It is 10:38 on the penultimate day of December, so you’re getting a post about blogging because it’s quick and easy. About five hours ago, when I was in the middle of the first draft of my piece for today, I developed a wicked headache. I took some Tylenol, but that didn’t seem to touch it. So, I got into bed and slept it off. I feel better now, thankfully.
What does this have to do with writing? Well, as I said, I was in the middle of a first draft of a piece. When I woke up, it was later than I expected. I’m committed to at least one post a day for the month. My first thought was that I would just finish what I had started, but I knew I couldn’t get that in before midnight.
Since it was only a first draft, I knew I would need at least two more. Three drafts is pretty typical, even for the little throwaway ones that I write. I write the first draft, then put it away for a little while. Then I read what I wrote and make changes. Then, I put it away again and hunt for the picture, do SEO stuff, things like that. Then, I reread it and make more changes. Finally, I preview it. If I’m satisfied (That’s a little joke. I’m never satisfied. It’s more like if I’m not horrified.), I publish. If not, I do yet another draft. All told, a normal piece takes me about an hour to write. This post, since I’m just writing about the blogging process and doesn’t take any real thought, will only take about half that time.
I realized as I’m writing this that I have no basis of comparison. I think of myself as a fast writer. That probably comes from my time at school where I always waited until the last minute to write, always got it in (this was back in the day where you had to hand in actual paper), and usually got an A. Now I don’t know if I write quickly or slowly. I feel like 20 minutes per draft is pretty quick. I’d be curious what other writers do.
I know this isn’t of any interest to anyone besides me, but there you go. I’m in a time crunch, so I’m going meta with a blog post about blogging. There are plenty of bloggers who blog about blogging full time and they’re way more successful than I am. Let’s see what it does for me.
