot to some, but I promise I keep the work for each to a minimum. Gotta save spoons everywhere I can! Let me tell you how I use each one. You can click on any of the screenshots to see them full-size.

### Google Calendar

I'm a very visual person. When I plan an appointment or video call, I always have to look at my calendar. My brain works in calendar weeks. So for a high-level view of what I'm streaming on Twitch and when I stream it, I use Google Calendar. I stream twice a week. On Tuesdays, I code. On Thursdays, I knit. I make sure to distinguish between those two. For Twitch streams that are planned ahead of time, such as the ones where I build an accessible React component, I make sure that goes in the title as well. Those have not been scripted in the past, but they will be for future streams to save me some time and energy. That means I have to plan them ahead of time and to do that, I have to know exactly when they're happening. I've also been numbering the streams but I'm not sure why. I guess that part is just for fun! :)

[![A window with Ashlee's calendar for February.](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/ashleemboyer-2018.appspot.com/o/images%2F2021%2F02%2Fmy-writing-and-planning-process%2FCleanShot%202021-02-11%20at%2023.50.42.png?alt=media&token=a564af5c-987e-4f23-a640-9690c862e3e1)](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/ashleemboyer-2018.appspot.com/o/images%2F2021%2F02%2Fmy-writing-and-planning-process%2FCleanShot%202021-02-11%20at%2023.50.42.png?alt=media&token=a564af5c-987e-4f23-a640-9690c862e3e1)

### Trello

I keep track of all of my writing ideas, plans, and newsletter dates with a "Writing" board in Trello. It has 6 columns:

- **Ideas:** This is like a backlog of ideas for posts. They're not guaranteed to be written, but getting them out of my brain ensures I won't forget them and also makes room for other things I want to think about.
- **To Do:** These are planned posts and newsletters. They have due dates and titles and will definitely be written.
- **Outlining:** This is the first step in my writing process. Some posts almost skip this step because they can be written in one sitting. Longer posts are on a feature branch for my repository and they have a draft PR in GitHub. We'll get into that more in the next section.
- **Writing:** Posts in this column are ones I've started filling in the outline on. This column is also for posts that are being reviewed. I'm a pretty interactive reviewer/editor and still consider editing to be writing because I might re-word whole sections after a post is written out.
- **Ready & Scheduled:** This column holds cards for newsletters that have been scheduled for delivery and posts that have PRs that just need me to press "Merge".
- **Live:** Things in this column have been sent or published. The whole world can see them.

The columns are laid out so that a task moves through each step from left to right. And as I mentioned in the last section, I'm a very visual person. I use my one free power-up for the Calendar that lets me view all of my tasks by week or month. I use these views to ensure that I've spaced out my topics appropriately and so I can group ideas if I feel like writing a series about a broader topic.

[![Trello board showing 5 columns: To Do, Outlining, Writing, Ready & Scheduled, and Live. The background of the board is a desk in a dark room with a computer screen that reads "Do what is great."](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/ashleemboyer-2018.appspot.com/o/images%2F2021%2F02%2Fmy-writing-and-planning-process%2FCleanShot%202021-02-08%20at%2022.23.46.png?alt=media&token=73366deb-df54-475c-b391-3f0bb59e4e2b)](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/ashleemboyer-2018.appspot.com/o/images%2F2021%2F02%2Fmy-writing-and-planning-process%2FCleanShot%202021-02-08%20at%2022.23.46.png?alt=media&token=73366deb-df54-475c-b391-3f0bb59e4e2b)

### GitHub (and Vercel)

The code for this website is stored in a GitHub repository. Each post is a markdown file and it's treated just like any other file in a pull request. When I want to create a new post, I first create a branch called `post/<blog-post-slug>`. The `post` prefix is only there to help me keep things organized. I don't do anything special for CI/CD. Second, I create a new file for the post and put it in the appropriate directory. My directory structure for posts looks like this:

```
posts/
  2019/
    01/
    02/
    ...
  2020/
    01/
    02/
    ...
  2021/
    01/
    02/
      my-writing-and-planning-process.md
    ...
```

After I've outlined a post, I commit and push the changes and open a draft PR on GitHub. This enables me to see all the in progress posts I have at once and also allows me to work on many posts at once. When I was writing my "Build a Blog Site with Next.js and Firebase" series ([now archived](https://ashleemboyer.com/blog/archive/nextjs-firebase-blog-01--archived)), all 5 parts of the series where in their own pull requests at the same time.

