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Do you want quality content for your blog or website? While you can take the help of professional content writing services, why not try to improve your ability to create compelling content. All it takes is understanding and implementing the steps of the writing process; how you should go about writing; where should you start, and what next steps to take. Once you do that, you’ll know how helpful and important it is. Here is the step-by-step approach and explanation of the benefits of the writing process revealed that professional content writers use to create quality content. ~ Ed.
Writing may not be a science, but it certainly involves a process. The writing process is all about taking a course of action to create compelling content.
This post is for bloggers and writers, or anyone who primarily has to create and deal with content.
A writing process helps you choose and define the writing methods, perfect your content, and impress your clients and readers with impeccable quality.
However, what happens if you do not follow the procedure prescribed for writing?
Your content suffers, and as a result, not only your readers but even the search engines don’t take much interest in it.
Since content is the king, you need to give it a royal treatment and follow the ideal steps of creation to improve your content.
The first step is to understand the writing process.
“The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.” ~ A. B. Yehoshua
What Is The Writing Process
Probably you first learned about the process of writing at school, but many writers follow it naturally without even knowing about it.
A writing process is nothing but a series of overlapping steps that you must follow to produce a piece of writing.
When you are in your creative process of writing, you don’t think about steps. I don’t do that either as I tend to write free flow, keeping a few basic steps in mind.
However, it really helps by breaking down the entire process of writing into comprehensible steps.
You understand the process of writing better this way, do not miss out on any element of good writing, and overcome writer’s block.
MUST READ: How to Improve Your Writing Skills in Four Ways
Let’s try to understand the process of writing through the analogy of an industrial process.
You can consider ideas as the raw material, which undergo different stages of fabrication and modification to produce the final product, the written content.
The writing process here is the amalgam of different stages of transformation of content ideas into the final compelling content.
The process of writing is the creation and improvisation of content in an organized and systematic way.
However, unlike the industrial process, it is entirely creative and its steps can change at any given time.
“My writing process is very organic. I start with an idea. I have the general story arc and the cast. But then I sit down to write, and things change.” ~ Sarah Addison Allen
Steps Of The Writing Process
The writing process though often described as having five stages, in fact, cannot be explained in a linear form with a fixed number of steps.
The steps involved in the process of writing can vary, depending on the kind of content and the writer himself or herself, along with other various conditions.
The generally followed steps of writing process are:
- Prewriting
- Drafting
- Revising
- Editing
- Publishing
To properly carry out and complete each step, you need to ask yourself a few questions:
– Why do you want to write the content?
– What do you want to convey?
– Who will be reading your content?
You will have to keep questioning yourself and your process of writing to know if you’re on the right track, like:
– Am I developing the ideas in the right way?
– Is the order of ideas correct?
– Does it all make good sense?
– What can I do to make it more effective?
– And more.
But foremost, you should ask if your ideas serve your purpose and whether the resulting content will be useful.
Well, after you answer the questions, you should follow the below mentioned points to make these steps of the writing process effective.
Prewrite (Thinking Stage)
– define your goal
– decide your audience
– choose a topic
– gather and organize your ideas
Draft (Writing Stage)
– write your ideas down on paper
– create the outline and heading
– don’t worry about editing or making mistakes – just write!
– explore new ideas as you write
Revise (Improving Stage)
– add details and ideas
– delete ideas that are off topic
– rearrange sentences or parts of sentences
– consult with peer readers, if possible
Edit (Correcting Stage)
– check spelling mistakes
– fix punctuation mistakes
– undo capitalization mistakes
– correct other grammar mistakes
Publish (Sharing Stage)
– choose a format
– neatly print, type, and save the final draft
– add audio or visuals
– give it a final read
These steps may further be divided into sub-steps, or overlap each other, or even follow an irregular repetitive pattern.
The writing process of different writers may show different patterns, but it all starts and ends with the same steps.
Here is a diagram that shows different writing steps some writers follow.
Understanding the Benefits and Importance of The Writing Process
As you observed, essentially writing starts with your thoughts. It is your idea that gives birth to your piece of content.
Foremost, you need to brainstorm, either all by yourself or with your team to decide on the theme, objective, desired results, the format, and tone, etc.
You need to have a writing strategy, which is all about preparing a systematic plan of action.
If you want to know more, then you can read my guest post about writing strategies to create compelling content.
The writing strategies act like a road-map that never lets you get lost, helps creates guidelines, and provides a structure to your ideas.
As per your writing strategy, you might first jot down all the ideas and create an outline of the content.
Then you keep writing, revising, rewriting, revising again. Sometime you might even decide to change your outline and direction altogether in the middle of your writing, and then repeat the entire process.
It is good if you can sleep over your written content or give it some resting time, and revise with a fresh pair of eyes.
“The writing process is a constant cycle of thinking, drafting, and reviewing.”
Most of the authors, bloggers, and writers follow this process of writing – nobody gets it right the first time!
So, don’t shy away from writing a several drafts because with each revision, you improve your content.
Here is a flow diagram that shows how dynamic the writing process is – you have many changes and considerations at each step.
Source: Webster
Now, as you have read all about the writing process, do you think it is easy?
I am always surprised when I read that writers can churn out an article in a few minutes!
More so, some clients expect the writers to deliver a 1000-word well-researched article in an hour!
Do you think it is possible to produce content so quickly if you follow the entire writing process properly? Of course not.
I don’t think you can ever get the quality if you try to quicken or shorten the writing process.
However, if the whole process seems overwhelming to you, then you do not have to go through it. Why not delegate or outsource the task to someone else?
Someone who is competent and professional and employs the writing process in content writing. As of what I know, most professional writers follow a strict procedure to produce quality content.
So, why not improve your content with a content writing service. The choice is yours.
“If writing didn’t require thinking then we’d all be doing it.” ~ Jeremiah Laabs
My Writing Process
When I start writing, the paper or document appears as a blank canvas. It is exciting as it is an opportunity to create something from scratch.
Honestly, sometimes viewing a blank page could even cause anxiety, but that is if you do not plan your work in advance.
However, you don’t have to worry if you follow a writing process. Being a blogger and writer, that’s just what I follow most of the time.
DO READ: How Starting A Freelance Writing Career Changed My Life
The task of content creation seems challenging, but that is what I love. Let me share with you my process of writing.
I try to brainstorm and contemplate to come up with a seed idea.
Then I think about how I can develop the idea and create a story around it considering my content needs.
Next, I create a title to reflect my content theme. I can always modify this later, if required.
Now I make a rough outline of the headings and sub-headings to give a structure to my ideas. This is all the pre-writing stuff.
Then comes the drafting stage, in which all I’ve to do is fill up this structure with relevant content. I use my knowledge, personal experience, and research for this purpose.
I keep revising and re-reading the content as I write. That’s because I usually write long and want the different content sections to remain connected in a logical order. (If you wish, you can keep the revision for last.)
In the process, I also get new ideas that I insert in the first draft. As I get an idea – I jot it down, and don’t let it go!
Ideas are too valuable and that’s why you need to stay alert and focused because you never know when one comes to you!
Slowly I keep on adding brick by brick to make the entire structure. I feel like a potter sometimes, who molds the clay into various forms before giving it a final shape.
Once I have written to the best of my ability and added all I could gather to help my readers, I start polishing the content structure by editing and proof reading.
Next I reread and revise the content many times to spot the errors, though I am never satisfied as I feel it can always become better. 🙂
Then, I add, delete, change the words and sentences, or sometime restructure and re-position entire paragraphs to enhance the flow of the article.
Reading the content aloud or in your mind helps you to keep a check on the tone and choice of words.
Overall, I make sure the entire content is cohesive and coherent, meaningful and useful, relevant and resourceful, and engaging and interesting.
Wrapping It Up
The writing process is important and no doubt it has numerous benefits. Following a writing process makes things easy for you.
The entire process takes hours, and even more if you have to choose the images, quotes, and create a beautiful and impressive layout, especially for bloggers.
Finally, you publish the post if you’re a blogger, or deliver the article if you’re a freelance writer.
Who said writing or blogging was easy? 🙂
However, if you understand and carry out the writing process in the right way, you can create compelling content each time.
When your content is ready and published, and people like it, your efforts are paid off by reading their wonderful comments. What more would a blogger or writer want?
You don’t mind sweating for it because that’s the labor of love – your love of writing and the process of creation.
The result is sweeter if you’re able to implement the writing process and improve your content, which you really do.
Don’t wait any longer, start processing your writing in the way discussed in this post and make your articles or blog posts successful!
“Anyone who says writing is easy isn’t doing it right.” ~ Amy Joy
Over to You –
What is the writing process you follow? How do you create or improve your content? Share in the comments.
Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos, Enokson
Hi Harleena!
Thanks for this article! I appreciate your job, and I love that you included a picture with the description of the writing process.
As for me, I’ve found that working on your drafts is beneficial. If I’m not in the mood to write, I dig into my drafts and find something to work on. Sometimes it gives me insight, sometimes I add something and, therefore, breath the new life in it.
Do you work with your unpublished articles?
Cheers,
Andrew
I believe that art is all about creating masterpiece whether you’re a writer or a painter. Painters often focus on imagination from their past experiences or surroundings and take inspiration from them to create either a mirror image of it or something totally unique out of their creative brain. That’s a process every painter follows.
Similarly, writers too need to follow a process if they wish to create a masterpiece content. It won’t be same as painter but it will definitely take some good amount of time to write a breathtaking content.
Indeed a great post for newbie like me.i never followed these steps but i do drafting then editing at last grammar check and proof reading.
Hi Harleena,
Thanks for your post. I think writing process is very much important and should be developed for better consequence.
While I write, I followed 3 steps. First I research deeply on Google and collected as many data as possible. Then, at the second step, I cultivate them and mind set the structure of content, what I will add where. After that in the final step, I try to reflect my mind.
I think, everyone has their own style of writing, so the process might vary. After reading this post, I’ve got a few more ideas to enhance my writing process. 🙂
Harleena,
Great tips that showcase how much having a process around the writing can help. I must admit, I write my title last. I’m curious, do you write it first as a system to help you stay on topic?
