MY BLOGGING WORKFLOW
Part of Robert Birming's project.
I love writing. Therefore, inspiration can hit at any moment. Sometimes it's as soon as I wake up. Or it could be after class because I didn't have time in the morning. Right now, it's in the evening, after I got back from the gym and dinner.
When I feel inspired, I immediately jump onto my bookmarked Bear Blog dashboard, click on New post and start typing away.
I start with the title
It takes me seconds to write, because I know I can always change it later. But it helps me focus on the topic at hand. Today's title was easy, because this was a predetermined subject covered by others.
Sometimes, I might not have the perfect title just yet. I might change it halfway down the post or at the very end. Rarely do I change the title after it's published. (I don't think I've ever done that.) If I'm not happy with the title, I might save it as a draft until I've settled on something I like. But this isn't something I fret over for too long, because for me, the important part is the post itself!
Previewing while writing
I don't have a plan. I just write within the Bear Blog dash. But as I write, I open up Preview to see what the post looks like. I'm a visual person, so I want to see how things look in situ. This is where I start styling different elements. For example, when I see a wall of text, I'll add in an H2 subtitle to separate it. Or a sentence in H3 to just add some variation for the post.
This is also where I do some light proofreading. For example, as I typed out that last paragraph, I read what it looked like in preview and then edited the first paragraph. I'll do this back and forth until I'm satisfied.
Adding images
I love including images in my posts. It breaks up the text and adds some visual variety. Sometimes, I'll edit the images as I'm typing up the post. For example, my London posts. As I was writing out my day, I would go on my phone, search for the picture I want, edit it, upload to computer, reduce file size, and then add it to the post.
If the photo/visual for some reason takes too long to edit or I'm in a writing flow, I'll write a placeholder, e.g. [london pic] and then add the images after I'm done writing. But lately, I like to edit and write at the same time because it makes the process exciting.
Ending the post
After I think I've expressed enough of whatever I want to say, I'll end the post. Ideally it would have a strong ending, but it can't always be like that. Writing is supposed to be fun for me, so when I overthink things or fret over little details, it's no longer fun. I once deleted a post because as I was writing it, I started to bore myself!
Proofread, publish, proofread again
Before I publish a post, I proofread it in preview as I write, and then give it a final read-through before publishing. And here comes the self-gratuitous part: I check my blog on my iPad and my phone. (I mean, after you did something you're proud of, don't you wanna just stare at it for a while? Or is it just me?!)
But this is also when I'll notice typos, grammar mistakes, etc. that I missed previously. And then I'll edit it from said device. I probably do this at least four times before I mentally move onto my next post, in which the previous ones are out of sight, out of mind.
My list of ideas
While most of my posts are unplanned, I do keep a list in Notion for when I have an idea but don't feel like writing about it right now. This is what the list looked like for January:
Whatever I didn't finish that month gets carried to the next.
One thing I'll do is add my spontaneous posts back onto that list. For example, the majority of items checked off weren't on that list from the beginning. I wrote the posts and then added them after.
I think it's important for my mental health to see what I've achieved even if it wasn't part of the original plan.
Other stuff
The time it takes to write each post varies*. Sometimes, when I'm just tired of writing, I'll stop and save it for another day. Most of the time I finish it in one go. I would say on average a post could take me anywhere from 30 minutes to a few days. The German post took me 2 hours without any breaks!
Sometimes I schedule a blog post for the following day if I already posted for that day. Ok, one thing I am picky about is having too many posts in one day. Especially if it's a big post. I just want to give it its own time to shine.
I treat my NOTES page like old-school Instagram or Twitter. Meaning, they must be short posts and posted on the spot! So most of the time I post them from my phone.
My SUNDAY journal entries are a reflection of the week. They're inspired by the weeklies that I’ve seen other bloggers doing. I chose to call it The Sunday Journal (or Das Sonntagsjournal, if I'm writing in German) because I imagine it like a weekly newspaper. This is where I also include a look back at the media I consumed and the following week's to-do list.
That's it!
I'm really curious to read about other peoples' blogging workflows, so if you've read this post, I TAG YOU!
It shows all of the various ways the human mind can create. I love that for us.