I use Next.js for this site and deploy it to Vercel. Vercel automatically builds previews for every PR and I use them when reviewing posts to make sure all links work correctly and that the post looks nice on my site. When I'm ready to publish a post, all I have to do is hit the "Merge" button on the PR and Vercel automatically builds the updated version of my site.

[![A list of pull requests in Ashlee's website GitHub repository. It's showing one pull request for each part in her Build a Blog Site with Next.js and Firebase series.](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/ashleemboyer-2018.appspot.com/o/images%2F2021%2F02%2Fmy-writing-and-planning-process%2FCleanShot%202021-01-03%20at%2019.13.14.png?alt=media&token=325f2884-65c0-4128-afbc-8c3eba7385cd)](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/ashleemboyer-2018.appspot.com/o/images%2F2021%2F02%2Fmy-writing-and-planning-process%2FCleanShot%202021-01-03%20at%2019.13.14.png?alt=media&token=325f2884-65c0-4128-afbc-8c3eba7385cd)

## In Summary

I love my new process. The tools I use can easily have redudant overlaps in their uses, but I feel confident that the setup I have keeps everything organized for very intentional usage. I schedule my streams in Google Calendar. I schedule my posts and newsletters in Trello. I manage reviewing, testing, and publishing in GitHub. I can write as many or as few posts as I want at the same time.

If this post sparked any ideas for you or if you already do something that's just slightly different, I'd love to hear about it. [Send me a tweet](https://twitter.com/ashleemboyer) or [send me an email](mailto:hello@ashleemboyer.com)!


I leveled up my content process for 2021 with Trello and GitHub Pull Requests.

My Writing and Planning Process


In April of 2019, I knew I needed to change my life. I was extremely unhappy in a toxic workplace, had no involvement in my community, and the only tech people I knew in my area worked at the same place and none of us talked to each other. I decided to [join Twitter to network](https://ashleemboyer.com/why-and-how-you-should-use-twitter-for-networking) and figure out what was going on in the tech world. (Side note: I've gained 1,800 followers since!)

Then, I discovered [DEV Community](https://dev.to). It seemed like a great place to start writing. I needed to do _something_ with all of the emotions I was feeling at the time. So, I wrote about my process for looking for a new job: [How to Identify Your Knowledge Gaps in Under an Hour](https://ashleemboyer.com/how-to-identify-your-knowledge-gaps-in-under-an-hour). It got 187 views, 8 reactions, and 1 comment.

I'd never gotten so many views on one post before! So, I decided to write another one the next day: [It's OK to be Scared](https://ashleemboyer.com/it-s-ok-to-be-scared) (204 views and 6 reactions). Then I wrote my first "hit" the following day: [Neither You nor Your Work Has to be Perfect](neither-you-nor-your-work-has-to-be-perfect) (1234 views, 82 reactions, 24 comments). I think that was my first post that DEV Community ([@ThePracticalDev](https://twitter.com/ThePracticalDev)) tweeted out. It felt so validating having my post shared by an account with hundreds of thousands of followers.

I think it was at this time that I decided to do a 30-day blogging challenge. I've always loved to write, but never succeeded in making it a habit. My goal was to write regularly. This is something I'm still trying to figure out, and I think most other people are too. Life is unpredictable and very hard to plan for. Habits and hobbies are hard to keep up with.

So, I did my challenge, and I was hooked. Some posts did really well, some got less than 100 views. It helped me gauage what I really wanted to write about and what people liked reading about. If you want to read about the results of the challenge, I wrote about it: [After 30 Days of Writing on DEV.to](https://dev.to/ashleemboyer/after-30-days-of-writing-on-dev-to-a08).

The challenge did exactly what I wanted it to. I felt confident in what I had to say and decided to spend some time to work on my own blog site. I'd cross-post everything and keep track of stats with Google Analytics. I started recording stats on my personal site on August 11, 2019. I'll spend the rest of this post sharing some of those stats and also the ones I can get on DEV.

