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1. Jot
it Down
Similarly to Glen I tend to jot down a lot
of ideas in my ‘Dream Notes’. I use a Moleskine notebook and Text Files on my
desktop (it’s a little chaotic). In my notes I have hundreds of post ideas, half-finished
thoughts, ideas for series of posts, possible case studies etc. A lot of it
wouldn’t make sense to anyone else but it’s where many good ideas emerge from.
2. Review
it
Periodically I get my musings and dream
notes out to see what might emerge from them. Sometimes I directly take an idea
and develop it from the notes I’ve taken (many of my list posts come almost
directly from my dream notes which I’ve written down as a list of headings.)
3. Mashup
What I especially like about this chaotic
little collection of ideas are the points of intersection between ideas. Often
an idea by itself is weak; but when I combine it with something else I’ve
dreamed up, it takes shape and becomes a much stronger and more useable idea
(like the herbs and sauces that come together to make a great marinade).
4. First
Draft
This is where I begin to write. Sometimes
it flows naturally and other times this first draft can be a real grind and the
ideas in my notes need some serious work and development. I like to write a
first draft in a single sitting if I can as I find I lose a lot of momentum and
often don’t come back to it if I leave it half finished.
5. Look
at What Others have Written
I know some people like to do research and
see what others have said on a topic before they begin to write – but generally
I like to get all my own ideas and thoughts out first as I find I can be
limited by what others have written. Often, we’ll come up with similar things,
but quite often looking at what others have said reveals ideas I’d not
considered before which I’ll incorporate (with acknowledgment). Once again – it’s
in this process that the flavors of the idea that is marinating away become tastier.
6. Bounce it Around
In a similar way, on some posts I go out of
my way to run my post (or at least the ideas behind it) by another blogger or
two (or sometimes even my wife or a non-blogging friend). Over the last three
years of blogging I’ve met some wonderful bloggers who I resonate with strongly
and whose opinions I respect a lot. If I’m writing a major post I’ll quite
often give them a look at my draft and ask for their opinions and ideas. It’s
quite often out of doing this that new depth is added or that I’m given helpful
suggestions that can make the post a real hit.
7. Write
Final Draft
Out of the above process, I then write my
final post. This can be as simple as tweaking the first draft or can at times
mean major changes (and even a re-write). At times in this process I sometimes
realize that what I’ve been working on is not a single post but a series of
posts and I’ll shape it into numerous posts that flow together.
8.
Post
This a moment which is often filled with a
mixture of relief (if it’s a big post that I’ve been struggling with) and
anticipation (if it’s a post that might get a reaction out of readers or that
I’m particularly proud of). It’s also a moment when the marination process ends on one
level but begins on another.
9. Feedback
When I’ve hit ‘publish’ in the past I would
see it as an end point in the process of developing my ideas. However; over
time I’ve come to see it as the idea entering into a new phase – one of
collaboration with those who read it. This to me is where my marinated ideas
really kick into gear as readers taste what I’ve come up with and then add to
it by leaving comments or even taking up the topic on their own blog. This is
where blogging comes into it’s own and goes beyond most other forms of communication
that I’ve come across. It’s in the comments and posts that others add to the
marinade that grow the idea, or changes
the idea and finds it’s true potential.
10. Update
Some blogging purists don’t like the idea
of updating posts but I am coming to see that the updating or refining process is essential in many of my posts. My reasoning for this is that as proud as I
might be of my posts – they are never ‘complete’ or ‘perfect’. As a result of
the feedback process and my own continued experiences; the marinating continues
in my mind and not updating the post with the new ideas I have would be doing a
disservice to it. Updating can range from tweaks to extra paragraphs (I usually
indicate any updates beyond a tweak with an ‘update’ heading) to even writing
new posts that refer to the old one and take the ideas expressed in it in a new
direction.
This pretty much sums up the workflow that
I use on many of my posts (as I say it’s what I do on my longer non ‘newsy’
posts. I know it probably differs to what others do (and in fact over the years
my own workflow has evolved as a result of circumstances). I’d love to hear
about your own posting workflow.
Do you marinade your posts? How do you take
ideas from the light bulb in your mind moment to the moment that you hit publish
(and beyond)?
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902-444-7000
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