Hello Ms. Harleena
I am definitely late on this awesome article.
I think I received a year’s education on writing.
The format/ strategy you gave is great, and I really want to follow it, so that I can grow as a blogger.
I need to learn to put the right words together to convey my thoughts.
Thank you! I found this on Pintetest
The article is very well written. I am a new blogger start writing initially it was quite difficult to write a single paragraph, after ridding these materials form internet now I am able to write 600 to 1000 words. It really helps me to improve my writing.
hello Ma’am,
really it is very informative post for me coz i am new in the field and if i am talikg about my writing style it is very simple and i’m using MS Office for writing also use ginger for grammar improvement….
and still learning writing improvement for your blog and another blogs 🙂
thanks
Rahul Kashyap
I too follow the same writing process steps. My writing style has improved a lot in past 2 years.
Thanks Harleena.
It is indeed a great article. When I choose a topic that I am passionate about. The first thing I do is to make an outline. The outline usually is a skeleton framework of the book. I write down the names of the chapters and sub-chapters. I make bullet points as to what exactly I want to cover in a chapter. This really helps me a lot. I find that when I actually sit down to write my book, I am not wandering needlessly wasting my time, energy and effort writing aimlessly. In this way, you can write for a purpose, what your audience will like to read, etc.
I look forward to reading more of your articles.
“The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.”
That’s very true ! I really appreciate your content framing strategy..
But promotion of post is also very important part of seo ..Superb writing..
Your writing plan is good,well, when come to me, i just write the content then edit if need adding some points later it will go to publish.
but, as per your process, it will really enhance the quality of the content because, pre-writing is good idea to give importance the points related to the subject which i don’t follow, sure i will implement immediately
Great!
Another epic content from you, Harleena! 🙂 Glad I’ve found your post again.
This is such an interesting topic.
Writers are striving to create quality content for their own sake, and also for the sake of their readers. Well, amazingly, they should not look for other ways on how to improve their content, because they already improving it with the help of their writing process.
I’m fascinated to know this fact, and realized that you’re right. Writers should not only focus on little things, but they should also look for general practices.
I like the ideas and insights shared in the article above. They are all valuable and remarkable.
Thanks for this awesome and informative post! I’ve indeed learned a lot. 🙂
Best,
Ann07
By the way, I found this post shared on Kingged.com
I’ve done a good deal of professional freelance writing, Harleena, and I must say… you’ve taught me more than a few things about the processes to use.
The blank page is a scary place to be. This helps to turn it into a workspace real fast. Thanks for all the great ideas.
Hey Harleena!!
I’ve been MIA for a while, but was really excited to read this post because I’m always trying to improve my writing process. I need to get out of the habit of writing a blog post within a few short days and just do a little bit of it at a time.
I’d love to start adding more of the pre-writing segment into my weekly practice. I feel as though this will help me work through and outline my ideas so that I’m not floundering for what to say when it comes to the draft time.
Love that you outlined this process. It’s super helpful!!
Hi Harleena, what a great resource, I’ve just had to share it.
I love the flow charts on the writing process but I’ll be honest and say I’ve not really given much thought to it lately. In the past I’ve obsessed over it and now I seem to have gotten over it.
Having read this and shared it, you can bet I’ll be paying more attention to what I’m doing.
Hey Harleena,
Great article. I think the biggest thing we NEED to do is the proof reading part. Most of the time, we just write and hit the publish button.
Do the extra step by reading it and take the opportunity to add more value to the article.
Top notch Harleena!
Hi Reginald,
Glad you liked the post. 🙂
Yes indeed, it’s the editing and proofreading, besides the several revisions that take up most of the time, especially for bloggers as time is always an issue with most of us. But if you follow such a process of writing, I am sure the edits will be a limited few too.
Reading always helps you to become a better writer, though be careful about what you read online too!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views with us 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Great writing steps and tips for anyone still not sure how it’s done.
In my case, as I mentioned in a very recent post of mine, I usually write subconsciously, so the writing part is usually a breeze. I like to have more time reviewing and editing, and as I do I may change a few things to make the article make more sense, or sound better.
Sorry, to be here so late. I’ve had the hardest time to follow up with blogs lately.
Great post idea 🙂
Hi Sylviane,
Nice to have you back 🙂
Glad you liked the post. I remember reading that, and I think for writers or bloggers who blog consistently, writing is the easiest part. It’s the planning or editing that usually takes a little longer, especially for bloggers if they have to look up keywords and optimize their posts as well. Usually the revisions take time for me, and of course, the setting up of the post onto WordPress too!
No problem at all, and I hope you have a relaxing weekend. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us 🙂
Hi Harleena,
This is such a great article. It covers some good basics and I myself took away a lot of tips from it. Thank you for sharing. One thing that seems to work for me is to start writing as soon as an idea or thought strikes me or appeals to me. I’ve noticed that the more impromptu I am the more freely my writing flows. If I start analysing too much I lose my originality.
Hi Vipin,
Well, thank you for saying that. 🙂
Yes indeed, I tried covering up all that I could, though I know a lot more could have been added. Perhaps more of it in another writing related post after a while.
I agree with you there, and that impromptu writing is actually the best one as it’s right from your heart. But it doesn’t work much in blogging unless you tweak what you write later, if you want to optimize your posts for the search engines along with your readers. Also, sometimes it’s not possible to start writing immediately if you are involved in other tasks. I usually note down my ideas as they come, which are used up for later posts.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us 🙂
Nice article.
Yes it is definitely require to write in depth article to provide quality. Also in Panda 4.0 world article quality matters a lot.
Welcome to my blog Tushar!
Glad you liked the post. 🙂
Absolutely! If your writing isn’t good enough or you don’t provide quality content, your readers will not like it, or stop visiting your blog, and as you mentioned, even the search engines don’t like poor quality content. With the recent Google updates, you need to be very careful.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. 🙂
Following a writing process is important for a “real writer”. It may come natural for someone for someone who is consistent in writing. The more you writer, the better you become at the process. Hence, writing process sticks naturally for many.
I follow idea generation, drafting, editing and publishing as my process. Although I did not learn this at the four walls of a classroom but with practice and personal development and extra reading, I have come to inculcate them it naturally.
Understanding and following a process is helpful because a blogger can easily use it to create the compelling posts at any point in time.
This comment was left in kingged.com – the content syndication and social bookmarking website for Internet Marketers where this post was shared.
Sunday – kingged.com contributor
Hi Sunday,
Yes, that’s true and I think every writer follows such a process, though unknowingly, even bloggers follow one – like you said, anyone who writes a lot, will follow a process of their own.
It doesn’t have to be the mentioned steps, as again, each one of us has our own ways. You mentioned your ways, which might be different from mine, but the end result is what really matters. Where we learnt it from doesn’t matter, it surely comes with time, experience, and practice. Yes – more you read and write, the better you become.
I agree, it does help to improve your content, especially for bloggers.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us 🙂
Many thanks for writing the extraordinary and straightforward ideas to boost the writing ability.
Am a blog writer and am complying with the majority of the means which you defined right here to come to be a master in composing.
I never ever fail to remember to modify, proofread and to check out loudly prior to releasing my blog post.
Hope these phenomenal ideas would certainly assist the newbies to writing far better, keep writing!
Welcome to my blog Ahmad!
Nice to know that you liked the post and could relate to it. 🙂
That’s wonderful indeed! And just as I’ve been mentioning in my comments earlier, we all have our own ways to write – some use this writing process, some skip a few steps, some change the process, while a few just don’t use any writing process. I guess it depends from person to person, though unknowingly we all are following a process.
Yes, proofreading, editing, revising and re-revising are all essential steps before your final content is ready. I hope so too, because I know practice makes you better, isn’t it?
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views with us 🙂
Every good and bad content has a writing process.
The writing process involves inspiration, planning and structure, in the first stage Prewrite. If you are lacking of inspiration, try writing a prompt to get you started, always expand. In writing, concentration and energy are required.
Revising is adding, removing, rearranging and replacing. It’s best if you can show your work to several people, so that you can get more than one opinion. And if you’ll edit your content, print it, it is easier to spot mistakes that way.
I found this post shared on Kingged.com, the Internet marketing social site, and I “kingged” it and left this comment.
Hi Metz,
That’s true, and I think anyone who writes, is going through a process of writing, whether they know about it or not. 🙂
I agree with you there – lot of time, energy, and patience goes into writing, if you take it professionally, while you have many bloggers and writers who tend to be more of hobby writers and they prefer to go the more free-flow way. So, it depends on what really works for you, though following a process always gives structure to your post.
Yes indeed, if you can get it edited, nothing like it, or else, just go ahead and let it rest for a few hours before you finalize it.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views with us 🙂
Hi Harleena!
Thanks for a great list of fantastic advice. Your quotes are just nailing it. I tweeted one, but I guess I will come back and tweet the others as well.
I also like the graphics. It’s quite easy to remember.
I usually put all the information in my posts I can think of. When I want to include scientific facts I need to do some research as well. Then I start throwing things out again until I think the post is clear. The first draft can never be published. It is usually a mess.
Enjoy the rest of your week 🙂
Hi Ilka,
Well, thank you for saying that, and glad you liked the quotes as well. You know how much I love them! Nice of you to have tweeted that one, especially made written me. 🙂
Yes indeed, I loved the diagrams too the moment I saw them and felt they had to be included in this post.
Each one of us has our own way to write, and they don’t have to be in steps mentioned above. However, if this kind of a writing process is followed, it does improve your content, or perhaps gives it a better form. Oh yes…the first draft does need to be improvised and edited many times before we hit the publish button.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your ways with us. Have a nice weekend as well 🙂
Hi Harleena,
WOW, that’s one great and educative post!! Thanks heaps as I am still a work in progress when it comes to writing and after reading this post, still I have a long road ahead of me to master the writing process.
I bookmarked this page and I have to refer to it a lot to learn and apply those strategies. I was honestly looking for something detailed like this to teach me better to improve my writing.
Thanks again for an awesome post!! You delivered to the max. Harleena!!
Have a great weekend ahead!!!