---

## Personal Blog Stats

### Audience

- Users: 2,157
- New Users: 2,153
- Sessions: 2,558
- Countries: 100 (unset is not counted here)
- Top 3 days: September 3rd (186 users), September 17th (106 users), August 27th (105 users)

### Behavior

- Pageviews: 3,720
- Unique Pageviews: 3,160
- Top 3 posts: [Build a React & Firebase Blog Site: Part 1](https://ashleemboyer.com/react-firebase-blog-01) (417 views), [How I Keep Coding When I'm Low on Spoons](https://ashleemboyer.com/how-i-keep-coding-when-i-m-low-on-spoons) (364 views), [Re-Create an Image with Colorful Text](https://ashleemboyer.com/re-create-an-image-with-colorful-text) (281 views)

### Acquisition

- Social: 991 users (45.3%)
- Referral: 858 users (29.2%)
- Direct: 301 users (13.8%)
- Organic search: 27 users
- Other: 10

## DEV Stats

### General

- 9,500 Followers
- 3,186 Total Post Reactions
- 70,700 Post Views

### Top Posts By Views

- 7,650: [I Tried the Top 5 Coding Challenge Websites](https://dev.to/ashleemboyer/i-tried-the-top-5-coding-challenge-websites-4lo9)
- 5,326: [The Perfect First Project for Exploring Any JS Framework](https://dev.to/ashleemboyer/the-perfect-first-project-for-exploring-any-js-framework-48ip)
- 3,433: [Yes, You Should Have Hobbies Outside of Code](https://dev.to/ashleemboyer/yes-you-should-have-hobbies-outside-of-code-4ao9)

### Top Posts By Reactions

- 225: [Build a React & Firebase Blog Site: Part 1](https://dev.to/ashleemboyer/build-a-react-firebase-blog-site-part-1-4gn0)
- 224: [Why and How You Should Use Twitter for Networking](https://dev.to/ashleemboyer/why-and-how-you-should-use-twitter-for-networking-357m)
- 163: [How to Dynamically Create Many Similar CSS Classes with Sass](https://dev.to/ashleemboyer/how-to-dynamically-create-many-similar-css-classes-with-sass-1538)

### Top Posts By Comments

- 54: [I am a web developer, hard of hearing, and an a11y advocate, Ask Me Anything!](https://dev.to/ashleemboyer/i-am-a-web-developer-hard-of-hearing-and-an-a11y-advocate-ask-me-anything-4f91)
- 51: [Yes, You Should Have Hobbies Outside of Code](https://dev.to/ashleemboyer/yes-you-should-have-hobbies-outside-of-code-4ao9)
- 47: [Why and How You Should Use Twitter for Networking](https://dev.to/ashleemboyer/why-and-how-you-should-use-twitter-for-networking-357m)

---

2019 was an excellent year for me both professionally and personally. I'm so glad I decided to make a change 9 months ago. Thank you all for hanging out with me and helping me make this a great year. Here's to 2020! 🎉


I blogged regularly for the first time in 2019. How'd it go?

2019 Blog in Review


I don't know where [Joshua Fields Millburn](https://twitter.com/JFM) was inspired by his advice, but [Steven Pressfield](https://twitter.com/SPressfield), Nike, and he all have roughly the same thing to say: "Just do it."

![Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce dancing with the words "Just do it" moving with her](https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7TKPVo3SMEMMwISY/giphy.gif)

JFM said in _["How to Improve Your Writing: 3 Tips"](https://www.theminimalists.com/how-to-improve-writing/)_

> I didn’t become a writer until I developed a writing habit. People don’t learn how to write via osmosis; it takes work. So forget word count or page count, and don’t worry about creating the perfect writing space—focus instead on **sitting in the chair** [emphasis mine] distraction-free, writing for at least an hour a day. Do this for a month and you will improve more than you thought possible.

In _[The War of Art](https://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Steven-Pressfield-ebook/dp/B007A4SDCG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=)_, Pressfield talks about Resistance numerous factors surrounding it. I haven't gotten too deep in it yet, but Resistance is what we have to fight every time we want to do something meaningful. You could be avoiding doing The Thing out of fear, worry, sheer boredom, whatever. At the very beginning of his book, he says

> There's a secret that real writers know about that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It's not the writing that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write.

> What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.

This is the 15th day of my 30-day blogging challenge, so I'm over halfway there. I have to agree that the hardest part about it all was sitting down to write and get started. There's always something to be distracted by: watching [Brooklyn Nine-Nine](https://twitter.com/nbcbrooklyn99) on Hulu, playing with my dog, scrolling through the Twitter, ...

But all of those things will be there _after_ The Thing is done. You might also find that The Thing wasn't so bad or it didn't take as long as you thought it would. Just sit down and do it. You've got this!

![Jake Peralta excitedly giving Amy Santiago an encouraging thumbs up](https://media.giphy.com/media/d2ZeMUDQSSsCP9FC/giphy.gif)


We all procrastinate from time to time at varying degrees. Sometimes you just have to go do whatever it is that you're avoiding.

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