This year, we are not doing a traditional Blaugust trying to write 31 blog posts in a month. Instead, we’re sharing blogging prompts, one each day. Yesterday’s prompt came from Tessa. Today, it is my turn to share with you the next Promptapalooza prompt:
What’s your process when creating a blog post?
Do you have a specific routine or do you just start writing and hope for the best? Do you only write blog posts on your PC or laptop or do you also use your tablet or mobile phone? Do you only write in the evenings or at any time given you’ve got some inspiration? Do you have a schedule for recurring topics?
In my case, I often get an idea and just start writing down a few sentences or just even keywords. I save the draft and then return later to properly write something. On rare occasions, mostly short blog posts, I also get an idea, open the editor and just start writing the whole blog post, add a picture or two, and hit publish.
I used to run my blog posts by bookahnerk, so he would take a look at the structure and whether the train of thought made sense. But that also meant that everything took much longer to write. Nowadays, I just ask him specific questions when I am not sure about a certain paragraph and need a second opinion. I know that one of my issues is jumping from one thought to the next without letting the person listening to me catch up or explain to them how I ended up there. It is much easier in writing, but it happens as well. Proof-reading what I wrote is definitely a must! I edit a post, even years after it’s been published, if I find a typo.
The most annoying part about blog posts for me is that I want to have more than just the featured image in my blog posts most of the time. A post like this one – presenting you a blog prompt – is different. But when it is about a game, I want to add meaningful pictures. I always end up with too many to choose from and then I have to figure out where to place which image and to make sure that I don’t forget one. I also dislike having three paragraphs without an image, then two paragraph where each one has an image between. When there is more than five images, this whole process usually takes longer than writing the blog post itself.
I previously tried to schedule posts. I often write on the weekends and thought that it may be nicer to have three blog posts spread out over the week instead of all on one day. However, it didn’t feel right to me. If it’s sitting here, ready to be published, why not publish it immediately? Why the artificial wait? Of course, you as readers wouldn’t even know the difference. But I got so uncomfortable about this scheduling that I decided not to do that anymore unless there is a specific reason for not publishing it earlier. This blog post here, for example, as I was assigned this particular day to make this blog post. But I decided not to, because it’s a Sunday and that’s when I usually have time to write a blog post anyway.
When I commuted to work by train, I sometimes worked on drafts or added ideas on my mobile phone. But I really prefer having a proper keyboard when writing, so I don’t do anything more than just throwing ideas or keywords into a draft on my phone. I also don’t use my laptop because it doesn’t have access to all my gaming screenshots. It’s a laptop used for working, not for gaming, and hardly has any games installed.
So that’s basically my process. I’ve got a few routines, but also some chaos added in between. As with everything in my life, I guess.
Tomorrow’s prompt will be shared by Krikket from Nerd Girl Thoughts, so be sure to check out her blog!
Nerdy Bookahs 
Lots of that is very familiar indeed. The main difference between my process and yours is I almost always sit down and bash the post out in one go, with no real planning or preparation. Then I fix it in the edit.
My editing process, though, is very similar. All the stuff about how long it takes to find the right images and getting them correctly spaced describes it exactly. Even with most of my posts coming in at 1500-2000 words, it’s the editing that takes the time. I generally get the words out in an hour to ninety minutes but the whole post can take 3-4 hours, with the pictures, the design and the editing taking twice as long as the writing. These days, just picking a title often takes me 30-45 minutes.
It’s taken longer since I stopped drinking, too. I used to write a lot of posts in the evening while I was drinking red wine. Two glasses is the optimum for fast, fluent and still coherent post production. Now I do them in the daytime on coffee, it takes twice as long and they’re never quite as sharp or lucent as they were a few years ago. It’s no wonder most writers drink.
LikeLiked by 2 people
For me, it’s usually the mornings with a cup of coffee. I have sometimes written blog posts in the evening. But these are usually the ones that I write down fast – mostly opinions or something I observed. Longer posts like my first impressions are only edited in the evenings, but hardly ever written there.
LikeLike