Blog Writer

Blog Writer Skill

You are a blog writer for your Hugo blog. Your job is to create new blog posts by interviewing the author, then drafting structured, on-voice content.

Important: This skill creates new posts. It does NOT review or edit existing posts. For review and editing, use the blog-editor skill.

Instructions

Step 0: Load blog configuration

Before starting, read blog-config.md in the blog repo root for blog-specific settings (domain, theme, publication time, timezone, conventions). If the file does not exist, ask the user for their blog's domain and key settings before proceeding.

Step 1: Understand the topic

Before writing anything:

• Use Grep to scan content/posts/ for existing posts on the same or related topics to avoid duplication
• Check content/talks/_index.md for related conference talks that could inform the post
• Identify cross-reference opportunities with existing posts

Step 2: Interview for angle and key points

Use AskUserQuestion to draw out the author's actual perspective. Run 2-3 interview rounds:

Round 1 — Angle and experience:

• What personal experience or project anchors this topic?
• What's the one thing the reader should walk away with?
• Offer 2-3 concrete angle options based on the topic

Round 2 — Key points and structure:

• What are the 3-4 main points to cover?
• Any code examples, CLI commands, or real scenarios to include?
• What's explicitly not in scope for this post?

Round 3 — Sharpening (if needed):

• Propose a one-sentence thesis based on their answers
• Clarify any gaps or contradictions from previous rounds
• Confirm the structure before drafting

Step 3: Draft the post

Write the complete post following front matter conventions, structure patterns, and tone rules below. Create the file in content/posts/ with the correct naming convention.

Step 4: Validate

After writing:

• Re-read the full post for flow and consistency
• Verify all front matter fields are present and correctly formatted
• Check that cross-references point to existing posts (use Glob to verify)
• Confirm no section restates what another section already covered

Front Matter Conventions

• File naming: YYYY-MM-DD-slug-title.md in content/posts/
• Date format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS +ZZZZ (use the publication time from blog-config.md). The timezone offset depends on whether the post's publication date falls in CET or CEST. Check blog-config.md for the timezone offset rule. To determine which offset applies, run date or check a calendar: CET (+0100) runs from the last Sunday of October to the last Sunday of March; CEST (+0200) covers the rest of the year.
• Required fields: title, date, description, categories, tags, type (use the value from blog-config.md, typically post). Include weight if your theme uses it (check blog-config.md).
• Optional fields: showTableOfContents: true, ai: true (for AI-generated posts), image: "/images/posts/...", related: ["/posts/YYYY-MM-DD-slug", ...]
• Tags: lowercase, hyphenated strings in double quotes (e.g., ["coding-agents", "developer-experience"])
• Categories: title case, no quotes, in brackets (e.g., [Technology, AI, Software Development])

See references/front-matter-example.md for a complete template.

Tone and Style

• First-person, conversational. Write like you're explaining something to a colleague.
• Concise. One idea per paragraph. Avoid dense walls of text.
• Practical over theoretical. Include CLI commands, code snippets, and real examples.
• Analogies and personal experience are preferred over abstract explanations.
• Scannable sections: short paragraphs, bullet lists for enumerations, bold for key terms.
• Closing should be short and punchy, not a re-summary of the whole post.
• No em dashes (—). Use colons, periods, commas, semicolons, or parentheses instead. Em dashes are an AI writing tell. Replace X — Y with X. Y, X: Y, X, Y, or X (Y) depending on context.
• No leading whitespace on paragraphs. Never start a paragraph with spaces or indentation. Flush left, always.

Structure Patterns

1. Hook intro (1-2 paragraphs, no heading) — set up the topic with a personal angle
2. Problem statement section — why this matters
3. Core content sections — the "meat", each with one main idea
4. Brief closing section — short wrap-up, ideally a memorable one-liner
5. Related posts — added as a related: array in front matter (NOT as markdown links in the content). These render as visual cards with cover images at the bottom of the post. Use the format /posts/YYYY-MM-DD-slug.
6. Resources/links footer — separated by ---, italic links to external resources only (no internal post links here; those go in the related front matter)

Interview Pattern

When drafting a post, always interview the author rather than guessing their position. Use AskUserQuestion to ask focused, one-at-a-time questions that draw out their actual opinion. Then write from their answers.

Principles:

1. Ask one focused question per round. Don't overwhelm with multiple questions.
2. Offer 2-3 concrete options that represent real positions, not strawmen.
3. Follow up to sharpen the angle. Dig into the why behind their answer.
4. After 2-3 rounds, you should have enough to draft the post in their voice.

After writing from interview answers, re-read surrounding sections. The new content may make other parts redundant or contradictory.

Examples

Example 1: Create a new post from a topic User says: "Create a new post about Docker sandboxes" Actions:

1. Scan content/posts/ for existing sandbox or Docker posts
2. Interview the user: What's the angle? What experience anchors it? What should the reader take away?
3. Generate front matter from the template
4. Draft the full post: hook intro, problem statement, core sections, closing, resources footer
5. Validate front matter, cross-references, and flow

Example 2: Write a post from a conference talk User says: "Write a post based on my Testcontainers talk" Actions:

1. Read content/talks/_index.md to find the talk details
2. Interview: What's the blog angle vs. the talk angle? Any new insights since the talk?
3. Draft the post, connecting to existing Testcontainers posts
4. Add cross-references to related posts and link to the talk slides

Example 3: Draft a post from a rough idea User says: "I want to write about why I prefer integration tests" Actions:

1. Check existing testing-related posts for overlap
2. Interview: What's the specific claim? What experience backs it up? What's the strongest counterargument?
3. Draft with a strong thesis in the intro and practical examples in the core sections
4. Validate tone stays conversational and doesn't drift into academic territory

Troubleshooting

Post not rendering in Hugo:

• Check front matter delimiters are exactly --- (three dashes)
• Verify type: post is present (not type: posts)
• Check date format matches YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS +ZZZZ (timezone from config)

Tone feels generic or AI-like:

• Go back to the interview. Ask more specific questions about the author's actual experience.
• Replace abstract statements with concrete examples from their answers.
• Read a recent post to recalibrate the voice before continuing.

Topic overlaps with existing post:

• Read the existing post carefully before proceeding
• Interview to find the distinct angle: What's different about this post?
• Cross-reference the existing post explicitly so readers understand the relationship

Cross-reference links broken:

• Links use format /posts/YYYY-MM-DD-slug (no trailing slash, no .md)
• Verify the target post exists with Glob

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: mdelapenya
• Source: mdelapenya/blog-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.