My Writing Approach
In a recent comment for one of my blogs, I was asked what my writing approach was and I honestly don’t think I had previously described the way I write. So here goes.
My approach is straightforward and very old school. My biggest problem is time to do the writing. My three current blogs ( I have had others) are hobbies for me. I have a day (and then some) job as a Tech consultant.
The Steps of My Writing Process
Basically, I follow this pattern when writing blog articles and books:
Capture Writing Ideas
- I capture my ideas as I have them and write one or two short line as for a frame of reference.
Organize and Schedule Articles
- Then, Organize my writing according to when I want to write them, with some lead time, of course.
Outline Article
- I outline my header levels/titles
- I never write without an outline, even the small stuff. Outlining has become second-nature for me.
Gather Materials and Research
- I gather my article research materials and load my project cart shelf with books, printed articles, and USB stick with electric materials
- Go throw the research material and bookmark any import and relevant information, which I may use.
Note: I don’t always do this step if it is something I know very well or which I have just done.
Draft Article Content
- I write without editing or spell checking until I run out of information.
- Add relevant research, if any is being used.
Edit Article And Proof
- I edit, spell check, grammar check, and format article content
- Apply SEO Optimization for Article body
- Add paragraph headers/titles
- Reduce or eliminate pronouns (it, they, these, them, etc..)
Add Article Graphics
- Go get my pictures and graphics to flesh it out. This usually means taking them from my own photo repository, it sometimes means, taking additional pictures.
- Add and Size graphics
- Perform SEO optimization on graphics properties and description.
Keyword Optimization
- I check my base keyword lists
- Add additional words appropriate to the content
- Add hashtags
- Add long-tail keywords
Add Categories
- I choose my categories; paying attention to the hierarchy, so, any parent-child relationships are not missed.
Choose Social Network Publication Channels
- choose the social network site, if any, I think it should be published to.
Add Related References
- Add internal and, if appropriate, external reference links to other articles