My Writing Process for Blog Posts

Writing something with structure and a main idea is something that takes a process. However, it is not always complicated nor ambitious to write something for a blog. It can sometimes be short and sweet, giving something that is of quality that can be done within a day.

The average post you will see on Dextive Blogs will follow these three steps. It is a formula that makes writing my thoughts relatively easy. However, a post can’t exist without one vital thing.

Coming Up with an Idea

An idea is the root of every article. Every opinion, every piece of advice, every thought starts off with a concept. One simple line that will later act as the title shapes what the article will be like. It is a small prompt that can spring inspiration and valuable content to all those who may see it.

You will notice that most of these are either advice from experience or opinions, as they don’t take a lot of effort to make. Consistently creating high-effort, research-based articles would require slowing posts down to monthly and likely making it into a main focus rather than a secondary project.

Outlining It

When it is time to write an idea, the first thing I do is make an outline with headers. The title goes at the top and the points I want to say turn into headers. So, for an article about my writing process, I include the idea, outline, and fleshing it out. These are all relevant points to the topic of writing a blog article.

I make sure there are at least three points, although that can sometimes feel short for a certain topic. More points can feel painful to write, especially since I write these posts in batches. Something I do so I can work on other things while not worrying about my blog for a few weeks. All I have to do is release the next one and tell people about it until the batch is running low!

Fleshing It Out

The final step is fleshing it out. I go back to those points and write them down one by one. I normally take a linear approach to this, but it can also sometimes be filling out what is easier and tackling the difficult parts after. I try to have sections be at least two paragraphs long, preferably longer, but sometimes it is hard to say a lot about a certain part. Sometimes pictures will be included, but they are rare here.

For instance, this blog post naturally lends itself well to short sections that don’t meet the minimum. While length can’t be forced, the effort still has to be made so people can have something that feels fulfilling to read. But this second paragraph is dragging into filler territory, isn’t it?

Conclusion

Writing a blog this way gives a feeling of structure and progress. While this process may not work for everyone, it works for me and it gets things done. The words practically write themselves as my fingers dance on the keyboard, following the outline they have been given.

Running a blog is often a satisfying endeavor, but I do need to be careful and ensure I don’t burn myself out in the process. Burnout is something that can happen to everyone, and it makes writing from a fun activity to a slog that is difficult to get through with worse results.