Be Blessed,
Neamat
Hi Neamat,
Nice to have you back 🙂
Glad you liked the post, and don’t worry, we are all learners here, and perhaps that’s how we grow and get better with time, isn’t it?
However, just as I’ve been telling everyone above, we all have a writing process we follow, though our ways are different from each other. It’s the end result that really matters.
Well, I don’t think you really need to refer to this page, Neamat, as you write so well already, but nice of you to say that.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us. Have a nice weekend as well 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Oh my goodness, my head is spinning. I don’t have a writing process, not even for my blog posts. Especially for my blogs posts. I think I did a much more detailed job back when I was writing a lot of articles. I was writing for the purpose of course to get them interested in what I offered where as you know on my blog I write more to teach than anything else.
I don’t even map out what I’m going to write about and once I make the decision what the topic is I just sit down and go for it.
I’ve read a lot of posts about how to write great blog posts and they also shared their process as well. They were all kind enough though to admit that what works for some may not work for others so I guess I’m one of those cases.
I did enjoy reading this though and especially how you map things out for your own posts. The infographics were a nice touch too.
Thanks bunches and you enjoy your weekend now.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
Lol…sorry for the spin! However, you would be surprised to know that knowingly or unknowingly you too follow a writing process, just that you perhaps didn’t know it till now. 🙂
Every blogger or writer follows a process of writing, though each one has his or her own style. There are certainly no hard and fast rules because it varies, depending on what and how you are writing.
Bloggers usually don’t have much of time to map out or plan what to write, but if you have an idea in mind or know what to write about, you are on the right track, as the rest follows easily.
You are certainly not alone as it works for some, while others are gifted, just as you are, but you do have your own process of writing for sure.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us. Have a nice weekend as well 🙂
This is a really interesting topic and an amazing post. I agree with you that the beginning is the most difficult step. If you are inspired it is easy but If you are not, It gets complicated. Thank you for sharing!
Welcome to my blog Juan!
Glad you liked the post and found it interesting as well 🙂
Yes indeed, the beginning is a little tough, especially if you haven’t chalked out what your writing process is going to be, or how you would proceed with your writing. Once that is done, the rest falls into place. Inspiration is all around us, you just need to find it. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views. 🙂
BTW – Do use a Gravatar as I see you have a lovely picture of yours on your blog, so that we can see who we are talking to. Just a friendly suggestion 🙂
While I’m a bit late to comment, of course, I have to put in my two cents about anything that talks about the writing process. It is indeed the backbone of any writer’s career, whether you’re blogging, writing articles or longer pieces.
I’ve been studying the writing process as well as working with writers (beginner to advanced) both helping them figure out what works best from them but also to pick up ideas and hints for myself.
I recently took part in a blog hop that asked three questions so that each writer in the hop would outline his or her own process. Very useful both to write it out for myself as well as hear how others approach their work.
Much of what I wrote echoes your advice, Harleena, and your own process. And like you, I always make room for the individual. What I do works for me. It may not work for you. In sharing these ideas and posts, though, we all benefit.
So yes, I’m always happy to talk more about the process, how it develops and how we each become more aware of what works for us as we become more experienced and accomplished.
Oh yes, one thing I also want to add. Most writers doubt themselves. I find this to be very much a part of the process, because as we’re growing and trying new things, we find ourselves on shaky, unclear ground. We’re doing something we’ve never done before, and we’re not sure it will work. Sometimes it doesn’t.
Without this, we do not grow.
Lovely post as usual, Harleena, and one that goes right to the heard of what interests me most when I’m working with clients. Thank you for the discussion!
Hi Leigh,
Nice to have you back, and you are always welcome anytime 🙂
I agree with you there, the writing process is vital for any writer and blogger too for that matter, especially if you are writing long pieces as it gives a proper structure to your writing.
You are a wonderful and seasoned writer, Leigh, and I’ve read your posts, which inspire many. I like the idea of a blog hop, something that I used to participate in when my writing blog was up and about as you get so much to learn from other writers, and it helps you become better too.
That’s true. What works for one, may or may not work for another, and we need to give that space to each other. It’s the same with the writing process because each one of us is different and follow our own way of writing a piece. What really matters is the end result, though if we tend to follow the right way, we are able to produce better results. A writing process certainly refines our work I would say.
The doubting stage happens even with bloggers, just as with writers, or perhaps I experience it sometimes myself when I have to try something new. Whenever there are any new changes I want to bring about or try on my blog, it takes me time to get to them, because of the doubt factor, just as you mentioned. But without trying new things, we don’t grow, nor get better. So, taking risks is part of life, whether it’s for bloggers, writers, or anyone else, isn’t it? 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your pearls of wisdom with us. Always helps when it comes from another writer 🙂
Wow Harleena, this is exceptional and it was so compelling that I found myself nodding as I read through it!
I am thinking that I do follow a structure, not consciously like you’ve detailed but one that brings an end result that have gained the compliments of others as good writing/good writer.
I really love writing and I believe that it is one of my gifts – just that I need to cultivate and develop the gift even more. Ever since I was a little child growing up, and throughout the years, I could not understand why I was constantly writing down ‘things’ on bits of paper/notebook (some of which I have kept to this day)I later learned everything I was writing were thoughts, ideas, phrase, sentence to something much bigger than me the person.
There are times I would get up in the middle of the night and ideas would be flowing that I would reach over, turn on the bedside light, grab my pen/paper just to write down right away what I was hearing.
On my blog, sometimes the title comes first and then the theme and the ideas begin to flow. Other times, I am inspired by a picture and I work my way around that. Other times, I write from the place of my pain or some test/trial that I am going through. It varies with every occasion.
But I am all for this detailed structure you have given.
Thank you again for your wisdom and inspiration that you bring each time to us!
Hi Yvonne,
Well, thank you for saying that – your words made my day a lot brighter! 🙂
Absolutely! You write wonderfully, as I’ve read your posts, and knowingly or unknowingly you too are following a writing process. It’s just that one doesn’t come to know of it till one’s told or till we read about it. More so, we all have our own unique style of writing.
That’s wonderful indeed! Seems like you were already a writer in the making since the time you were young. Those are the very traits of someone who loves writing as they are constantly friends with pen and paper, and never stop writing.
I’ve never got up in the middle of the night to write! Gosh! I just drop dead the moment I get time to sleep, Yvonne, so tired of writing all day long, whether it’s the post or the never ending comments on the blog. But jokes apart, you are a true writer and must nurture your love for writing further.
That happens with me too and I think that’s because inspiration is actually all around us, if we keep our eyes and ears open. Any small thing can inspire us to create a post and write about it.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us. Have a nice weekend 🙂
Hi Harleena,
WOW!!! Really awesome article
Truly this is a very knowledgeable and informative specially for blogger because writing process is most important point in blogging and no other good way of understand this information with diagram.
Thanks for sharing have a good day 🙂
Keep posting
Hi Smith,
Glad you liked the post. 🙂
Yes indeed, bloggers need to write blog posts so this post does relate to them in a big way, though there are no hard and fast rules that they have to apply for writing as each one has his or her own style. But they can certainly improve their content if they follow a writing process, just as it’s mentioned above and in the diagrams too.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Its really good to see you again here at this wonderful content curation space.
Though you be there before me at OLAMOSH’s post about the first commentor! though i got the first place here at his page. I think I got the first place here again in your page LOL 🙂
This indeed is yet another wonderful and a must read post for every writer, though I have been in this field for many years, of course not in the English language but in my native language Malayalm. I started writing stories, poems etc at a very young age and that reading writing continued and its still going on but sad to say that even today i could not follow many of the steps mentioned here, I am sure if one follow these steps in a systematic way surely he or she can produce well worth reading or benefiting post.
Harleena, you brought out this in a wonderful way for the development of the fellow bloggers and writers. Of course your yeomen service to the writing community especially to the fellow bloggers are really praiseworthy, I first met you at the place of Adrienne Smith’s page. that was indeed a good encounter and I am so glad that i could relate in many areas of your writing life and i am again so glad that i mentioned you in some of my blog posts and I really appreciate your timely response to your readers comments.
Keep up the good works my dear friend.
I am bookmarking this to re check and re do many things mentioned in this post. Of course the key word here is Read Read Read and Write Write and Write…. That makes a writer perfect 🙂 Indeed a worth preserving note for all writers
Thank a lot
PS:
I found this post notification at the content curation site kingged.com and i kingged it and posted the above comment there. May you have a wonderful week ahead. Keep up the good work
Best Regards
Philip
Hi Phil,
Good to see you comment on this one as well, and yes, you certainly are the first one here this time 🙂
I know you have been writing since a very long time, so you would also have your own writing process and way of writing, which every blogger and writer has, though they don’t realize it till they are reminded about it I think, or till they read it somewhere.
Yes, these steps help to give a flow and proper structure to your posts or writing, and you don’t go through the usual writer’s block as some writer’s go through because everything is well chalked out in-front of you as such, so it goes smooth enough I would say.
Thank you for your kind words of appreciation, Phil – all my posts are always to help my readers in some way or the other, and I enjoy doing that, which I feel should be the aim of every blogger, in some way or the other, as that is the real way of giving back to the society and people, who give you so much, isn’t it?
Yes indeed, I think it was at Adrienne’s place, though I don’t remember too well, but the connections have been only growing with time. I appreciate the kind mentions in your posts too. I try to respond to all the comments on my posts, but it takes a lot of time, as you too must be knowing, and with comments that cross over 100 per post at times, it can take a few days by the time I make my return visits – it is overwhelming indeed 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and your kind words. 🙂
Hi Harleena Singh,
Doing every work by following a proper process obviously brings results higher than doing it in a random or routine way. That is why it is rightly and widely advised to follow a proper process to do every work more particularly if it relates to any creative pursuit.
Gone are the days when you need to follow your mood to create a great piece of writing. In this age of digital dreams you are required to conceive with the help of technology. Just keep browsing on a specific idea and you would have plethora of related ideas to create a new post. This is a blessing of technology which many creative writers take otherwise. Customers won’t want your post and may switch to another source if you ask them to wait till a brilliant idea comes into your mind. 🙂
Well-said by Sarah Addison Allen writing by following a process is just like a manufacturing process to develop a piece of content where you first use your idea as business plan then develop an outline just like inventory of factors of production is made in any production unit and after that it is processed into various machines to make the final product and again it is fined-tune to make a finished product. Can we see any variation from this process while writing a post? It means every productive venture has more or less same process just its description is a little different.
