Friday

Writing A Post + Blogging Essentials

Hello everyone! I’ve been reading a lot of posts lately that talk about how people write their posts, and obviously I’m often intrigued by these posts as they’re usually hilarious (take Katie Grace’s for example) and quite informative.


Today I’ll be talking a bit about how I write my post, how I come up with ideas (aka searching around in my brain for an idea, somewhat like fishing, hoping to catch a big one.) and what materials I use to create the perfect blog post.





The Brainstorm Process


This step is by far the most difficult process, and usually takes the longest. I settle into a nice area, close my eyes and think. I go into the huge room of ideas in my brain, grab my bait and begin to fish. In the beginning, I’ll grab some measly little post ideas, like a smaller fish, that could work for dinner, er the post, but is not quite good enough, so rejected.



Now I feel bad for that poor post. Eh I'll get over it. There are many more fish in the sea. 

I’ll usually grab more fish, as I try using more bait, such as watching Youtube videos, reading old posts. Then I’ll get a medium size fish, not too shabby. I put it in my little post/fish box, if I don’t like it I’ll throw it back.


Going deeper, I finally find the post idea I want, I trap the fish, oop, post, and prepare it for eating. Er, writing.


The Prep Process


That has a nice little ring to it, doesn’t it? In this step, I like to open up a Docs document and begin preparing the post. Making little notes to myself, and writing out the post.


This step does include the most self abuse, as I constantly yell at myself for making a grammar mistake. Or headdesking because that sentence just doesn’t work.


Usually, by the end I’ll have some decent words. Or an angry blogger willing to throw her computer out the window because nothing fits and this was a stupid idea in the first place. (back to idea fishing..)


The Images


Every post should have a graphic of some sort: is basically my motto. I need either a nice taken picture, a gif, or some sort of thing to slap somewhere so the post isn’t all words. That can hurt the eyes.


My image creating process usually consists of the following phrases:


-No that’s too bright!
-WHY did I choose this font?
-This picture is rubbish.
-Stop. Being. So. SLOW.
-centerus texterus! (it usually doesn’t work)





But I’ll come out of the gruel and pain of the image process with a shiny picture, and perfectly centered text. ah.


The Proofreading + Pretty-uping


During this step, I usually have a little checklist running through my head. Are all the images centered? Is everything bolded that needs to be bolded? Can I sneak a gif in anywhere? Did I use the correct form of there, their and they’re? How about your and you’re?


Then I’ll hit preview and check to see if the post is too long, too short, if there’s any spot where it looks too wordy. And then I’ll hit Publish.




and then 2 hours later someone will point out a mistake and I’ll scream for the rest of eternity. AND repeat.



As for my blogging essentials, I usually don’t use too many items. Just the basics.


Computer
Big essential of course, it’s what I use to erm, write my posts. Oh yeah and do the.. editing. And waste time on Youtube. Every single time.


Camera
I don’t think a camera is on everyone’s essential list, but for me, well let’s just say I don’t know where I’d be without it. I usually take most of my pictures that I use for the blog, and since I do have a DSLR handy, I like to use that for posts. It creates nice, (usually) quality pictures that hopefully make people read my post.. or keep reading my post.




A Planner/Notebook
Honestly, just anything where I can quickly jot down a note. Maybe my brain decides to go idea fishing when I’m trying to write a post and out comes another post idea, so then I can just quickly write it down. It’s really nice to just keep a little notebook wherever I go to be honest, my brain really likes to fish.


Food/Tea
My brain and my stomach gets hungry and tired while writing a post. Food is a necessary item in writing ANYTHING. Without it, I’d get halfway through my post and go brain dead.


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That’s all for today’s post folks. I hope you all enjoyed! I think I wrote a sentence 300 times because I just couldn’t get the wording right. sigh.



What are your blogging essentials? On a scale from 1-10, how frustrated do you get while writing a post? (probably an 8 from me) 

Thanks for reading,
Noor

16 comments:

  1. Ooh, I am the first comment! Yay! About a 10+ for me, it's so hard to come up with post ideas!


    You know what? These links never work, but I'm going to try it anyway, lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, congrats I suppose :D Post ideas take me ages to come up with!

      Delete
  2. Brainstorming is definitely the hardest part. That's why just keep note with a list of ideas whenever one pops in my head. Tea helps too. :]

    // ▲ itsCarmen.com ▲

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  3. It would be around a 7 for me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I find it really interesting learning how other people write posts, because often their process is nothing like mine. My level of frustration is probably a 1 because I spontaneously write posts on the spot, which explains the low quality :') But I guess I do have that subconscious planning stage some time before, or else where did the idea even come from?

    -M
    The Life of Little Me

    ReplyDelete
  5. Like M said, I find it really interesting to see how other people go about writing posts, and blogging. This post was really interesting to read, I really enjoyed it!
    -Jollygirl @ Reflections of a Jolly Girl

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is such a great post, I love the idea of thinking of an idea as a fish. I also use a million notebooks when I plan my posts ♥
    Amy xx

    Little Moon Dragon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same thoughts Amy!

      Amy says, "This is such a great post, I love the idea of thinking of an idea as a fish. I also use a million notebooks when I plan my posts ♥
      Amy xx

      Delete
    2. Oh and, the blog frustration scale, around 4 for me.

      Delete
  7. Definitely an 8 . . . and don't you hate those random spurts where all your post ideas seem like junk? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. A++++++ USE OF THAT BIG BANG THEORY GIF OMG.
    I am one of those few bloggers who has the genuine problem of too many posts floating around in my brain. And not crappy posts - I have about 15 or so high-quality, thought-out posts ready for publication at the push of a button right now, and it's highly frustrating because I only post every other day, so 15 will cover about a month. *sighs*
    It depends on the post, but probably 3-6? Mostly 3-4 though.

    Ellie | On the Other Side of Reality

    ReplyDelete
  9. Coming up with ideas is hard for me.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Haha I really enjoyed this, I can get bloggers Block so bad sometimes!

    Meme xx

    New post:
    'What Big Eye's You Have//Firmoo Eyewear Giveaway*
    www.thedayinthelifeof.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  11. OK SO I'm KIND OF SO CONFUSED AND FREAKING OUT AND 100% BAFFLED HERE HOW ON EARTH DID I JUST NOW FIND YOUR BLOG????? IM SO SORRY NOOR
    This post and your gifs are pure gold. HAHA, and this is so helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love your writing style. Wow excuse me while I stalk and follow your blog now ;)
    PS thanks for all your sweet comments + your bio is GOALS <3

    ReplyDelete
  12. As a lot of people have mentioned, I love how you use the GIF's! They're so cool and a great addition to your extremely entertaining blog posts. <3

    ReplyDelete
  13. My blogging essentials are any computers that can format blogger, and inspiration. Oh, and the blogger schedule button! On a scale of 1-10, I usually come about 7.5(ish). I love how you put so much effort into this blog!
    -Edie
    Mintyperfections.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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