A couple of weeks ago, Katie Grace@A Writer’s Faith wrote
about how she goes about writing a blog post. Now, I love seeing other people’s
processes, comparing them to my own, and picking up helpful tips, so I was
instantly intrigued. And also wanted to write one of my own. So today, for your
viewing pleasure and amusement, I present you with my personal process for
writing blog posts. It will be highly illuminating, and entirely useless for
gaining tips from (unless you want to know the worst way to be a blogger that
is, in which case do I have the post for you!)
The Beginning
Open a Word document. Stare at it blankly. Open YouTube.
Contemplate giving up and hiding in a cave for the rest of my existence.
Blogging is hard.
The Idea
Right. A post will never be written without a subject. What
kind of post? I could use a topic from my super organised phone list. Or I
could write about robot chickens.
Robot chickens it is.
The Plan
Whip out that trusty notebook and smudgy pen, because we’ve
got a post to plan. And by plan I mean scrawling a couple of dodgy bullet
points of course. Alternatively, if we’re not writing an Elements Of or list
post, we could just dispense with the whole planning thing and smash some words
out onto the page.
Who needs plans anyway?
The Writing
Smash words onto the screen like Hulk. Actually, that’s pretty
terrible. Rewrite that beginning. Six times…Meh, I’ll come back and write that
later. Smash more words on the screen. Write half a draft. Ooh, what’s that on
YouTube? New video, score!
Wait, what was I doing again?
Right. Let’s do this post writing thing. More words on the
screen. Hulk has nothing on my smashing abilities. Ooh, that’s actually not
bad. I think I’ve got it this time. Oh wait, what was I writing about? This
wasn’t in the plan. Plan, what plan? This is way better.
The Re-Writing
This is awful.
What was I thinking? *cringe* Quick, delete. DELETE. Wait,
that line there’s ok. First paragraph has got to go though. Rewrite every word
twice. Much better. Ok, go through every paragraph one more time. But as you
finish each one, paste it in Blogger. Then you can feel accomplished. Nice
work!
The Formatting
Picture. Picture. What do I do for a picture? Can I possibly
get away with another free photo of paper and pens? Maybe another paper texture
of the background? I could take a photo of my own…No. That’s a terrible idea.
Stock photo it is then. Fonts. Fonts. Which fonts go together? How does one
know which fonts to pair together? Hey, that looks rather good. I should be a
graphic designer.
Scratch that, it’s awful.
There. Picture done. Format the list. Bold. Centre. Large
font. Bold. Centre. Large Font. NO. Don’t turn the whole post bold. Gah, why is
formatting so hard? I’ve done rather a lot of this list posts recently
actually. Maybe I should cut back a bit.
Pffft. Nah.
The Proofreading
Preview. Ok, everything looks like it’s in the right post.
You got all your fingers and toes there buddy? That’s nice. And PUBLISH.
Wait.
Wait.
WHAT IS THAT NOTE IN BRACKETS STILL DOING IN THERE? Is that
half a paragraph missing? And oh my goodness, someone take my writer’s badge
back. I wrote ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’ the whole way through. Mayday! Mayday!
Writer meltdown. Delete. Delete. BURN IT WITH FIRE.
The Aftermath
That wasn’t too bad actually. I could do more of these in a
week I’m sure. Maybe I could be one of those daily bloggers. Or next time I
could make picture headings instead of just text. The possibilities are
endless.
Wait…what am I going to write tomorrow?
And that’s basically my process. Anyone else relate to this?
If you want to see a slightly more organised and helpful post, you should check
out Katie Grace’s one HERE (sorry about this post Katie. I did try to be
sensible. Or it was in the plan somewhere, I’m sure…). My friend Sunny@A Splash
of Ink also did one of these posts. It is amazing, and you should hop over HERE and give that
a look too. And tell me, what does your blog post writing process look like?
XDDD Your sense of humor, though! I'm sure I've written my own post on this very topic, before, but I'm also sure I don't go into nearly as much work. I write, I edit, I format, I post. Ta-da! It is a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteI remember your post on this actually. So much fun. You're so much more organised about post writing than I am. Thanks for stopping by, Heather!
DeleteThanks for the shout out! I really enjoyed seeing your process!
ReplyDeleteI too have those moments where I'm like "Take away my writer's badge!" when I spell something terribly wrong or use very bad grammar (which I often do). It's especially bad when someone has to leave a comment to alert me of my error, haha.