The 5 steps of writing process; prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing seem quite easy but if one involves into it he will feel lot of overlapping in them if he does not have clear idea of each one of them. That is why it is said talking about writing is much easier then writing itself. 🙂 Just like I am just talking here very easily but as and when I have to write a post on my blog I try following the same process as you described in this awesome post. 🙂
It is very common advice that you should develop your first draft with the first stroke of your pen. The reason behind this advice is that your flow of thought should not face any hurdle and meanwhile you need not to worry about selection of appropriate words and grammar. (This becomes more gigantic task for those whose mother tongue is not English).
But we need not to take it as rule of thumb and do mistakes over mistakes while developing first draft just hoping to have it corrected later on. If we follow this rule our draft will not only be weaker but may also deviate from the right track because of lot of mistakes and messy style.
This is also an old-days advice to leave your first draft for a longer period of time. It may be right but I don’t agree with it fully. You come out of the level of involvement of that topic if you get back to it after a long time. You won’t take it in same way as you were taking it while writing. So just a few hours gap is sufficient to later on do full justice with grammar and composition of your post.
In blogging having second look by someone else on your content is not easier but if we have this opportunity we must avail it. In other fields –like journalism, creative writing, drama writing etc – there are ample opportunities to have several looks over a post before its publishing. Yes if you have a blogging team then obviously you can avail this facility to make your post more perfect.
You are perfectly correct that writing is not everyone’s job but a writer is inside every one. The need is to just dig it out with practice. Here writing may be of poetry, images, verses or paragraphs; everyone has ideas and thoughts. Those who can express them become writer, poet, painter, blogger or lyricists and those who can’t keep wondering for their real passion if they fail to get the one for which they were borne.
Thanks a lot Harleena Singh for sharing another wonderful piece of writing for the guidance and help of poor learners like me.
Hi Muba,
Awesome comment! That’s just the reason I kept it away to take it over the weekend with more time in hand to reply to you. 🙂
I agree with you that by following a process, you follow a proper procedure to get work done more efficiently.
Yes indeed, for a freelance writer, there is no question of getting into the mood to write, because that may never happen and your work would suffer or your clients would move on to someone who values time more than you do. You need to be creative in your writing, and as you mentioned, there is no shortage of ideas as you can find them online in plenty, sometimes even from comments!
That’s true, and so the industrial process fits well as an analogy with the writing process, and perhaps with any other process too. I know we talk of one thing and do another, and though you don’t need to follow these exact writing steps, and it’s alright if things overlap a little too, as long as you get your finished copy that’s good to read. As I have been saying all along, we all have our own ways to write, and which way suits us the best is what we take up, isn’t it?
Writing comments is so different than writing a post, because we really go carefree and don’t hold ourselves. Comments are like a mini conversation we would have had with the blogger had she or he been right in front, at least I take them like that, and perhaps you too. But when we sit to write, it’s very different as we need to cater to a wider audience and it’s got to be useful and meaningful to them, something they can take back with them.
Perhaps the way we comment is also the way a few hobby bloggers write their posts and such posts are written very fast, without a writing process, unlike the professional blog posts, which have a writing strategy for sure.
Yes indeed, your first draft should be just what is on your mind, without any edits. Yet again, many don’t mind editing alongside as it works better for them that ways – again it differs from person to person. Being bloggers, even if your mother tongue isn’t English, you get the hang of if you are a consistent blogger, though it takes a little time and practice.
I think when we write, the minor typos and small errors automatically show up on MSWord (if you use that), and those can be corrected alongside if you set it on auto, while the other mistakes, you hardly commit once you write a lot. Like for me, my mistakes now at this stage would perhaps be more of ensuring there is proper flow and correct sentence structure, more than anything else, because I tend to write posts that are around 2000+ words or more, so that takes me time going through.
I agree, and that’s why I don’t leave my draft for too long too, as you tend to forget what you wrote because you need to write other things too. More so, a lot depends on your clients and when they want the posts. But if you are writing a novel or ebook, such things take time, though I wonder how people do it – need to try it out, but that I can only when I leave my blog posts and comments!!
Getting an editor isn’t easy and I don’t think any blogger hires one if he or she is single handed and managing a blog. But when you let your post rest for a few hours and revise it a few times, you can catch minor mistakes with each revision. You can get your spouse to edit it for you, just like mine does, and that helps. 🙂
True, those who can express themselves better, become writers, though a writer is within all of us, well said indeed. And it just takes practice to improve your content and become better, nothing else.
Thanks for stopping by and adding so much value to your post through your insightful comment. 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Yet another great post which helped me improvise my writing. What I find very difficult is to write an eye catching title. Sometimes I struggle to extend my article as I run out of points. Now I feel I am improving a lot. It does take time and it needs incredible patience before you are able to catch the eye of viewers. I think this is the most trying period of an aspiring writer. I must thank you as I have learned a lot from your post and the way you interact with everyone with friendliness is a revelation for newcomers like me.
Hi Mathi,
Glad you liked the post and good to know it could help you in some way. 🙂
Yes indeed, the title always needs to be catchy as that’s what brings readers to our blogs, and with time and practice you’d get the hang of it, especially when you visit and read more blogs and learn from them.
It certainly takes time, efforts, and patience before you start getting visitors – reminds me of my good old days, but once you start building relationships with them and visiting their blogs, most of them visit yours too.
You are most welcome, though I would say I am still learning so many things every day myself, which is something every blogger and writer must keep doing, as that’s what makes them better. Always here if you need any kind of help. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us 🙂
Hey,
Thanks for sharing piece of Gold with us from your Gold mine. Your each and every word shine like a diamonds in this article. Flow diagram cleared things that was running in my time. I always try to write something unique and different content.
~Diana
Hi Diana,
Ah…thank you for saying that, though they are my own experiences gathered with time and knowledge 🙂
Yes indeed, these diagrams that I found online surely helped to enhance the post I think as the visual effect is always better than the written, though the blend works best.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views with us 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Nice article from you 🙂
Yes, I also experienced this. Writing is not an easy job. Sometimes I can be confused by specifying the title and description and sometimes I can overwhelmed in edit them. Yes, it is hard work.
However, I often find that the most difficult part of writing is the beginning. When I’ve taken the first step, usually all goes well, although sometimes still stagger.
Thanks for sharing this with us, Harleena.
Have a great day for you.
Nanda
Hi Nanda,
Nice to know that you liked the post. 🙂
Blogging or writing, surely aren’t easy if you take them professionally, and a lot of hard work goes into creating a good post or article, isn’t it?
I agree with you there, the start is often what takes time because you need to plan and think about what to write. But if you have a writing process, you can plan and focus on your post and get started immediately, as everything is well laid out in front of you. Then you just need to fill in your sub topics.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us 🙂
Very well written.
It’s nice to see a clear and concise breakdown of the writing process,
I have been trying to find the best way to put things together & write more creatively as well.I get really nervous about the entire writing process, and especially about the publishing step. I always try to make my writing more effective and interesting. I’ve still not reached that level but reading this kind of articles would surely help me out 🙂
Great one Ma’am 🙂
Hi Sourav,
Glad you liked the post. 🙂
You are not the only one to get anxious when you have to start especially, though if you have a plan or focus idea in mind, and follow the writing process, it would certainly help you form your posts in a better way.
Yes indeed, bloggers need to be careful to write good posts that are error free because they are for your readers, and even the search engines who notice this fact. Hitting the publish button takes me time too and till I am not satisfied with my post, I just left it lie in the draft stage and re-edit it after some time to make a better copy, and then publish my posts.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us. Hope this post helped you in more ways than one. 🙂
Hi Harleena,
I have don’t think much about the writing process. I just do it. But, looking through your post and the process, I’m thinking that I’m doing something similar, just without thinking much about it. I just start to write, and keep writing until I’m done. That’s it. But, there are certain elements and certain stages that I’m going through.
The way I’m improving, I think, is by continuing to «always» write and to read new things every single day. I get new ideas by reading, and I understand what I enjoy reading and what I should be focusing on in order to become a better writer.
-Jens
Hi Jens,
You are doing the right thing by just going ahead and writing, though just like everyone else, you too have a writing process, though you hadn’t noticed it perhaps until now. 🙂
Yes indeed, knowingly or unknowingly, we all follow a similar process of writing, though we tend to skip a few steps or take them in a different sequence, depending on the way we write. Ideally, when we reach the writing stage, all we need to is just write, and keep writing till we are done, just as you mentioned, but we do even the other steps as mentioned, if you noticed.
Absolutely! Reading more and writing more, always makes you better – practice is the key as they say. I’ve seen my posts just get better because of the amount of writing I do, whether it’s the blog posts, or even my comments, which are similar to mini-posts…lol… 🙂
You are certainly a good writer as you have written your stories and books too, and there is no stopping us from getting new ideas from reading, it always helps.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Excellent and exhaustive…as usual!! You must have been a wonderful teacher! You can really put down every detail down the throats! LOL! I have myself given guidelines, many times for good writing but I must confess I could never be so thorough.
I completely agree with you, each step right from conceptualising the idea to editing holds the same importance as writing. I have seen many articles with glaring spelling errors. These points, so well presented… with visual effects…could help a lot of bloggers, who don’t pay attention to such mistakes.
It gives me great satisfaction to know that even you spend so much time in finalising your articles…I always think, I am so slow, I tell myself I spend too much time over my writing and double editing but I can breathe a sigh of relief now! I am sure that I am on the right track.
Thanks for sharing all your secrets so honestly, loved reading them. Have a nice week. I am going to publish my weekly post tonight. Hope you will like it.
Hi Balroop,
Glad you found the post useful enough, and yes, that’s what my students used to say – how could you make that out I wonder? 🙂
Lol…oh no…I could never be strict with my students, that’s one drawback, but that was because I was teaching toddlers and the smaller classes and my heart just wouldn’t allow me to, though all that I taught was well picked up for sure. You feel you weren’t as thorough, though I don’t think so as your writing is flawless.
