I want to preface this by saying that this blog post is about me reflecting on my writing process. It’s a task for the Open Space & Portfolio class I’m taking in the master’s program of Content Strategy at FH Joanneum. So, if you are interested in reflecting on your writing and how your posts come to life, I highly recommend reading here about the reflection-in-action method.
Writing as a non-writer
Writing about writing sounds fun, right? Well, not for me. Writing is just not the way I express myself. Words don’t come easy to me, and most of the time, I feel like I confuse people more than I am able to explain things. Nevertheless, I have this blog and must keep it alive.
Finding inspiration
Before I can even think about writing a blog post, I must find a topic that feels interesting enough to write about. My sources of inspiration can be everywhere. Mostly I find topics during classes, at work or on social media. TikTok, for example, offers a great opportunity to find interesting topics besides funny dances.
Starting the process
As I said, I’m not into writing, so I’m not saying that how I do it is correct or organised, this is just how I found my way about it.
When I find a topic, I look deeper into it. I try to find other articles and sources. It is important to stay on the subject and not get lost in all the directions you could go with all those resources. By this point, I have a rough idea about what I want to write. Sometimes I also have a title in mind, but this will change during the process.
The next step is to start the writing process. In general, I begin with a dirty first draft. The sole purpose of this draft is to get my thoughts out. It’s definitely not pretty at this moment, but it is something I can continue to work with. When I’m done writing down everything I had in mind, I try to structure the blog post, refine arguments and counter-arguments and find the final title.
Ready to publish?
When I’m done writing the blog post, it’s not even near getting published. Mainly, I avoid doing things last minute as I don’t have enough time to get some distance between me and my work. But this distance is very much needed. I mostly leave a “finished” blog post for at least one day. After that, I reread it and always find things that can be improved. A lot of rewriting is happening here.
When I have convinced myself that the thing is ready to be published and I found a fitting picture, it is finally time to hit the publish button. As stated in the beginning, I’m not a writer, and writing can get stressful for me. So, when a blog post finally went online, I’m just relieved that I can tick another one from my list.
