At the start of December I challenged myself to complete Blogmas – where you post something every day in the lead up to Christmas. Some bloggers/vloggers make this Christmas themed but for me it was more an attempt to write a few reviews and articles that I had wanted to finish before the end of the year.
Despite a couple of difficult days I managed to complete the task, so I thought I’d round up some lessons learned.
1) Writing Every Day Is Fun
December is a busy month for me in terms of work and social commitments so this blogging challenge was intentionally difficult from the off. Despite this I was consistent and found a way around any time constraints. Ultimately I enjoyed writing even when I was tired which shows there’s no excuses for my scattershot posting at other times of the year!
2) End of Year Reviews Hit Different
I spent a good chunk of the month catching up with reviews for albums that had been released earlier in the year like Caroline Spence, Lily Allen and Maren Morris. I was able to combine end of year reflection with my thoughts on the albums and I think this elevated the reviews.
3) Time is Everything
Despite enjoying the pace of the writing, I know I could have improved the quality of the writing if I’d taken a couple of days to get them done. Time is everything, especially for hobbyists like myself. I want to offer high quality writing and hope to take a more considered and consistent approach next year.
4) Rising Tides Carry All Ships
My most popular posts this month were my Ryan Adams discussion, my Juliana Hatfield review and my Albums of the Year list. Consistent posting brought high traffic to the blog, making this my best month of the year, even elevating posts from ages ago. Search engines and readers clearly like to see things being updated and that’s heartening to see.
5) Do Not Trust Chat GPT or AI
One of the things this month has really clarified for me is the complete horrorshow that is AI and ChatGPT. Before this I had a sinking feeling about the technology but was keeping an open mind. After using it for my AI post, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s better to fail on my own terms than to involve myself with that technology.
The advice was middling to useless but even if it had been helpful, I would still be drawing a hard line in the sand against using AI for anything to do with the blog. I want to think and write and be human. No artificial assistance required.
6) I See the Light of a Bluesky Morning
One of the key reasons I asked ChatGPT for advice in the first place was because I felt so adrift from social media growth. Nothing I posted really seemed to work on any platform. The advice it gave me was frankly ridiculous telling me to focus on Pinterest and Instagram, neither of which, despite being fun, have ever brought any consistent traffic to the blog. I’m not going to become a reels maker or a video reposter or a lifestyle influencer. I just don’t have the skills or the inclination.
After those failed diversions I got back to hanging out on the writing platforms, posting more consistently and seeing what worked. Twitter/X is dead now and maybe that’s a good thing. No more fear of being cancelled or attracting trolls – now it’s crickets and tumbleweed. Like Facebook, I’m just going to be posting links there from now on for anyone who still has the stomach for the place. I finally got some decent engagement on a couple of Threads posts but I’m still learning how to use the platform best.
In the end after my month of posting, I concluded that Bluesky is the best for engagement both on the app and in clicks through to the blog. Its’s not perfect (I still see way too much American sports content on my feed) but it’s got great people who like to chat about music so it’s where I shall be aiming my energy in 2026.
7) Substack is Fine
Another idea from the AI chat bot was that I need to start a Substack newsletter to attract more readers to the blog. I’d always thought that Substack was a blogging platform and so it seemed like duplicating my work.
But as part of my monthly commitment to trying new things I gave it a go…and learned that most of my initial impression of the site was correct. I enjoyed writing the newsletters but felt I was kind of repeating myself. I got some followers but mainly people who already read the blog anyway. The clicks through to the blog have been minimal. AI fail.
However I do like the site though and enjoy writing the newsletter so I’m going to stick with it. I will be treating it as a social media site just to share my weekly song reviews/playlists/links and will see how it goes. Follow along if you haven’t already!
8) Preach to the Choir
The other thing I’ve been so glad to learn is that blog readers are still out there. Most people who’ve read the blog all along are still reading, sharing and loving the music. I just needed the reminder that it is okay not to always be trying to grow and just to appreciate what you already have.
9) Buy Music
Since my blogging schedule slowed down so did my buying, which was good for the bank balance but not for the artists. What this month has taught me is the importance of showing up for independent artists and buying their music. CDs are still affordable and so is bandcamp. A subscription service is not enough!
10. There’s Still Work to Do
Somehow all the news about AI and TikTok and all the decline in reading has just made me more convinced that blogs like mine have a future. Highway Queens is a record of my listening and my thinking since 2017 and there’s a thread now that I want to keep sewing into the future.
We need to keep traditional written album reviews alive and give people a place to find them. No pivoting to video here. If the ship is going down we’re staying on the deck until the last.
If you’ve made it this far thank you so much! I will have some resolutions and plans for 2026 up soon.
Highway Queens 
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