Blog Posts Behind-the-Scenes: The Pedantic Thrift Core Writing Process

I love the hell out of blogging, even when it's frustrating, it's my crack; truly addicting. I was a professional copywriter/blogger for three years and wrote for the web a decade before that. Over the years and with professional training I've developed a particular process and style. I love reading a look into anyone's creative process, here are the steps I take to arrive at a finished blog post!:

Step 1: Writing Down Any and Every Idea

I have notebooks full of ideas for blog posts, I'm never tapped for content. The well of ideas, she flows! By the way, Yuko photo-bombs constantly, I could do a whole post of Yuko-bombs!

Step 2: Plotting in Advance

I plan my blog posts 1-2 months ahead of time, I've tried Google Calendar but prefer to hand-write it on a big calendar. I keep it flexible, I'll add new ideas when I think of them and often cancel scheduled posts if I find them to be banal or uninspiring. Having the schedule keeps me organized, I know what to photograph for posts when I'm out and about.

Step 3: Rough Draft, Free-Form Writing from the heart

GOD DAMN that's a lot of text. That's stretching across the whole computer screen.

For the rough draft I open notepad and just regurgitate my brain matter into the digital world. It's rough and wordy. I then try to leave it alone for at least 24/hours then come back to edit sometimes hundreds of words from it later. When you do this flaws stick out for easy editing. It's hard to see errors when the writing is fresh.

Step 4: Photography

Sometimes, photos are the first step. Photography is paramount when it comes to art/e-commerce blogging! I may take up to 63-100+ photos for ONE blog post! I go through and choose the best photos from the bunch and upload them to Google + where they're color corrected, cropped, and put directly into the post via Blogger (Blogger and Google + are connected). I sometimes edit them in Paint Shop Pro 7.02 and/or Photoshop as well.

Step 5: Editing and Refining

Copywriting is the art of making the biggest impact with as few words as possible. I edit out everything that doesn't pertain to the main point of each post. Write like Hemingway, where every word is purposeful.

I play with photo placement and text placement on photos, sometimes for an hour or more until I'm happy with the visual beauty of the piece, too. Above is an examples of changes I've made before landing on the final photo used in the post.

TIP, Marinate that bad boy: The tastiest posts "marinate" longer. I write them a week or even months ahead of time and refine and perfect daily. Sometimes I re-take photos for the entire post or end up starting over entirely to get it right.

Photo outtake: I take hundreds of photos that never make it onto the blog. I'm a brutal editor.

I recommend blogging to everyone: your mom, dad, gardener, plumber, Voltron, Batman, cruciferous vegetables and cantankerous creatures from the cretaceous. Writing daily is proven to keep your mind and memory sharp and it's a journey to self-discovery. I see myself blogging 'til the day I die. And hopefully that last post reads something like "Dear blog, today I'm signing off for life. 'Twas awesome. Blog on, bi-otch! - Old Lady Van"

What's your blogging process like? Have any questions? Do share in the comments.

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