The Bloggers With The Most To Say
How much time do you spend on a blog post?
When I read an amazing novel, I'm cognizant of the months and years of blood, sweat, and tears that went into that work.
But when I read a blog post-- even a long, brilliant one from The Typing Makes Me Sound Busy or Starting Over at 24-- I think I subconsciously assume that the blogger just sat down and spit out the thing in twenty minutes.
There's something about the medium of blogging that seems instantaneous and disposable. A blog isn't like a novel that people read front to back, over and over. Some readers do go through my archives, but for the most part, you're only as good as your most recent post.
For me, I would say it's rare for a blog post to go out with less than three solid hours of work on it, often more like four to six. That includes writing, image selection, and editing (which is probably the biggest chunk of time). That time is usually spread out over several days, which is why I only post a few times a week, but I see that some folks hammer out multiple (quality) posts a day. I wonder if I'm an extra slow writer or if I'm on the far end of the 'perfectionist' scale. Or maybe some people take even longer than I do!
How do you approach your blog? Do you agonize over every semicolon or do you hammer 'em out and move on?
But when I read a blog post-- even a long, brilliant one from The Typing Makes Me Sound Busy or Starting Over at 24-- I think I subconsciously assume that the blogger just sat down and spit out the thing in twenty minutes.
There's something about the medium of blogging that seems instantaneous and disposable. A blog isn't like a novel that people read front to back, over and over. Some readers do go through my archives, but for the most part, you're only as good as your most recent post.
For me, I would say it's rare for a blog post to go out with less than three solid hours of work on it, often more like four to six. That includes writing, image selection, and editing (which is probably the biggest chunk of time). That time is usually spread out over several days, which is why I only post a few times a week, but I see that some folks hammer out multiple (quality) posts a day. I wonder if I'm an extra slow writer or if I'm on the far end of the 'perfectionist' scale. Or maybe some people take even longer than I do!
How do you approach your blog? Do you agonize over every semicolon or do you hammer 'em out and move on?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by cooper on -
Wow, that is impressive.
Three hours per blog post would be unreasonable for me, I don't have the time. I don't spit them our as carelessly as I did when I started blogging but I don't spend three hours over a post, at least not routinely, though I can't say it never happened. Six hours would definitely never happen. An hour is about the most I'd ever give to a blog post unless I'm writing for another online publication.
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Permalink Reply by Your Ill-fitting Overcoat on -
I'm lucky to have a day job with pretty low responsibility, so I'm able to spend a lot of time writing at work. I don't have a family or overtime at work, so I'm able devote a lot of weeknights and weekends to writing, too. It wasn't always that way for me, but I made a career switch to allow for more writing time.
There are downsides, too, though-- like crap pay and no health insurance. :)
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Permalink Reply by Mandy on -
I think for me it depends on the post. Sometimes I'll have thought about what I want to write, then the writing is just done quickly with one or two read-throughs and edits. I agree, the posts with images take longer than that.. and posts that require formatting (with lists, sections, etc) take even longer for me because blogger drives me crazy doing strange things to the spacing! If I'm writing a post I think is important I'll usually write it in Word and spend time one it, editing it multiple times. The recent autobiographical story that I posted probably took 3-4 hours.
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Permalink Reply by Your Ill-fitting Overcoat on
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So true-- Blogger formatting can definitely add time, especially on my work computer, which uses some ancient version of Internet Explorer and constantly screws up my formatting. I get really perfectionist-y about fixing it.
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Permalink Reply by Your Ill-fitting Overcoat on
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Yeah, adding images is huge. That really adds a lot of time.
And that's awesome that you have someone to proofread! Blogging can feel like you're writing in a silo sometimes. And I agree-- there are some posts that come more easily than others for me, too. There are some that I spend weeks working on until I finally just give up.
I have a few friends who prefer writing in longhand, too. For some reason, words flow more easily from me while typing, so I only write longhand if I'm on the bus or something.
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Permalink Reply by Writing to Reach You on -
I don't think I've ever spent more than an hour on a post, and more often I'd say it takes me about 30 minutes per post. I tend to write pretty quickly, and I do edit, but more for typos and grammar than anything more time consuming. I don't agonize over my writing before I post, but I am pretty careful about it. There's nothing I hate more than reading my posts back later and seeing mistakes!
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Permalink Reply by Your Ill-fitting Overcoat on
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I know-- it's weird how even if I edit a million times, I'll still usually find a typo in there the next day, haha.
I know you're writing a novel right now, too-- I wonder if having that other, more substantial writing project allows you to separate the two in your mind. I'm not working on any other writing projects right now, so maybe that's why I devote so much mental energy to blogging.
When you're working on your novel, do you feel like you approach it differently?
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Permalink Reply by Writing to Reach You on
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That's such an interesting question. My initial response is to say that I don't approach them differently. The most important thing to me in any writing I do is just to sit down and do it. I can get lost in all the planning and build the idea up so big in my mind that writing becomes intimidating. So, I prioritize just sitting down and putting words on the screen.
When I'm writing blog posts, it sometimes feels like there's a million different directions the post could take, and it's hard limiting it to one or two. I feel the same way with fiction, especially when I'm writing dialogue. Sometimes it's hard to leave out what feel like good ideas simply because they don't fit.
Especially with all the academic writing I do, it's important to me that my blog be a place for more informal writing. I care a lot about the quality of my posts, but I care more about the fun I have writing them and the responses I get to my ideas. The most amazing thing to me about blogging is the almost instant reaction you can get from a group of awesome people, so I like to throw my ideas out there instead of keep them in my head.
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Permalink Reply by Your Ill-fitting Overcoat on
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"I can get lost in all the planning and build the idea up so big in my mind that writing becomes intimidating. So, I prioritize just sitting down and putting words on the screen."
Such good advice. This is definitely the hardest part for me and is something I'm struggling with all the time!
"The most amazing thing to me about blogging is the almost instant reaction you can get from a group of awesome people, so I like to throw my ideas out there instead of keep them in my head."
Agreed! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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Permalink Reply by Sebastian on -
I have a close friend that's a successful author (think top-5 best sellers), and he says the key is to just sit down and write. Set yourself a target of X pages/words a day, and DO IT!
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Permalink Reply by Maxie on -
Somewhere between 15 minutes and an hour... depending on if I've already written the thing in my head or not.
I basically just type out whatevers going through my brain at that moment. If I think about it too hard it doesn't make sense to me.
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Permalink Reply by Your Ill-fitting Overcoat on
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Yes, thinking too hard tends to screw everything up, in my experience, ha.
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