A Journey of Stories: My Digital Pilgrimage
How 800 short stories become an organized blog site - and all the challenges along the way
📍Coron, Philippines
I thought organizing all the short stories I've written daily over two and a half years would be the difficult part, but I discovered that's actually the easy part of the process. The challenging part, to put it mildly, is sorting and organizing the media that accompanies them – all the photos I didn't have time to post on Facebook that I now really want to include in the blog.
I believe that images complement words perfectly. Because if you look at the pictures as they are, you can't understand the real story behind them. You can't know what actually happened in that situation. True, a picture is worth a thousand words – but you also need to know how to read them.
After finishing sorting the media and uploading all my stories to the blog that will launch soon (fingers crossed), I started building dozens of automations with Claude. Each one took me entire days of work. When I reached what I thought was the home stretch (like I think about every stage in this process, only to discover how far I still am from the finish line), I had a conversation with Claude that changed everything.
I realized that the organization of my blog wasn't precise. The fact that I have tons of content is actually a problem - not an advantage. How am I supposed to publish 800+ short stories without readers getting lost? I suddenly understood that even a short Facebook post, like the ones I used to publish initially, is basically a paragraph and not a complete "post" for a blog.
Initially, I thought about creating one flowing narrative post from a collection of posts, showing how several consecutive days pass for me. But something didn't feel right. I felt like I was editing the original content and changing it. The short segments lost their effect, and I felt like I was losing authenticity.
I quickly changed direction and found a different approach, one I truly connect with. In this approach, I create unified posts of short stories on the same topic or from the same location.
The intention is to present my journey chronologically, like a "timeline" – so readers can understand exactly where I was and when, presenting my journey in an easy-to-understand way. In addition to the timeline, there are posts that share a thematic connection, not necessarily related to the same location or even the same year.
So I thought about a dual categorization: posts that deal with a specific location - for example, all my posts from Mexico will appear on the Mexico page, and all posts that deal with the personal development process I'm going through will appear under a different category. This way, readers can filter which topic interests them or which location they want to read about.
Sounds simple? It's not. Content organization was a challenge in itself. I realized I need to filter, that not all my posts can be published on the blog, and beyond that - not everything can be published at once. This means I'll first publish the main locations so that every place I've been has representation, and then over time I'll continue to publish more and more content, both by location and by topic, while continuously publishing my current content.
Honestly, I got so tangled up with this, I got lost and thought to myself - "If I'm confused, how will other people understand it?" But then I realized it's only because everything is still in my head and not tangible before me.
The moment I started creating on the computer - another page, another unified post - I felt like I was making progress. Slowly I saw everything coming together before me, taking shape and identity of its own.
In the end, I understand that content organization is an art in itself. It's like packing 800 suitcases and knowing exactly what to put in each one, and in what order to open them. It's a long process, but I'm sure the final result will be worth all the effort.
Your support helps me keep experiencing new worlds – and sharing them with you through my words. Sometimes, one cup of coffee can make all the difference.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
Who Am I? | The Journey Through Time | The Daily Journey