Starting a Blog with Ghost and ChatGPT

Signal Boost: “All the Days”, HAERTS
A reflective track that perfectly mirrors the spirit of starting something meaningful and personal. A perfect choice for my first blog post.

When I decided to start writing again, I didn’t start with a plan. What I had was a few loose threads, (e.g., stories, experiences, and half-thoughts), gathered over 20+ years in tech. I wanted a place to explore these. A blog seemed right. But not just any blog. One that reflected me.

This is the story of how I built this site, step-by-step, so if you’re thinking of doing something similar, maybe this will help get you going.

Getting started with a spark (and ChatGPT)

The title, format, and first dozen post ideas came together quickly, thanks to ChatGPT. I created a standalone project in ChatGPT to group all my chats. I mostly used the GPT-4o engine, which helped shape my thoughts and act as a sounding board.

I make no secret of using ChatGPT (and other AI tools) to help me write. (My writing confidence has never recovered from scraping a "C" in Higher grade English at secondary school.) But the content, the heart of it, is all personal reflections and stories from my time in tech.

I started by defining the blog’s purpose, which helped focus everything. It sharpened my thinking and made me ask: who am I writing for? That purpose is now baked into my About page.

Finding my voice (before I wrote a word)

One of the early lessons I learned: if I wanted the blog to feel authentic, I needed to define a tone of voice. I’ve read too many tech blogs that either sound like academic papers or come off like ego-fuelled LinkedIn threads. Neither felt like me.

So I worked with ChatGPT to shape something that reflected who I am – conversational, occasionally irreverent, but always honest. I wanted the posts to feel like a chat over coffee (or a pint), not a keynote lecture.

This tone now runs through every post – a mix of personal reflection, tech insight, and the odd analogy or music reference to keep things grounded.

Ideas, everywhere

Once I had a sense of direction, I started spitballing ideas. I used a separate chat for each draft post – topics ranged from the difference between CIO, CTO, and COO roles, all the way to reflections on agile, waterfall, and scaled agile delivery. It didn’t take long to build a strong base of content I could shape and polish over time.

At the same time, I found myself jotting thoughts into WhatsApp as they popped into my head. By the end of the day, I had over 50 of them. I dumped them all into a file and uploaded them to ChatGPT, asking it to cluster similar themes and suggest some high-level categories.

It worked. That braindump became a content plan. It made me believe this wasn’t just a flash-in-the-pan idea. There was enough in my head to write regularly for months.

Picking the right tools

With content brewing, I needed a home for it.

First, I registered the domain on Porkbun. I almost went with GoDaddy, but some online feedback steered me away. Porkbun was clean, quick, and did what I needed.

Then, I chose Ghost as my blogging platform. I’ve used WordPress before, but wanted something simpler – fewer plugins, fewer distractions, more focus on writing. Ghost just felt like the right tool for the job.

I set up the Ghost site, then updated the DNS on Porkbun to point to it. Not ashamed to admit DNS still leaves me confused. I Googled how to do it, checked, double-checked, and slowly read the entries out loud like I was defusing a bomb.

Designing the look

Imagery matters. I didn’t want generic stock photos. I wanted something abstract, which matched the tone and emotion of each post. I used ChatGPT to help generate ideas, then jumped into Canva for tweaking.

Here’s the prompt I used to generate a portfolio of images with abstract waveforms:

Prompt: Please generate a digital abstract background image designed for a blog banner. It should feature flowing waveform patterns and smooth gradients. The colour palette should reflect the tone of the blog post: leadership. Include a subtle texture or grain to add depth. The layout should be in a 16:9 aspect ratio, with vibrant colour blending and harmonious contrast. Leave the image free of text or logos to allow for overlay later.

(Yes, I always say "please" when in conversation with my AI agent!)

Knowing it was a one-time creative burst, I made loads of them to suit different moods and topics. I also used one image (with some Canva help) as the site favicon.

Music to match

Music has always helped me process things. I use TuneMyMusic to export my Apple Music “Top 125” playlist into a CSV. I then uploaded that to ChatGPT, which formatted it into an HTML table.

Now, each post includes a “Signal Boost” – a track that fits the post's tone and reinforces the message. It’s a small detail, but one that connects tech and emotion in a way that feels right to me.

Bringing it all together

I installed the Source theme on Ghost (v1.4.1) and customised it:

• Highlight colour: Electric blue #00BFFF – because the 'BFF' acronym in the hex code made me smile.
• Theme: I chose the Newsletter layout with a black background to make the waveforms and accent colours pop.
• Navigation: I added links to the About page, a Privacy Policy, and a Playlist page.

And with that, the blog was ready.

Final thoughts

So here we are, the very first post. The beginning of The Gated Signal.

If you’re thinking of starting a blog, my advice is this: don’t wait until it’s perfect. Start scribbling. Use tools like ChatGPT to get your thoughts flowing. Focus on the content first, and let the structure emerge.

And if any part of this helped you get started, I’m glad. That’s why I wrote it.