Yes indeed, I think all these steps of the writing process are important and they do make your content more structured. I know what you mean and that was another reason to write this post, to help bloggers especially, who don’t have much time to edit their posts, but they need to if they want a good copy. Editing and revising are most important points before you hit the publish button, isn’t it?
Oh yes…I spend hours editing, revising, reviewing, and put my posts to rest after I write, and then re-read and edit again, and I always find small mistakes each time. I guess that always helps to refine your work, just as your posts are – so wonderful and a pleasure to read – you are certainly on the right track. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us. Sorry for being late – just catching up with these never ending comments, but just been over to your post – loved it as always. Have a nice week as well 🙂
Thanks Harleena, for the kind and encouraging words…they mean a lot to me. I could make out your thoroughness as I have seen all kinds of teachers and writers and found very very few like you. I have 28 years of teaching and guiding experience.
I often wonder how do you cope up with so many responses and two posts a week and visiting so many blogs and handling all other myriad, endless responsibilities of being a home maker… TRULY REMARKABLE!!
Thanks for all the nice words.
Hello Harleena,
Wow!!! Sometimes you write posts that are of this world… you truly do know how to find your ideas 🙂
To be sincere with you, i never knew that writing had process we follow. maybe i am following mine subconsciously because i don’t think theirs another way of putting it.
I just learn something valuable today dear friend and for that, i say – Thank you 🙂
Thanks for the lovely post and do have your self a wonderful week ahead…
Hi Babanature,
Thank you for saying that, and I am glad you could relate so well to this one. 🙂
You are not the only one to feel the way you do, dear friend. None of us really know we are following a writing process, but in reality, we all are, though each one of us use our own ways to write – sometimes including all the mentioned steps, or else skipping a few of them. Yes, you certainly are following a process of writing too, but perhaps you didn’t realize it until now, just like many others. I think at the end of the day, such a writing process helps improve your content, isn’t it?
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us. Nice to know that you learned something new. Have a nice week as well 🙂
I thought I was the only one who still rely on the writing process to create my posts! I have to use it in order to maintain my thoughts.
Welcome to my blog Smith!
Good to know you reply on a writing process as well to write your posts because I do think they help to give proper structure to your content, isn’t it? And as you mentioned, to maintain your thoughts and keep them focused.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views. 🙂
BTW – It would be nice if you use a Gravatar so that we know who we are talking to – just a friendly suggestion. 🙂
I follow the flow chart in my method. I find that to get ideas, when one hits me I use ‘keywords’ to save it. I could be out somewhere away from my computer and when I have an idea I write it down. Once the idea is there I just write, write, write without any editing.
Then the hard part. I ask myself what I’m trying to say, the goal of the piece. Rewrite.
Then clean it up, let it sit for a while (at least a few days). Go back and add examples to back up my message, visuals and videos (if applicable). At this point, I rethink my title, subheadings and conclusion…how to make it stronger, better, more effective with less words.
Great post, Harleena! I love the flow chart. It really shows how complex writing can be. I will read all the comments for even more ideas 🙂
Hi Lisa,
That’s wonderful I must say, as you are already doing the prewriting stage in a great way. 🙂
Yes, once the seed idea is there, you can work your way around it to add more words or matter to make it an interesting. I usually take that up to do my keyword research and come up with something that I know my readers will like, and of course, I would like to write about too.
The hardest part is the editing and rewriting I think, something no one really likes to do, but if you do, it does make a huge difference to your final copy. I never have time to let a piece stay for days because I write one post after the other and the never ending comments keep me busy otherwise. 🙂
However, it’s a good idea if you can shelve your posts or articles and come back to them later when need be and add the required title, introduction, keywords perhaps, and as you mentioned, shorten it’s length and tweak it up for your blog. Glad you liked the flow chart, and hope you find something interesting through these comments too.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your ways and experiences with us, it always helps. 🙂
Hey Harleena
This post is a good starter for beginners and a great refresher for the more experienced.
When you map it out using your guide, it must push the law of averages up that you are going to create a far better finished piece.
So many inexperienced writers get caught in the editing stage, instead of really going for it in the draft stage.
As they say…Let it Go and just write!!
I will definitely be revisiting this blog again 🙂
Welcome to my blog Debbie!
Well, thank you for saying that, and I hope it helps in more ways than one. 🙂
If these steps of the writing process are followed, I am sure it would result in a good copy, and that’s just what we all want at the end of the day. I wouldn’t say this is the only way you need to follow because we all have our own way of writing, but this kind of a writing process perhaps would give a better structure to your work.
I agree, you need to just let go and write as that’s all that matters. The editing stage and finally the publishing one comes much later, and we should take a little time there to make it a good copy.
Thanks for stopping by, and you are most welcome to visit again, would love to have you over. See you soon at your blog as well 🙂
Hey Harleena,
This is something that is very helpful. I consider myself not the best writer in the world, but every little bit helps and this is one of the posts that will help anyone improve. Writing is a process, with a series of steps that will help to complete your content edifice. It definitely helps keep you focus on the subject matter, versus being all over the place with the content.
It looks like you go through the same process that I go through. But it seems that you’re more thorough in re-reading and revising that I am. The fact I have evernote on my phone now helps a lot. What I usually do is think of an idea, write it down, write down a short sumary of it, and write down the first sentence of the content. Sometimes I will write down the sub topics. From that point I go to work. I’ll re read and revise no more than 3 times.
But I do have to say, that you’re right about feeling like an artist. Sometimes I feel like a hard working, struggling artist trying to make it in the world LOL… Thanks for sharing this valuable content. I hope you have a great week ahead!
Hi Sherman,
Glad you found this post useful 🙂
I agree with you there, no one is born a blogger or writer, but we all learn with time and practice, and that’s just the way it’s worked for me too. You are right there – if you have a planned and focused process in front of you, it would certainly help you give proper shape to your content, whether it’s for your blog or articles for your clients.
We all go through the same process as mentioned in this post, but just as I was mentioning in the other comment replies, we all follow our own ways of writing, taking up a few steps from the above, or all of them if need be. I do revise and edit it a lot before publishing – never satisfied with my final copy, but I know after a while that it’s ready to go. I like your idea of Evernote, still need to spend time and try that out. Noting down the ideas when they strike is important as that helps you with your future post or if you want to insert those ideas in your present content.
Lol…I understand that dear friend, because the feelings mutual, but I am sure those of us who struggle and work hard are paid at the end of the day, in whichever way it may be and we feel happy for that, isn’t it? Mine comes through the work that’s appreciated more than anything else 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us. Have a nice week ahead, though the weekends right here 🙂
Hello Harleena,
Thanks for this awesome writing advice. I’ve been blogging/writing for almost three years now and I still have a lot to learn.
I pretty much follow the writing process you shared with us here but I think I can spend a little more time in the prewriting and revision stages. I imagine I could be adding more substance to my content if I took more time with those.
I’m also amazed at those who can whip out a blog post or article with so much ease. I could produce a post if it was just sharing a personal experience but if a post requires research on my part then no. Well, I can but I know the post would lack a lot of elements and would serve no purpose.
The way I improve my content is by learning and improving my writing skills. I learned by writing more it improves our skills as we do so that’s what I do. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your writing process with us. I usually wait for my headline until I’m done with the post but I keep my notepad open and jot down stuff that comes to mind so that I don’t forget :).
Hi Corina,
You are certainly not the only one to think the way you do because we all are learners here I would say, and I think that’s what makes the blogosphere such a lovely place as we get to learn so much from each other, isn’t it? 🙂
Good to know you are already following the writing process as mentioned, which I think most bloggers and writers do, though they don’t get to know of it unless they are told or reminded of it perhaps. Yes indeed, the prewriting stage helps to chalk out and plan a proper structure for your article, while the revision stage is essential to tweak the post and rectify all kind of minor errors. I know all of this takes time, but the efforts are worth it at the end of the day when you come up with a good copy that brings you satisfaction.
Absolutely! It amazes me too, but there are many who can come up with a post within minutes, but as you mentioned, those posts are mainly based on personal experiences, or those that don’t need much of research, as the research work in itself takes me an hour if not more, when I go into details. Like you, I would rather take time in researching, and then writing to give my readers a complete post, such that they don’t have to go elsewhere looking for the same matter.
Yes, the more you write, the better you becomes because your writing skills keep getting better with time. I’ve seen it working for me and this blog has helped me a great deal there. Not to mention the ‘comment writing’ part, which is of course part and parcel..lol…:)
Some people write the headline and the introduction right at the end, once they finish their post, and I think that’s absolutely alright if it suits you. I do that sometimes, though usually I want to see my title and intro up and then move ahead with the rest of the post, which happens quickly once the main part of the title and intro is done. Noting down ideas that come to mind is a good thing, or else you tend to forget them – I do that too!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us. 🙂
Firstly, this particular piece was a masterpiece writing, well crafted and just to the point.
Secondly, I want to say that writing is an art that can be learnt although sometimes, it seems some people just possess the gift of first class writings that often makes me want to believe that it is an innate ability.
You got me right in the hook when you likened writing to industrial process because as a graduate in Chemical Engineering, Chemical engineering focuses mainly in processing of raw materials into finished and useful products, i.e. inputting raw materials into a reactor, allowing it to react or mix properly then bringing them out as useful material. This useful materials as you have now made us understood that pertaining to writing process are those useful contents we send out to our readers.
This piece is a great one coming from a great writer. Thank you once again for reminding us this processes of writing and as for every blogger/writer the steps worth following in coming out with those juicy contents that we all sort to produce for our reader.
Hi Edwin,
Thank you for saying that, and I am glad you liked the post too 🙂
I agree with you there, some people are gifted where writing is concerned, while the rest can certainly learn it, just like learning any other skill, which only comes with time, practice and patience.
Seems like you are the perfect person to understand the analogy made to the industrial process being an engineer yourself! I guess just as everything creative has a process, quite similar to an artist painting one of his works, where he too starts from a blank canvas and slowly ends up with his finished painting – he does follow a process. It’s the same with writing, though there are various shortcuts to doing things too, if you want to, isn’t it?
Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words of appreciation. Glad you could relate to the post so well 🙂
BTW – Just wondering if you tried to get a Gravatar, we would love to see your picture here, reminding you again dear friend 🙂
Hi Harleena,
The post worthy to read and to follow.
It’s really amazing how you configured all the aspects of writing skills. Being a beginner I am also trying to learn how to write a good post. As you have mentioned about working on an idea and then implement it is a great way to be better writer.
I always try to write a good post at my blog. There are many steps required to become a good writer. Checking our mistakes after writing the post is necessarily required.
Thanks for providing us these wonderful ideas which will be helpful for many bloggers, writer to improve their writing skills.
Hey I hope you have a nice weekend. 🙂
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
Well, thank you for saying that, and I am glad you feel that way. 🙂
I guess being a writer and blogger myself for quite sometime now, it was time I wrote about it. We all use a writing process, it’s just that we don’t know we are using one till someone points it out. Even though you are a beginner, but you are doing very well with your blog, Ravi – keep going! Practice is what makes us better, so the more you write, the better you become. 🙂
No one is a good or bad writer or blogger for that matter. It’s just that some are more experienced and well-versed perhaps than the others or have the power of words, which again, anyone can learn with practice and increasing your knowledge, and I am glad we have Google as our teacher! Checking your mistakes and making edits is essential for every blogger and writer, so that their copy is a good one.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us. Still time for the weekend, though I always look forward to it. 🙂
Hi Harleena,
What a wonderful post! Not only did you give us great ideas, but I love the way you have inserted the diagrams. That really made it stick into my head. Thank you for that.
I see how organized writing can be. I usually start with an idea and ramble on. Then I have to put it together so it makes some sense. After grammar and spelling checks, I still edit it some more.
I can never understand how some people just kick out a blog post or an article.
I have just applied “themes of the month” to my blog. I only write one blog post a week, but what I’m trying to achieve here is a certain theme with a goal in mind.
I took this advice from a blogger I know and it has made it a bit easier to form a goal in mind.
I would say organizing ideas was the biggest challenge to me. Now I am working on that part.
Thanks so much for sharing your fantastic knowledge.
-Donna
Hi Donna,
Thank you for saying that – you made my day a lot brighter 🙂
Glad you liked the diagrams, and I found them online and just knew they would be apt for this post. I think the visual impact of images cannot be ignored, isn’t it?
You write very well, and there is complete flow and connectivity all through your posts – each one of us has our own way of writing. It all depends on how we proceed ahead and create our content.
Some people do that for sure and you can make out such posts the moment you read them. I wish they would at least take out time to edit, if nothing else.
I like the idea of themes, something that was on my mind since a long time too, but never carried it forward because of the various categories I have to cover with my two posts per week. Yes indeed, if you have a few niches, it certainly works well and it does help organize your posts too.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us 🙂
I believe you covered about everything with this writing post, Harleena.
I to love the idea of a blank canvas. Great way to look at it. I also believe that a lot of thought needs put into the picture or diagrams like you have used. The wrong pictures can mess up the writing, because of some people being more visual. (The picture is what catches their eye first.)
When I first started writing I had to read a lot about writing and even taking some courses on it. Knowledge is power even when it comes to writing.
Thanks for another post backed with great wisdom.
Have a wonderful week.
Debbie
Hi Debbie,
I tried to do that, though there’s a lot more I could have written, but perhaps in another post. 🙂
Yes, for writers or bloggers, it is like a blank sheet of paper or canvas where they weave their words and create something out of nothing – quite similar to a painter, isn’t it?
Absolutely! A picture can speak louder than words, so utmost care needs to be taken to use the right one, which relates to your post.
That’s interesting! But that’s what we must do when we want to become better in writing good content. Knowledge IS power, even if it’s just about anything else. The more you read and learn, the better you become.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views with us. Have a nice week ahead as well 🙂
This is truly awesome Harleena.
I do envy those who can crank out fabulous stories in such a short time. My writing process is still under development. I thought about writing them out but then stopped. I went right away to drafting in a document. I think writing it down is a better idea and a technique I’m going to use on my next short story. Very helpful tips that I’m gladly passing along my friend.
Hi Bren,
Well, thank you for saying that, and coming from a author-writer now, it surely makes me feel good. 🙂
I wonder how they do that too! Perhaps it’s just sharing of random thoughts, as then it’s still possible to write fast, otherwise it does take a lot of time.
I know you are trying things out and once you do that and plan what works for you, it would surely give your work a better structure.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us, and I appreciate you passing this along as well 🙂
I really have trouble with the blank canvas. I am much better at editing later. Content editing that is. Mechanical editing is really hard for me. I miss everything no matter how hard I try. I must have improved on this a little, but I am so far behind the group. It seems like very few writers have this problem like I do.
Hi Jodi,
It happens sometimes, and that’s very natural. As long as your edits are good, everything is taken care of, isn’t it?
I wonder whether you use MSWord for writing your posts, because if you do, then you have various options there for the grammar and other things that help you to edit much faster, so you won’t miss out on anything that ways.
Of course, there are various other sites online and software too, though I haven’t used any of those ever. Nothing works like practice, and the more you write, the better you become. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us 🙂
Great… great article dear Harleena, I already share it via G+.
It’s a big process and I think beginners found it quiet difficult but as time pass all steps tend to easy flow, isn’t? and writing a piece of information is faster than ever.
Kind regards,
I. C. Daniel
Hi Daniel,
Thank you for your kind words and the share as well 🙂
Yes indeed, writing isn’t easy, nor is blogging for that matter if you do it all professionally and in a proper way. I think a lot depends on the way you convey what you want to convey and that happens with your words, isn’t it?
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts 🙂
Hi Harlenna,
These points really lay it out how to construct a great blog post. It seems obvious but that first step of “why” am I writing this particular piece of content is vital. Knowing your why can be vital to what direction your content will go in.
Of course all of the other pieces to that puzzle all the way down to publishing the content only makes the content better and we all should use these points to perfect our content. I can easily use this checklist to make my content better. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Nathaniel,
Nice to hear that indeed 🙂
Absolutely! You need to know the reason for anything you start, whether it’s a blog post or sending an email or anything else. Once you know the why, you can proceed further with ease.
Yes indeed, by following this kind of a writing process, you can always improve your content, though I wouldn’t say this is the right or only process of writing as each one of us has our own unique ways. So, just go with what works best for you.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views 🙂
Damn straight. It’s sometimes funny how fast the wpm(words per minute) change when you’ve finished your research and outline. From painstakingly typing down every word, to the article almost unfolding itself.
Hi Ragnar,
I agree with you there. Once your outlines are made and you plan out your writing strategy, things shape up very quickly. Yes, writing can become painful if you have to type a lot and you aren’t used to it – never happened with me though, or perhaps my fingers are so used to it now. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views 🙂
Hi Harleena,
You always came up with a great post.You always shared those things which is really helpful for all bloggers.
Thanks for sharing again a wonderful post..!!!
Hi Sunny,
Well, thank you for saying that, and that’s exactly what I like doing – helping people to the best of my abilities.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
BTW – You haven’t got your Gravatar as yet, just wondering if you tried and what happened? It would be good to see you 🙂
I feel guilty when I want to comment on your blog, Harleena because I am much more pragmatic, that verbose.
I normally summarize a lot of what I want to say. (And here I see so long comments).
You shared a detailed article on the writing process. I am lately concentrating in create +1000 words posts on my blog, and this means investing more time in investigating the idea and complete the writing process. But it surely pay off with time.
Thanks for sharing, Harleena.
Have a fantastic rest of the week! 🙂
Hi Erik,
Please don’t say that, in-fact you are on the right track by being practical about things, something that I need to learn now 🙂
Yes indeed, writing and researching does take time, and it does take me hours, sometimes goes over to the next day too if it’s a long post, which most of them are. I think you cannot help that if you want to provide quality to your readers, isn’t it?
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us 🙂
Hi Harleena,
I like Carolyn haven’t given much thought to the mechanical aspects of writing. But when I wrote my mom’s eulogy I did read it aloud and that really helped. I haven’t done that before with my blog posts. Something to definately think about. I do a lot more revising now than when I first started to blog. I was more a free style in the beginning and now I tend to check things a bit more. It may never be perfect but if I waited for it to be I may never have published a post.
Thanks for sharing these tips with us Harleena.
Hi Lisa,
I can understand that as most of us don’t do that unless we really think about it in detail.
I read the first para on your blog and it was well written and touching, though I know it must have been so tough for you to write it all down. It reminds me of the time when I lost my Mom – took days to get over, though you actually never get over such losses.
Yes, the right way to write or blog comes only with time and practice I think. I was like that too because I was just writing and sharing my thoughts with everyone. The real professional kind of blogging or writing came in later once you learn the way.
Thanks for stopping by, and my prayers and wishes are with you, Lisa.
Awesome post Harleena.. I loved it in answer to the yellow box question :o)
I went through smiling all the way loved the diagram & flowchart too. A systematic approach always wins out, and I love the advice in: 2. Draft (Writing Stage)
That’s what I need to do .. – don’t worry about editing or making mistakes – just write!
Hi Tony,
Glad you liked the post and could relate to it 🙂
Yes indeed, I think the diagrams and flow chart fitted in well and helped understand the writing process better. I agree, a systematic plan always helps to give good results. The writing stage is the best as you tend to write from your heart, without caring for anything else, though we cannot ignore the editing and proofreading stage before publishing or delivering the post, isn’t it?
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts 🙂
Hi Harleena,
As usual, this is another epic post! I agree totally with everything you have said here. Just as you have said every writer do follow these steps even when they don’t do it consciously.
As a blogger I treat every piece of content I create as a “product” created with the mind of pleasing my target audience and of course helping to achieve my “business” purpose.
