How my blog posts come to live
If you read my previous blog articles, you’ll quickly realize that I use it as a diary, as a channel to identify my issues and find solutions for it. I do this because I know I need help solving some problems I have but I also know that I will never take the time to research intensively for them if I don’t have to. Thankfully, our study program “forces” us to write articles for our blog. It doesn’t have to be connected to our subject — content strategy — but it could. So I’m trying to make a connection as often as it makes sense.
First steps
I’m a deeply deadline-oriented person. That is one of the reasons, I start writing this blog post at 20:35 on the declared last day to submit it. But I also now that I work best this way. If I have too much time for a task, I get distracted way too easily. And with work and life and studying, there is always a deadline that comes first. So, for me the hardest thing to do is to finally start writing, get in the flow and try not to lose focus during writing.
Keep going
When I write, it feels like I’m singing in my head. I don’t know how the next line goes, but I’m feeling it in the moment, and I always know what to write next. And the more I do it, the easier the next line comes. I know how I like to write. I know that I am obsessed with the headlines fitting together. I know that I like to have a strong beginning, an interesting middle, and an open ending. I know that I am not afraid to share deeper feelings. I know I want to be brutally honest. And I know that I love anaphors.
Start running
When it slowly comes to the end of the text, I usually start to hurry up. I want to be done. I take too much time with details and probably already have thoughts about other tasks in my head. So here I have to force myself to focus and push through. I stop being a perfectionist and start not liking my text so much as intended to. But I keep on typing to get this over with. Then I remind myself that other people will read this, and I start to make more effort. I’m rethinking the headlines. Rethinking the theme of the article. Rethinking if I want to structure it in some other way.
Come to rest
I would love to tell you that I usually let my written words sit for a bit and look at them afterwards. I would love to tell you that I put all my effort into making this blog post worth your while. I would love to tell you that I’m not afraid to change the whole structure or even start all over again when I start to believe it would make sense in a different way.
But I’m not. It’s 21:23 and I don’t have the brain juice for it anymore. So, the thing I am hoping for now is a punch line, an open end, maybe even an optimistic ending. But I know myself. I will always write my blog posts the same way. And do so even worse if they are forced on us, like this one. I did not choose this topic. I wouldn’t have. But I write it to challenge myself (and to pass this class). So here is my uninspired final line that will tell you that I will always keep writing like this: Or will I?
