# Skill: Blog Authoring

Write and publish markdown blog posts with YAML frontmatter. This skill teaches an AI agent how to create well-structured blog posts for a static site built from markdown.

## Post Format

Create a markdown file in `posts/<slug>.md` with this frontmatter:

```yaml
---
title: "Your Post Title"
slug: your-post-slug
date: "2026-05-22"
description: "Full meta description for SEO (150-160 chars ideal)."
og_description: "Shorter OG/Twitter description."
og_image: "https://your-domain.com/img/og-cover.jpg"
excerpt: "Card text shown on the blog index page."
author: "Author Name"
author_initials: "AN"
author_role: "Role, Company"
---
```

## Writing Guidelines

- **First paragraph** becomes the lead (displayed prominently below the title, separate from the body)
- **Everything after the first blank line** is the post body
- Use standard markdown: `## Headings`, `**bold**`, `*italic*`, `[links](url)`, `- lists`, fenced code blocks
- Images on their own line become `<figure>` elements with captions
- Use `---` for section breaks
- Em dashes: `---` renders as &mdash;

## Structure

A good technical blog post follows this pattern:

1. **Lead paragraph** --- what this post is about, in one sentence
2. **The Problem** --- what pain point or question motivated this work
3. **The Approach** --- what you built or decided, and why
4. **Technical Details** --- how it works, with code/diagrams
5. **What We Learned** --- insights, surprises, trade-offs
6. **Closing** --- what's next, or an invitation to the reader

## SEO Checklist

- [ ] Title under 60 characters
- [ ] Description 150-160 characters
- [ ] og_image set
- [ ] Meaningful excerpt for index card
- [ ] Internal links where relevant

## Conventions

- Slugs are kebab-case, matching the filename: `my-post.md` -> slug `my-post`
- Dates are ISO format: `2026-05-22`
- Canonical URLs: `https://your-domain.com/blog/<slug>`
- Don't edit generated HTML --- edit the markdown, then rebuild