Like many people, starting a simple blog has long been a goal of mine, though one often shoved into the apsirational category due to my unwillingness to put in the work. I had made it to the point of exploring the various options (different static site generators, hosting possibilities) a number of times but had bounced off the task for a number of reasons. One of these was the degree of content required. I didn't want to add to the massive statistic of blogs with one or two cheerful posts that have languished untouched for years since. My personal need to have a solid slug of content already written and ready to go was a major blocker. During my most recent review of the matter, I realized that I already had more than enough content pre-written (and even in markdown). I have been an active Reddit user for years at this point, and have amassed a number of decent posts that I feel could translate well over to a blog. With that obstacle out of the way, real progress could be made.
The other major blocker for me had been the task of actually building the site. This had confounded me a number of times in the past, as the array of options and installation difficulties for the different static site generators I had attempted in the past had given me just enough friction to grind to a halt. This time I discovered that the advent of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and the integration of Visual Studio Code with it had solved many of the difficulties of the past. I won't go step by step through the process I followed, but will instead link to the guides I followed.
Using GitHub Pages and Pelican in Ubuntu on Windows
This guide by Matthew Kapfhammer covered all of the basics of instaling Pelican, setting up WSL and intializing the site.
This excellent guide by Jack De Winter went much more in-depth into the details of Pelican, including updating the defaults and choosing a theme. The author has another series of posts covering RSS and plugins for Pelican. I'm still working my way though these posts and will likely be using them to upgrade the blog for a while to come.