I'm so happy you did this. I hope this trend picks up, because I'm really enjoying hearing about everyone's process:)
I loved your post too. So of course I wanted to link to it. Everyone's process is so unique. It's amazing to see all the similarities and differences, isn't it? I really hope that this picks up as a trend too, because I've really enjoyed the posts that I've seen so far. I definitely want to see more of them in the future!
Delete"The Writing" sounds so much like me. XD Oops.
ReplyDeleteHaha, the writing stage of anything is a delightfully messy time, isn't it? So creative and disorganised and brilliant and terrible all at once. Thanks for stopping by, Krissy!
DeleteBahah, SO RELATABLE. XD Although I write my posts straight into wordpress?! I've never though about doing it on a word doc actually...hehe. And I'm SUCH A CHEATER but if I get stuck I go off looking for gifs and photos before I finish writing the post. And that's usually a danger zone. Because getting back to writing is it hard. HEHE. XD I almost always only sit down to write a post whenI know what I want to write though. ;D
ReplyDeleteYOUR PROCESS IS WONDERFUL.
I see no problem with procrastinating with gifs in the middle of writing posts. gifs can be such fun. Your process is obviously a very good one, because the posts that come out of it are epic *nods*
DeleteYour blog post writing process is super relatable, except it follows my essay writing process more closely! Your sense of humor throughout the entire post cracks me up. XD
ReplyDeletexoxo Morning
Haha, this was the way I used to write essays when I was in university. Except expand it over a week or so and add in more distractions. It's a process that works though, so why change it! Thanks for stopping by Morning!
DeleteI get this struggle on some days. XD I've tried to be way more organized for the past year to prevent this and I've found this happening less to me. Though I still get ugg days like this still. XD
ReplyDeletestoritorigrace.blogspot.com
Sadly this happens all too often for me. I used to be a lot more organised and have posts scheduled a week in advance, but I never seem to manage that any more. At least my crazy process makes for a good blog post, right?
DeleteHaha right. XD
DeleteAHAHAHA I AM LAUGHING SO HARD. I spend AGES taking photos for a blog post before I've even outlined the blog post. Normally my process goes like idea --> photo --> outline --> gifs --> write the actual thing --> add links --> revise a thousand times --> schedule post --> get nervous --> revise --> repeat. Your method sounds reasonable and I shall definitely try it at some point :P *goes to Youtube*
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are always wonderful. I'd probably take an age on the photos if I ever managed to take anything that looked semi-decent! My photography skills are sadly lacking in many ways. Haha, you shouldn't be following my terrible example! Or you should and we can be terrible procrastinators together.
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ReplyDeletehahaha you crack me up! have you been spying on me??? LOL The only step I don't do is the first one. It is pointless. I cannot write when I want to. Posts ideas and content come to me when, let's say, I'm driving. cooking or taking a shower. So I pulled over or get out of the shower frequently to grab my iPhone and write it down before forget. LOL I NEVER go anywhere without the iPhone because of that! :)
ReplyDeleteOne question I have is... why does it ALWAYS sounds good in word or even in the wordpress editor and then when I see the preview I don't like it and I go back to the re-writing??? UGH UGH UGH Great Post Imogen :)
I'm so glad you enjoyed this post Daniela! Ideas never come when it's convenient for you, isn't it? So frustrating when you get a great idea and simply can't write it down at all. Good thing phones come with note taking apps, right? Ugh, I know that feeling! Thanks so much for commenting!
DeleteOoh, I'm so glad you did this! (Mine goes up tomorrow.)
ReplyDeleteThis made me smile so much. I definitely procrastinate a ton and forget what I'm doing and get off topic and throw plans to the wind. Also robot chickens. Those are totally my fall back when I can't think of anything worth writing about. *nods* I don't do any planning on paper though. *shrugs* Who has time for that anyway? There is a vast, uncharted land to explore, and I shall call it YouTube and make it my home.
So, out of curiosity, how long does it take you, on average, to write and edit a blog post?
Haha! I'm totally with you on YouTube. Vast, uncharted waters, daring adventures, slightly weird areas. Perfect for procrastinating blog posts. So glad you liked my post! On average, my posts take between 1 to 1.5 hours to write, unless it's an Elements Of post, or one of those big ones, which I start prepping days in advance and can take 3-4 hours to write if I'm unlucky (or exploring YouTube). Just saw your post, and loved it!
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