Over the years, I've read many posts from different people detailing how they blog; what their inspirations and processes are.
Tracy explains her approach for long posts and is, as is usually the case, far more organised than I. However, I wanted to pick up on a few points that jumped out at me or resonated in some way.
She says "the writing is the thinking" and "the first draft is freewriting". The first of these statements I totally grok. My posts evolve as I type and I generally let them go wherever they want. I start out with an idea of what I want to write about but, sometimes, that means a position will change during the length of a post as I think out loud, rationalise and realise other avenues as I tap away.
As for the second, well ... There usually isn't any draft/revision process in my blogging to speak of beyond real time edits. It is freewriting with a few tweaks as I go. I don't have a distinct editing phase beyond checking for obvious errors, typos etc.
This can extend into other areas beyond blogging and occassionally get me in trouble as I may not accurately express my thoughts. What I want or mean to say doesn't always match up with what appears on the screen. I know I should slow down but saying it and actually doing it are two different things.
Tracy says the worst part of her process is writing in the phone browser:
Writing in the browser window really sucks, especially on a small phone, where the keyboard covers half the screen. I'm a slow phone typist, and the phone ain't ergonomic in the slightest.
As I've written so many times, almost everything I do is on my phone – it is my PC (Primary Computer). Having a large screen phone definitely helps, as does total control of my writing environment.
I am always trying to get more comfortable with writing on my MacBook Pro (and more recently on the Galaxy Tab) but my phone is always there, ready to go with a minimum of fuss. I've just gotten used to writing on the phone, having done so for years, to the point where it just feels more natural to me.
I feel like I connect more with the words by tapping directly on the screen rather than using a keyboard, it seems closer to writing with a pen but even that feels a bit alien after all these years using keyboards and screens.
My blogging process is very ad hoc and fluid. I've always been bad at curating lists of links and gathering information on specific topics. Working with bullet points isn't a natural process for me – ideas tend to form and emerge more organically from an 'informational morass' rather than in any structured way. While I have set up a few 'labels' on the blog I have been (and am) very bad at categorising posts during or after posting.
As I've said in the past, I'm an impatient writer who needs to get things down while they are fresh in my mind else they'll get lost. This can often serve as a barrier to creation. I'm very much a 'stream of consiousness' writer than a planned and deliberate one. It's why I'm surprised and so proud to have finished "It's Only Words". Such a long term project is the antithesis of how I normally write – I believe I only succeeded because much of the work was effectively done in 2014.
Having a body of work to look back on is a blessing. On this day (both for the blog and journal) is such a simple way to surface old thoughts and ideas. Sometimes that will lead to new posts, other times just temper something I'm already writing. As I always say: the blog is a conversation with myself that others happen to observe from time to time.
This post is a bit of an anomaly as I am writing in my /notes section rather than as a draft post. I am deliberately taking more time and care than I normally would – it feels awkward and, somehow, artificial. Almost forced. I'm not really sure of how to describe the way it sits with me other than it seems ... wrong.
