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…
I’m SO new at this. Thank you, and thank you again. Last night I wrote for the first time, but I put it in the wrong box and it didn’t get uploaded (if it’s even supposed to be uploaded),so I guess you could say I am finding this to be agonizingly difficult. I got the courage to write something finally and then I did that all wrong…..but I’m glad to know others agonize. I can always find an online encyclopedia about how to post to wordpress;I’ll get that eventually.The courage…that’s the biggee. Thank you again.
i’m not nearly the blogging perfectionist that you are — i just let it all hang out, stream of consciousness style. 🙂 but that’s probably why i enjoy reading your blog entries so much — b/c there is so much thought and editing behind them.
Awsome ! Simply awsome ! I know exactly what this feels like. I too am a noobie at this blogging thing. 🙂 I have been goofing off with yahoo for about a year or two, there have been a whole lot of problems with the yahoo product because they are about to “transition” to a ‘Universal profile’ thing-a-majig ? I just recently remembered that I had signed up for wp, so fiddled with it and basicly have been writing to my self, stupid, I know, but hey it’s only me reading so the only one to dissapoint is me right? Wellnot really because I told 2 of my friends about it, one of them currently has a wp blog, and the other is fooling with it to get one going. Both made a comment on my lil old blog paragrph to self. I was so excited ! Heck I can write a comment on someones blog, while writing, like now, I think to self, You should do a blog on this instead of a comment because your comment is turning into a rambling idot one sentence, stupid comment. Agony, oh yea, Ha, now I have nothing to blog about. I guess I should go take a shower, maybe I to will get a brainstorm blog while in shower, or not. Thank you very much for this post, it is so like me. Glad to know I am not alone.
Oh you are good! I will continue to read your stuff. You have a new fan 😀
Ha ha ha ha. I am hit and miss, I think. Sometimes I am better and more consistent at it than others. Oh, well 🙂
Obsessive compulsive disorder, perhaps? 🙂
You’re taking this waaaay too seriously!
😉
I pretty much get up before dawn, pour coffee, sit and write stream-of-consciousness, hit Publish. Then end. LOL!
OMG this is so funny. I never know what to blog about and go through several of these steps myself. (and I’m not even going to mention my spelling!!) What’s more it took me about 18 months to screw up the nerve to comment on other people’s blogs! For some reason I always felt (feel?!) like I’m gate crashing!
sistrb, and Sue, check your e-mail! 🙂 (Well, Sue, not yet. I have to go to work first…)
Emily, I used to do that, too. But it’s actually kind of fun to craft a post until it says exactly what I want to say, in exactly the right wording.
Swishy and Erica, it does come more easily for me sometimes than others. Sometimes I come up with a post while driving, showering, falling asleep, or whatever, write it down in my ubiquitous notebook, send it through one or two small revisions, and post. It just depends. (And I would never exaggerate about my blogging technique for the sake of humor. Never, ever! Not even when it’s been a few days and it’s time to put up something new but it’s already late at night and too late to write something really inspired. Never. 😉 )
I know, Absolute Vanilla. I know. But I’m a perfectionist, at least when it comes to my writing. The important thing is to know when to let it go and send it out there for the public to read.
Thanks, Christina. And as for me, I love comments. I think they’re one of the biggest reasons I blog. It’s more fun with feedback. So please feel free to comment. And I know a lot of other bloggers who feel the same way. I figure that if they don’t want comments, they’ll disable them.
Sometimes I find it hard to blog about a topic especially if nothing earth shattering happened. Other times, I just ramble and I’m surprised when there’s enough for people to make a comment on. It can be a miss or hit.
But I do let it sit and go back to revise it before I hit that submit button.