My Blogging Process

The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.

- A. B. Yehoshua

So a lot of people have asked me, "how do you write these blogs, what gives you inspiration to put them together"? Well my friend, it's really not a complicated or precise method to the madness. It's actually all very random. But every single time when I do write a blog, it's me and me only when I do. I don't sit and talk to someone, I don't ask for help or opinions on how to go about it, it's 100% me and how I intended it to be. Now I know recently I've been getting better about letting people have opinions on them before I post them. I recently consulted a couple of people about rewrites and opinions on some blogs I felt important, I'm getting better at that.

The writing process for me is pretty much always the same;
It's a solitary experience.
- Sheryl Crow

A lot of people tend to think that I sit down and I just think of things to write and it all just works out for the best, when in fact that's probably the furthest thing from the truth. Writing first starts with how you think. If you're a deep thinker, then you can think of something and crank out a blog then and there because you're able to go into the topic at hand. If you're a lazy thinker then you probably will think about something, then probably forget about it a couple of minutes later because you're not really thinking or worrying about it enough to write it down.

When the stories come easily and the writing process doesn't feel laboring,
That's usually a good sign for me.
- David E. Kelley

Then there are the people like me.

We're the people that could be thinking about one thing, jot it down to write on late, and as we're thinking about the topic at hand, another topic may arise and thus we write that down. I've literally started thinking about a blog topic, then I'll think of another topic, and then another topic will come, and so on and so forth. I've came up with at least 6 topics at one time just by sitting and thinking in depth about one topic.

If there was anything that I learned with my own writing process,
Maybe there's too many choices what to write about.
Just the amount of subject matter in the world these days;
Maybe that feels chaotic for me.
- Eddie Vedder

It's a pretty easy process to write if you have things to choose from, and with me being able to think of so many topics, I have a lot to choose from. But that also comes at a price because I have such a back log of things to write about, that most become out dated and I have to wait til they become relevant in my life again to kick out. I'm pretty sure that even at this moment, I have six tabs open on my FrontPage program right now that I'm going back and forth on.

Music is an important part of my writing process.
- Peter James

Majority of the time, a song also triggers my thinking of certain blogs. And I'll listen to a song repeatedly or songs that relate to each other til I'm finished writing the post. I mean music plays a big part in any facet of life for me, when I'm blogging, it's probably the one thing I can't do without when writing. As you've noticed, majority of the quotes that I use to start my blogs are actual lines from songs that I've listened to repeatedly. It's kind of like I use the inspiration from the songs to make my writing agenda clear to myself. It helps me organize my thoughts into something pretty concrete and sound.

Quotes do the same thing actually, the quotes that you see on this blog were added way after I was finished writing, they actually gave me more ammo to talk about up here. And that's another big part of the writing process. Just because you're done with a post doesn't mean you're actually done with the post, there could be a lot more to write about when it's all said and done. That's probably why I don't do a proof read majority of the time, simply because I know I can go back and add another 500 words and I don't want my posts to be long and drawn out. I'd rather chop it up and make more posts, which like I said, can lead to me having a lot of posts unfinished, sitting open.

When I return to the writing process after being away from it for a while,
The first part of it always is being honest with myself: What am I into right now?
Is it rock bands and guitars, is it noise, is it dance beats and electronics?
Is it space, is it clutter?
- Trent Reznor

Speaking of the back log.

At this moment I probably have on hand 100 topics to write about at any given moment. Those are all the topics I've just written the title down and some notes about the post I had an idea about. Now even with that, I may have an idea for a blog one month, wait about two months, go through my folder, open it and then decide that it can change into something else. So nothing in my draft folder as I like to call it, is a for sure thing. I might start out wanting to write about apples, and then it may change into trying to figure out how to build a building in Wyoming. That's just how my mind works.

Plus I also use Microsoft FrontPage from 2003. It's basically like Microsoft Word with the minor exception when you copy and paste your blog, it's already with the codes attached to it, rather than having to go back through and edit it like you have in the Word document. There is something more reason from Microsoft that does something similar, I think it's called SharePoint or something. I just use Microsoft FrontPage because it's a more useful and convenient tool for blogging and HTML codes. I start a log of drafts from FrontPage as well. But that's just me, do your research before you start using a single program, you might like something different.

My writing process isn't a very organized thing.
- Chuck Palahniuk

I have completed over about 30 blogs right now. The reason for not posting them is either I forgot or I just didn't feel like the time was right to post them. I actually just found a whole folder of finished and drafts from 2011. So what I tend to do is chuck out some old posts and put a disclaimer that it's old and doesn't necessarily express my views at the moment. The reason I post blogs like that is so you can see the maturation and the growth of myself. Because after all, that's what writing is about.

But for the most part, I'll sit on a blog and release it to the public like it's new. Sort of like when people post pictures on Instagram and tag it with the line "Old to me, new to you", yea that's what I do with the exception of not letting you guys know it's old lol. Plus a lot of the blogs I write are a couple of months in advance and on a schedule. Like My dating idea blogs, pretty much all of those were written at one time, I just go back right before I post them to do a little research and see if anything new is worth adding. But yea, that's a big part of my writing habits.

In the writing process, the more a story cooks, the better.
- Doris Lessing

I'm also a writer for the moment.

Now I do crank out some blogs that I post immediately depending on the situation. Those are few and far in between because I usually don't let feelings dictate my posting schedule. Plus that causes a lot of conflicts in interest. So I tend to shy away from them, but those posts tend to be the more higher rated ones that I have. Because for me, when I'm really really feeling a post, then nine times out of ten, so do other people. But there you have it, if you don't know where to start, just open your phone up to your note app and just jot down ideas or feelings that you have. Then you go to write it later and you can crank open Google and do some research on the subject matter or just write how you feel about it. That's where a lot of people go wrong too, they feel like blogging has some set guidelines of what you have to post and what you shouldn't post.

There is something unwholesome and destructive about the entire writing process.
- Joy Williams

I'll first say that posting anything that clearly breaks the law isn't something that's smart to do. But if it's something that's within those moral and legal laws, then by all means, say how you feel. It's YOUR blog, someone is going to feel you out of all the people in the world. Whether it's one person or a million people a day, always be true to yourself and the writing process, because at the end of the day, you're only going to be cheating yourself if you don't say how you feel. Hopefully if you found your way on to my blog and read this, it gives you some kind of idea of how to get started, because at the end of the day, I encourage everyone to blog, it's a great way to relieve stress and connect to people out there that may feel the same way that you do.So go ahead and pick up that pen, pencil or laptop. Let those creative juices flow. Until next time.

You have to relax, write what you write.

It sounds easy but it's really, really hard.

One of the things it took me longest to learn was to trust the writing process.

- Diane Setterfield