A while ago, Katie @ A Writer’s Faith explained her method for writing blog posts, and she encouraged other bloggers to do the same. Since her post-writing process is so different from mine, I thought it would be fun to share my own method and compare notes with other bloggers. (Imogen @ Gossiping with Dragons has done her own post on the subject, and it is hilarious. You should definitely check it out.)
So here it is, a rough breakdown of how I write blog posts:
Have Idea. As a general rule, I like to keep a handy-dandy list of topics on my computer so I can consult it every time I need to write a post. Occasionally I don’t find anything on that list that works for me in the moment. I’m not always in the mood to tackle old ideas, and if I’m not excited about writing something, I can’t expect you to be excited about reading it. Which means it’s back to the drawing board.
Write Rough Draft. Either way, once I’ve decided what I’m going to write about, I have to take on the sleeping dragon—my least favorite step in the entire process. I don’t need to spend a lot of time writing the rough draft. I just have to get some of my thoughts down. Typically, I end up with several poorly-fleshed out paragraphs and a few random, unconnected sentences tacked on to the end, just enough to give me the necessary framework for editing.
Time: All in all, this step generally takes about fifteen to twenty minutes.
Freak Out/Reevaluate/Break. After finishing my rough draft and realizing how awful it truly is, I have a minor panic attack. At this point, I’m scared that I’ve ruined the post idea entirely and that I’ll have to come up with something new. Approximately one fourth of my first drafts never make it past this point because this is the stage where I determine how sound my post idea is, how much I have to work with, and where I see the piece going. If I’m sufficiently unhappy with it, I set it aside (with the idea that I might come back to it in the future) and start the process with a different topic. But, if I’m happy, I take a break from the rough draft to let it settle in my mind.
Edits // Round One. After taking a good long break (if I can manage it, schedule-wise), my confidence starts to return. Sometimes I skim my rough draft before beginning edits (just to remind myself of what I’m working with), but usually I don’t even do that. From thereon in, my revision process for blog posts is almost identical to my revision process for novels. So at this stage, I rewrite the entire post—line for line, word for word—implementing all the changes I can think of along the way. During this stage, the post ends up lengthening by about 60%, which makes it way too long, so I make a mental note to worry about that later. As I rewrite everything, I flesh out my thoughts, organize them semi-strategically, and focus on saying what I want to say. I enjoy this stage of revisions the most because, during this part, my brain starts to feel like it’s actually working. This stage is also fun because, while I avoid coffee when I’m drafting a post (it only heightens my anxiety), I make sure to drink at least one cup while revising (since it helps me get in the zone and stay in the zone).
Time: This step usually takes about one to two hours.
Break. Even if I’m scrambling to write and edit a post on the day it’s supposed to go up (like I did with this one and this one), I make sure to take at least a thirty minute break between drafts. Ideally, I like to let each draft sit overnight, but that’s not always possible.
Have Small Panic Attack. At this point, my deadline is getting close, and I realize I’ve procrastinated too much. I need to start working if I’m going to get my post up.
Edits // Round Two. Here's where I get nitpicky. My post is structurally okay, but now I need to trim it down to a more readable length. I evaluate every paragraph, sentence, and word, and try to determine what’s necessary and what isn’t. About 50% of the time, I find it easier to rewrite the entire post (again), line by line, word by word (like I did with the post you’re reading right now). Because I write everything in Scrivener (I used Word before I switched to Mac), if I want something bolded or linked or italicized or you name it, I need to make a note about that in the document itself. Otherwise I’ll forget when it comes time to format everything. And I need to make sure my memos stand out so I don’t miss them and publish my post with notes like [INSERT LINK HERE] still in it. That would be awkward.
Time: Overall, this step takes about an hour.
Break. Once I’m confident the post is tight enough, I take another break.
Edits // Round Three. For this phase, I read through the entire post, keeping an eye out for typos, missing words, awkward or confusing sentences, grammatical errors, messed up punctuation, repeated words, and more. This is also the stage where I forget literally everything I know about grammar and punctuation.
Time: All told, this part take about thirty minutes.
Break, Again. I just love taking breaks, okay. Breaks are like my favorite thing ever, along with books and pizza and Twenty One Pilots.
Formatting. At long last, it’s time to copy and paste my post into the Blogger dashboard (or whatever it’s called). This is my second favorite step in the whole process. (Also, you might be wondering why I don’t just write the post directly in Blogger. It would make sense. But I have this minor phobia of accidentally publishing my unfinished work, so I take measures to keep that from happening. Capiche?)
Here’s where I add pictures and check spacing and try to make sure everything looks at least halfway decent. After I’m happy with the formatting, I put it in preview mode and read the post in that window. Usually, in this pass, I notice a handful of smaller typos and punctuation issues that didn’t show up well in Scrivener, although sometimes I end up reworking large sections. For instance, in Monday’s post, I ended up deleting three entire paragraphs because I realized they just weren’t working for me. (Seriously, if you want to catch errors and problem spots you’ve grown blind to, changing the formatting helps a lot.) Once I’ve input these changes, I put the whole thing in preview mode again and do one more read-through, mostly to make sure I didn’t introduce any new errors when I was making my last round of edits. Then I muster my feeble courage, breathe a small prayer, and press the publish button.
Time: Depending on how much formatting and editing needs to be done, this stage can take anywhere from one to three hours.
Have Minor Meltdown. Okay, I don’t really have a meltdown, don’t worry. But I do immediately check my blog one more time, just to see that the post went up without a problem and that I didn’t miss some glaring formatting error (about 10% of the time I do actually find something that needs fixing). Then, I share my post on Twitter (if I remember to) and on my Facebook (if I feel the post is extra special).
Wait. And then I wait and try not to check too often for comments.
Conclusion. If I fudge the numbers a little (since I don’t keep track of my actual times and since not every post is the same), I would say the entire process takes about four to seven hours from start to finish, not counting breaks. Obviously individual posts will require different treatment on a case-by-case basis, but this list is just to give you a general idea of what I do.
Now it's your turn, my little coffee beans. If you’re a blogger, what is your blogging method? How long does it usually take you to write and edit a post? And, since I feel like throwing in a random question, what are some of your hobbies (aside from blogging and reading)?
