Coming up on March 6 and 7, 2026, is a conference that I missed the inaugural event, even though I was in the city it is located in, and not even working that weekend: DataTune. When the first event occurred, I was sitting in a rehab center, just a few weeks out from hip replacement. I have missed conferences here in my own state, but this year I am going to at least one, and hopefully a few more in the future.

But this year, I am all better and ready to get up to Nashville for some proper Hot Chicken, exciting Data Learning, seeing old and new friends, and hopefully a Nashville SC match Saturday night, which is in itself a worthy reason to go up to Nashville.

My session was the inspiration for this week’s editorial: Idle hands…can be great learning tools. This is definitely a data-centered conference, and if you have other sessions at 10:30 am that Saturday morning that you need to go to, I would definitely not encourage you to skip them. But if you have some free time, instead of idling it away, join me for a discussion all about blogging called “Sharing is Caring and Writing is Sharing.”

Seeing how I have been blogging for so many years, there is no doubt that my goal will be to help you get started or get better at blogging (but I have a few negatives to share, too!)

Here is the abstract:

Of all the professional development advice that floats around on the Internet, one piece of advice has always stood out to me the most. Write. Start your own blog, write an article in a magazine, maybe even write a book. It is definitely great advice, but what does it really mean?

In this session, I will share with you my experience as a writer of many blogs and books. In the past 25 years of staring at a keyboard looking for the next word, I have encountered so many different types of writers and editors. Lots of great stuff that has been written, and the not-so-great.

I will cover how putting yourself out there in the written word is a great thing to do, but I will also share some of the negatives. Whether you have considered writing about technology or not, this session will hopefully give you a feel for the pros and cons of the process.

Of all the career choices I have ever made, starting and maintaining some form of blog has been the best ,and I hope I can spend a bit of time with you discussing that.

For those of you who will be busy at 10:30 am on March 7 or just can’t make it to Nashville for DataTune, I have a series of vlogs available called Blogging For Programmers that tell a similar story in a bit longer format (overall, each episode is under 10 minutes).

But come on, grab your ticket and meet me in Nashville!