And so, whenever I have an idea for a blog post, my writing process starts with the following questions:
1. How will this further my business?
2. What segment of my target audience will this appeal to?
3. How do I present it to interest and entice the target audience?
4. What will be my call to action?
Once I have these questions answered I move on to gather more ideas and content through research. This stage actually take me hours while the actually writing take a few minutes. All in all, most times I spend close to 6 hours on one article!
However, I’m also a freelance writer and this is where I actually have challenges. I try as much as possible to follow this process when creating a client’s content. But unfortunately, most clients don’t appreciate this and wants to give you peanuts to create content which they think can be both engaging and result-focused. And so, whenever I have tried to convince a client about my writing process and s/he wouldn’t get it, I simply let go of that contract.
Hi Chadrack – good to have you back 🙂
Glad you liked the post, and let me thank you firstly for joining in the conversation and replying to Bhanu 🙂
Yes indeed, being bloggers and writers, whether we know if or not, we are always following a writing process, though we might have our own ways of writing and expressing ourselves. You surely are going the right way my friend, by targeting your posts and writing for your audience.
I like your questions and they help you give shape to your posts too and write accordingly, which is what your readers will love. Oh yes…research does take time, whether it’s for the keywords if you use them or researching for your posts, and I missed on telling this part to Bhanu too that when you write about what interests you, you really don’t bother about keywords or research, such kind of writing takes only a few minutes as know what you want to write.
Ah…6 hrs…I don’t blame you because I take longer as my posts are long, and this is just for the writing! Another 2-3 hours go for choosing the apt images, quotes, videos if you use, and setting it all up in WP!! It surely isn’t as easy as it seems if you really want to provide quality I think.
I can understand what you mean about clients. Most of them will not appreciate your initiative or ideas because they have their own fixed rules or way they want you to write or using the words as they want, so being freelancers, we just need to follow those, without adding anything of our own. We cannot really be creative until the clients wants such work. I guess clients aren’t writers or bloggers mostly, so would never understand the writing process or all that we have to go through. They are mainly concerned about their end result, the article you provide. You need to choose what works for you I would say. If they are paying peanuts, and you feel you are doing so much more, then you shouldn’t accept such a contract of course. Writing certainly is a skill and people need to value that.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us. 🙂
Diving in and writing Harleena makes the difference. The most freeing and uncomfy aspect of the process is writing your first post, for your blog, or a client. Smart post!
Hi Ryan,
Ah…only you can do that! I wonder if I could just dive in and write, but perhaps I could, just as I write my comments as those come from what I feel when I reply to my reader, though I wonder if I can ever write free-flow, been a while since I tried that. Yes, I can never forget my first post too, nor the first piece I wrote for my client, I was scared and so nervous, and so unsure of myself! How time flies….
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views with us 🙂
Hi Harleena,
You have posted very informative article. Yes writing skill is most important to every blogger. I agree with your views like define your goal, choose topic it s most important if our goal is clear in our mind we write a good article and if our topic is very unique we also write very awesome article like you because every time is your concept is very unique.
Thanks for sharing.
Keep it up 🙂
Hi Addison,
I agree with you there, writing skills are essential for bloggers and writers, both. I think if we have our goals defined, we know what structure to follow, and the rest falls into place on it’s own. If your topic is decided, goals is clear, and you plan your writing – it won’t take you long to come up with a good piece of work, isn’t it?
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views 🙂
Harleena ji,
By the way, where did you get those quotes. They are really super. I especially loved the first one :
“The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.” ~ A. B. Yehoshua
That’s very true ! I really appreciate your content framing strategy 🙂
Hi Bhanu once again,
I love quotes and you’d find them on almost all my posts. I think they add so much more to the meaning to the content, don’t they? I loved that one too, and well, you can always search for the ones related to your articles on Google, that’s how I do it, though I’ve now added the Tweet This ones, which I write – so those are by me! 🙂
Thanks once again for your kind words 🙂
Harleena Mam,
The points you do have laid here is probably a conscience of writing, and keeping a flow of it. In blogging, people mostly gets diverted while writing i.e. check their social profiles, have any unusual thoughts while writing and several more.
I do have once read your article, where you have written about staying focus on goals, and perhaps it has “actually” helped me a lot in not letting my mind diverted while I’m trying to focus in a particular idea.
However, in this stage – Bloggers by not having a regular debate on a topic, and due to a time gap of writing, they stuck with writer’s block, where they aren’t in a state of writing a Great Article.
Particularly, I do like the way you thank your audiences with brief details. And the points you’ve written over here in writing process is actually epic –
1. Prewriting
2. Drafting
3. Revising
4. Editing
5. Publishing
And perhaps, my day started with a great inspiration. Thanks a lot for the great contribution, hoping for the best results ahead.
– Bishal Biswas
Hi Bishal,
Yes indeed, maintaining the flow in writing is essential, for which you have to stay focused and write. 🙂
You raised a good point, and I completely agree with you there. I think I wrote about this in the stay focused to achieve your goals post also. Distractions are ALL around us, but when you write or work, you need to shut them off, or you cannot write with full concentration. I take utmost care to keep all other tabs off even while I comment because I comment long…lol…But jokes apart, your writing reflects on your work, and being bloggers and writers, we shouldn’t get diverted while working. Presently, I just have my dashboard open and I’m just taking up comments one after the other. When I need a break, I open another tab, surf a bit to take a break, close the tab, and return to the dashboard.
However, I know most bloggers don’t do that and tend to multi-task, have many tabs and chats open, or feel they can scan posts and leave 2 line comments and their work is done. But then, they aren’t really doing justice to the post, nor to themselves. You need time to write, and that should be the time when you fully concentrate and do nothing else, or else the errors show in your work. And when you are on social media, just enjoy yourself there, and don’t do anything else.
I think if you keep writing your ideas or storing them up somewhere, you can never go through writer’s block, which I also call – blogger’s block sometimes! There is no shortage of ideas and you find inspiration to write posts in so many places and ways, if you just remain alert. Honestly speaking, I’ve yet to experience writer’s block as such, in fact, my mind is always flooded with ideas!
Ah…thanking my readers is essential for the amount of time they spend to read my posts, and then comment and perhaps share it too. It’s all thanks to them that this blog is here today, so how can I ever forget them. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us. Nice to hear that I could inspire you in some ways, and you surely are showing great results, Bishal through your post at this young an age – keep going! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
As usual this was a great post. I never saw this much detailed guide on writing process in any blog. Probably you are the first one to bring this to my notice. Thank you 🙂
However, Like you mentioned in your first step i.e.
Prewrite (Thinking Stage)
1. define your goal
2. decide your audience
3. choose a topic
4. gather and organize your ideas
I want to just clear that – do we really need to ‘decide audience and then choose topic’ while putting our ideas in the form of writing. Of course, we maintain individual blogs for different niche, so it’s like we are writing about related topics in related niche blog. I believe that writing posts that are written with interest succeed more than just writing for the sake of audience.
I follow the following procedure :
1. Group up the ideas that strike my mind (ideas i’m good at !)
2. Note all that topic-related ideas in paper (without caring for para, spelling etc)
3. Gather related info from other web sources
4. Frame the topic as well as the important points in paragraph/sentence or even list form
5. Finding relevant images (if possible)
6. Edit the entire content for mistakes
7. Publish the post !
So, I concern mainly on what I’m good at rather than what competitors are writing or what kind of audience my blog is receiving.
Honestly speaking, my first blog – (Stuffyoulook blog) turned up as a big hit; and interestingly I just wrote topics that interested me, that i’m good at !
I don’t know, whether my procedure is bad or good, these are just my way of writing. Please suggest me if i’m wrong.
Thanks for delivering this mind blowing article. Have a great day 🙂
– Bhanu Chander
Hi Bhanu Chander,
You have an interesting comment here and so, I have decided to put in a few words!
Here are some quotes from your comment which I want to focus on:
“I believe that writing posts that are written with interest succeed more than just writing for the sake of audience.”
and
“So, I concern mainly on what I’m good at rather than what competitors are writing or what kind of audience my blog is receiving.”
I quite agree with you that writing on topics that you are interested in will greatly help succeed with content creation. However, except your blog is a person blog, if you are writing only on topics that you are interested in without focusing on what you audience wants, your blog will end up in the back woods.
You must understand that it is not about you but the audience. This is why even when most people say content is king I personally believe that it is the audience that is king why your content is your package designed to please the king!
You may want to read my comment on this post and see how I approach my content creation.
Regards.
Hi Chadrack,
Yep, I understood what you want to say. You mean – I have to frame the content taking into consideration the requirements and interests of the audience, right ? Well that’s very true and to be precise, I started posting articles based on the interests of the audience – but only when I have knowledge in that issue !
Thank you for sharing your ideas 🙂
– Bhanu
Hi Bhanu,
Glad to know that you got the idea and you are actually doing your best to put that in use. However, I want to add that when you say, “I started posting articles based on the interests of the audience – but only when I have knowledge in that issue !” it leaves a whole lot of other questions.
Truth is you already have some knowledge about your niche if not you wouldn’t have started a blog on it in the first place. So when you say “only when I have knowledge in that issue” it appeals you are not in a niche you are not comfortable with.
The secret is creating content around what know about your target niche but tailoring it to meet the demands of your audience. There are different ways you can know what your audience wants so that you can tailor your content towards that.
If you have not read my comment below, just scroll down and read it. Note one of the questions I ask when creating content is, which segment of my target audience will this appeal to? It is definite that not all your target audience will be interested in every post but creating your content with that in mind shows you care about them and this helps in creating success for you.
Best regards,
Chadrack
Welcome to my blog Bhanu – good to have you over!
Well, thank you for your kind words of appreciation and I am glad you liked the post, just as much I liked your lovely heartfelt comment 🙂
Let me try and answer your question here, though Chadrack did that very well earlier. You are right, when you write about what interests you, you could write on many things and just express yourself freely, and perhaps put up random posts daily on your blog – because you know what you want to write, so you express yourself freely and anyone else doesn’t really bother you. That is how most hobby bloggers write, and that’s very good as it works well for some, but not every time, and not at all for professional bloggers I would say.
It is all about you then, right? So, what is there for the audience or your readers? Would they like reading what you share? Would they like visiting your blog to read about what you are interested in each time? Even if they would, does your topic interest them? If you ask these questions, you might find some answers.
