Comments on: 4 steps to blogging.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:46:28 +0000

I usually think, "Oh, wow, Thursday again?" Pull something out of thin air and start typing…

Two years of seminary field education theological reflections written in the same manner must have trained me for blogging!

By: Megan B

Megan B — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:18:21 +0000

I do what you do. I was not aware of "The Rules of Blogging". If someone could point me to them, perhaps I would change. Probably not.

By: ergeebee

ergeebee — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:17:28 +0000

This is a great point, Jon. Please be sure to emulate Anne only in–uhhhh–the lesser degrees.

By: Kimberly Wenger

Kimberly Wenger — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:56:23 +0000

Typically I get inspired and hurry up and write it down. Then I wait for a day or two, just to be sure I actually want to the world to know my thoughts on the subject. If I decide to post it, I edit, then edit again, and again. Most of the time I cut around half of it because I'm very long-winded. Then I wait another day before reading it one last time, correcting the grammar mistakes I missed the first time (there's always more to find…), find an illustration to add in, tag and categorize it, and schedule it to post. I don't post every day or even every week. My readers seem to get beligerent if I over-do it, so I wait until my stats drop pretty low for a couple days and then I post something new. I've only been blogging for a year though and am learning as I go. A few times I've been particularly inspired and have written and posted almost immediately. That happens very rarely though and then I find myself going back in and editing after they're posted.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:24:58 +0000

If it makes you feel any better, you're not alone. This is how I blog, too. "Barf it out on the laptop" sounds pretty disgusting. I think of it as taking dictation from the Holy Spirit, and then publishing before I have time to play amateur editor.

Maybe I'm giving myself too much credit. Or, maybe I'm staying out of God's way.

By: fredtjane

fredtjane — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:11:33 +0000

I generally write stream-of-consciousness in reaction to what happens in my classroom or if I run across something on my blogging journeys. I don't know if it's a good thing or not because my current readership runs in the half-dozens.

By: Miss_W

Miss_W — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:00:59 +0000

Maybe that's what I need to do to jumpstart my blog.

By: @harrywalls4

@harrywalls4 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:22:00 +0000

I've started writing the day before I want to post a particular blog. Then the next morning when I wake up, I will look over that one again before I post it and then write the one for the next day. It seems to work pretty well. It also keeps my writing daily.

By: Jones

Jones — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:27:06 +0000

Hmmm… opening up the curtain on my mostly random process….

As Camera47 is a photography blog – I typically have two modes: (1) shoot & post or (2) write article.

In the "write article" posts – there's often a queue of 10-15 articles in some stage between "brainstorm" to "mostly done". This simmering process hopefully helps me trim big rambling text chunks. I've also found that sometimes I find things funny at midnight – and by the next morning, alongside a cup of coffee – they're just not all that funny – or concise – or any number of other errors. Then – I'll add links and images – one more sweep through – and then abandon and toss it out there.

No secret sauce here. Well, unless of course, you count the coffee.

By: Camille

Camille — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:54:23 +0000

I follow a similar process – write, ruminate, revise, then maybe post. Having drafts in queue has been very helpful, for days when I'm too busy to write or when my brain has atrophied. A helpful tip I picked up from another blogger is: POST REGULARLY. It doesn't have to be daily – but do be consistent. That way readers are motivated to check in. Making the transition from random posting to posting three times a week has increased my "hits" about ten-fold. And truthfully, we write because we want to communicate something to another person – knowing someone else is reading your blog is incredibly encouraging!