I love blogging. I love playing with words, and reading comments, and especially connecting with other bloggers, both on their sites and on mine. Like most worthwhile pursuits, however, it isn’t always easy. You see, I’m a perfectionist, which means that almost every new entry goes through each of the steps outlined below (yes, including this one). Sometimes the slow learners even get to repeat a few. And since I’m the helpful sort, I’ll now share with you this handy-dandy guide to creating an adequate blog post, Book Lady style. (Yes, adequate. I said I was a perfectionist, not that I’m perfect. You want perfection? Find another blog.)
Okay, here goes…
1. Write post. Revise obsessively. Publish.
2. Ping search engines, Feedburner, Technorati, and RSS feed readers.
3. Revise post again, wishing you’d caught now-obvious errors before letting God and everybody know you’d written something new.
4. Agonize. Post isn’t good enough. Doesn’t fit theme/voice/sense of humor. Or it fits too well, making it redundant and therefore boring. Everyone will be disappointed and unsubscribe from your feed and remove you from their blogrolls.
5. Avoid removing post from site through sheer will and other diversionary tactics.
6. First comments trickle in. Read and respond.
7. Bask in relief. The post isn’t perfect, but it’s up and it’s been read, so it’s too late to take it down now.
8. Wait one day, again reading and responding to any comments.
9. Begin to think about next post. Should put up something soon, but what? Not to worry. There’s some time.
10. Still some time, but not as much.
11. Cripes! It’s been two (or, okay, three…or maybe four…) days, and still nothing new. Ummm. What to write about? Spend whole day mining every experience, every thought, every conversation for a topic.
12. Fail.
13. Look through the land of half-finished blog entries, searching desperately for a phrase or idea that can be suddenly spun into the perfect post.
14. Fail.
15. Take a shower. Compose new entry entirely in head. Exultations abound — it’s the most brilliant post you’ve ever written. You’re a genius!
16. Towel off, grab the handy notebook you stashed in the bathroom for occasions such as this, and realize you’ve already forgotten entire post.
17. Dress and shuffle to computer. Browse your archives, wondering if anyone would really notice if you reposted an ancient entry, but with a different title.
18. Inspiration strikes! Or you strike it, preferably with something blunt and heavy.
19. Write post. Revise obsessively. Publish.
20. Repeat steps 2-20.
Yeah, I know it’s just a blog, but did I mention I’m a perfectionist? Anyway, I want only the best for my readers. All, like, three of you…
So, how’s blogging go for you? Easy? Difficult? Agonizing?
Update: I posted this exactly six minutes ago and am already on step four. I work fast! Let’s see if the post is still here in the morning…
Sounds about right 😀
that is hilarious! I try not to revise too much, except for spacing. Spacing gets on my nerves.
Your perfectionism is appreciated! 🙂
I totally see myself in points 3, 15 & 16. But most of the time I try not to pre-plan my posts; not to think too much about it until I sit down to write it, and I don’t spend too long on each post. (But I do revise them.) After I publish, that’s when I worry. It’s as if a new post needs to be accepted by the rest of the blog!!!
Dru, I definitely have times when blogging comes pretty easily. It just depends, doesn’t it?
LOL, Robin! Glad I’m not the only one, then.
Thanks, Liz! And believe me, it’s only a matter of time until you go from just worrying about spacing to worrying about punctuation, wording, relevancy, etc. Have fun when you get there!
Thanks, Mary. 🙂 I don’t know about you, but I also have this problem when I’m driving and can’t get off the side of the road and to my notebook soon enough.
Most of the time it’s fun. I’m teaching one of my sisters to blog right now, sucking another one into the blogging abyss!
LOL! I definitely go through some of these steps, too. Although, lately, I’ve gotten to the point where it’s been so many days since I last posted, and I’m so darn exhausted that I can’t think of anything that might interest anyone in the least, that I just slap up whatever thought first pops into my head. And, when all else fails, I just write about what wonderful/cute/smart/funny/annoying/infuriating thing my son is doing that day. 🙂
LOL. This is great. I hate to go back and re-read a lot of my posts. I find the typos that I had compulsively read and read and read and read to find, and then didn’t see and posted anyway, and really is it worth it to correct two weeks later when everyone is done looking? As for the blogging? It’s crazy, but I’ve discovered it is a little addicting. Even if I have NOTHING to say? I just have to put something down. Have to. And if it takes too long? Oh, my. I hate those thoughts that run randomly along and then dissappear before you get them down somewhere, and even worse those that you manage to jot a quick note or email yourself a line – those genius ones? That make no sense when you get time to get back to them. Keep up your wonderul work. It is always a pleasure.
Great posting post. I like seeing inside your mind.
#17- Nah. I do that all the time. Sometimes I take old Reagan-Era rants and change nothing except a few nouns.
My blog technique:
1: Vomit forth words willy-nilly.
2: Wonder where all those extra commas came from.
Caryn,
It’s safe to drive and talk. So I bought a Dictaphone, for this and other emergency moments when it’s not possible to write. Thank goodness I bought a cheap one. I hardly ever use it; I can’t stand the sound of my voice!
It’s uncanny, my process is almost exactly like this, except maybe:
16. Dry off, get dressed & sit down at computer and discover Caryn just posted something incredibly similar to my brilliant idea! Back to drawing board.
:^D