Honestly speaking, blogging should always be a perfect blend of what your readers like to read and what you can write about, or what interests you. Depending on your niche or type of blog, you can make out what your audience is interested in from the number of comments and social shares a particular post gets, keywords that drive more traffic to your blog, and checking your Google analytic. Being bloggers, we need to care for your readers foremost – they are like guests who visit our homes and we welcome them with open arms, don’t we? We know what to offer them or what they would like – we don’t offer them what we like always (sometimes that’s alright).
Your procedure is alright because we all have our own ways to write, but if you just start targeting more of what your readers like, you’d cater to a lot more people and connect with them. As a blogger, you’d be helping them to receive what they come looking for on your blog. Like this post for example, I know the writing process and I use it, but I also know there are many others who don’t know of it, or those who use if differently. I also know from my earlier writing posts and stats that writing and blogging are topics that interest every writer and blogger, so I went ahead and wrote it, because I want to help them get better, and this topic interests me too, so it’s a blend of both.
You really don’t have to worry about your competitors at this stage, in fact, I don’t even know who mine are…lol…who has the time to check them out. Just write – that’s all! Do it from your heart, about what you like, but for your readers and target your audience, so that they keep coming to you for more. Try it out and let me know how it goes 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us, and I hope I was able to help you in some way 🙂
What excites me about writing is the step by step process by which we give life to a blank paper. Words if arranged artistically can become one of the strongest mediums of expression. In this post you have very nicely described the steps in detail. I am sure it will benefit a number of writers who in spite of having the skill in them are unable to come up with good pieces due to lack of basic knowledge.
Hi Tuhin,
Absolutely! We start with a blank page, and how we weave the words and create some thing out of nothing IS fascinating indeed. That is what we would call being creative. 🙂
Glad you liked the post and the process of writing as such, though again, each to his or her own – there are no hard and fast rules for anyone I would say. I hope this post does help give direction to those who seek it.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views with us 🙂
It’s always nice to learn about the processes of other writers. Thanks for sharing yours Harleena. 🙂
I’m another big believer in editing with “fresh eyes.” How much time I spend away from a project depends on its scope and deadline of course. For a manuscript, I can put it on the shelf for months and move on to something else, making it truly new to me again when I go back for revisions. For short client pieces or blog posts, it can be anywhere from a few hours to a few days. I’m also a big fan of outlining. Like you pointed out, outlines give our work structure. They also help me over that “getting started” hump so writer’s block has less of a chance of setting in when I’m faced with that blank page.
Welcome to my blog Jennifer – so good to have you over, & we meet after long 🙂
Yes indeed, it’s always good to learn and share each others experiences and ways – guess that’s what makes us better. That’s a good point you mentioned about the time we have to spend on our projects, it does depend on the deadline of course. If a client needs a post daily or we need to update our blog daily, we cannot sleep too long over it, while as you mentioned, writing a manuscript or perhaps a novel that takes time, can be put on hold. Never tried any of those as yet, though you must be having to read through all over again to get into the flow of writing to continue, whenever you sit with it.
Planning your posts or even if they are articles, does help a great deal as you have a structure you can easily follow. I don’t do it always because I’ve become so used to writing blog posts that it’s become kind of automated now, but when I know my posts are going to touch 3000 words or so, I certainly plan them out well. Yes indeed, you overcome the writer’s block or the initial fear of getting started with your work.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your pearls of wisdom with us. It was lovely to hear all this from a seasoned writer, and a pleasure having you over as well. Keep coming, and have a nice day 🙂
Good morning Harleena madam,
A great post indeed . It is so well explained. I fear madam I really need to follow this right now as till today I published as soon as I wrote an article . I directly went to dashboard ->editor-> wrote post-> added link and images->published but I now realized how important drafting and proofreading are.
One suggestion I want from you is whenever I write I do it from heart (I know everyone does 🙂 ) and if I keep it as draft or revise it later I kind of loose the flow and connection. I dont get the approach I used for writing the article. How to deal with that. ?
Hi Swadhin,
Good afternoon 🙂
Glad you liked the post and could relate to it. Lol…yes, I can understand that because most bloggers tend to write and publish, or they don’t care all that much for the writing process in-between. I’ve never used the WP Editor to write my posts so far, and prefer using good old MSWord – old style! I think you have many options there to check your spelling and grammar mistakes, if you enable those features on Word. So, your revisions become easy whenever you sit to do them, as compared to anything else. Perhaps the WP Editor also has those features, though I doubt if they have the grammar details as well as Word has.
You do the right thing, Swadhin, if you write from your heart, I do that too as that way you can connect to the readers. No, I don’t think you will lose the flow at all. You just kind of refine your writing and words to recheck and make them better. You don’t have to revise everything or edit everything, nor start from scratch if you are happy with your work (that is the most important thing – to be satisfied with your writing). Just read through and keep checking, and where you find the mistakes correct them. Recheck that there is a flow from one sentence to the other or one paragraph to the other, and you are done.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences, and I hope I was able to help you too 🙂
Hi Madam,
Can’t thank you enough for the tips you gave me. I used word before at the beginning and I found that word adds a ton of extra crap when you copy paste it into the dashboard. You too can check it by pasting it and then switching it to HTML view.So I left using it. But I guess it was right and I should use it again. I will definitely follow your advice . Thank you again.
You are most welcome Swadhin.
Yes, I can understand what you mean, and you won’t believe it, I never knew about all this till a few months back, but for that you can always copy paste from Word onto your simple Notepad, and then copy paste it again onto the Dashboard, that takes care of everything. Yes, there after you need to spend time to do up the linking, formatting and whatever. But at least you are sure that the grammatical mistakes won’t be there. Try it out and let me know. 🙂
Thanks once again 🙂
Hello Harleena Ma’am
Wonderful Post ma’am. Writing is a skill which everyone can’t have as soon as they start career in this field. But by implementing these steps regularly, it will not much time to improve those skills.
Yes, in the beginning it will be a little difficult to implement each step, but slowly it can be done.
In the beginning of mah carer, i was poor writer. I just followed two steps at that time, Write and publish. But with some experience writing skills are getting better.
Thank You ma’am for this awesome post.
Hi Atinder,
Glad you liked it 🙂
I agree with you there, writing skills only develop with time and the more you practice the better you become. I know that because I’ve seen my own work get better over time. Yes, if you follow these writing steps – the whole process as such, it does help a great deal. It might take time and patience, but the end results will be good.
That’s what most bloggers do, they write and publish content, and perhaps if they are really consistent bloggers, they hardly have time to check and recheck on their work, which they should. However, once they realize the importance of writing good content, they start working on their writing skills, and the results speak for themselves.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us 🙂
Hi Mam,
Writing is the important process for every blogger. But i can’t believe that, writing process carries such important things you mentioned here.While writing each post, every blogger has come up with writer’s block. Here you gave an idea to overcome writer’s block. The post about process of writing is very interesting and must read by every bloggers and writer’s. Anyway thanks for sharing such an awesome post mam. Have a nice day.
Hi Nirmal,
Absolutely! Every blogger, whether he or she knows it or not, follows a process of writing, though each one has his or her own way, depending on what works for them. Without one, I wonder how you can write 🙂
I wouldn’t say every blogger has a ‘blogger’s block’ or writer’s always have writer’s block, as I’ve never had those, but if you have a writing process to follow, chances are less that you would experience writer’s block.
Thanks for stopping by, and I am glad you liked the post. Have a nice day as well 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Wow, this was great. I haven’t considered the mechanical aspect of writing before this because I always thought of it as purely creative. But you’re right, it is a craft with structure. The more we figure out what works for us the better.
I was nodding my head along with you on so many of your points, Harleena. Someone told me when I was young that the most difficult part of writing was turning on the typewriter. But you say it so much better here.
I also agreed with your point that sleeping on your writing to give it fresh eyes is vital. I publish in the morning and as much as I think my article is ready to go the night before, I always find something to edit in the morning before I publish. I’m inevitably late to racquetball because of this and my friends can’t understand why I don’t have my articles finalized the night before. I should show them this article!
Sometimes I am inspired to write when I find a tech topic, then I can write an article in an hour. Today’s post was that way. My longest articles to write are the phone reviews. They take a long time to write because I cover a lot of information and am determined not to use tech terms. It’s a little like translating my words from another language.
I also agree with you about outlines. How do people write without them? I don’t get it!
Thanks so much for this that will keep me thinking for a long time to come.
Hi Carolyn,
I’m glad you like the post. 🙂
Of course, your writing should always be creative, and that’s totally a different aspect. Even if you’re creative, you can still follow certain rules and a process, and that only helps to shape your content better, isn’t it?
One more thing – you don’t have to necessary follow this process as you can create your own. However, generally any writing process, whether implemented consciously or not, falls into the pattern as mentioned in the post.
I think the most important part of writing is configuring what your objective is and what all are you going to include that helps proving or explaining your objective. That makes your content strong and the writing will also be better when you know what exactly you’ve to write.
Definitely, sleeping over or even giving a few minutes to a few hours rest or just taking off your attention to something else and coming back to the article to reread helps you look at it with fresh eyes, and I do that whenever I write any article or post.
It’s great that you think so much about the readers and make your posts full of information yet making the efforts to keep it simple and jargon free, and edit it till the last moment to make it better. These are the signs of a good writer!
Yes, I too wonder, because writing without outlines would be like sailing in the ocean without a compass! Outlines help you make the content coherent, logical, more meaningful, and helpful.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with your own writing process.:)
Hi Carolyn,
I had the same feeling going through the post here. Wow! I knew that success is a planned event. But, I learnt a lot of things in this post about developing a system around writing blog posts from Harleena today!
Harleena – No wonder you never run out of ideas! Thank you for sharing your insights and your process of creating content. This post will help many more people.
Regards,
Kumar
Hi Kumar,
You are certainly not alone as most people unknowingly follow a writing process, though each one has their own style I would say, though never come to know of it 🙂
Lol…never! They are all piled up well enough, and that’s why I write them all down before they vanish!
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope this post helps people as well 🙂