adventures of a typical high school student

Welcome back everyone!

Today I’m going to be sharing my blog post writing process, from start to finish. In case you’re new to my blog, here’s a little bit of background: I pre-write and schedule all of my posts a week in advance on weekends, so I write seven blog posts each weekend. Usually about half of those seven will be sharing my poems/writing, and the other half will be related to school or some other topic. If you’re interested in learning what goes into each of my posts, keep on reading!

First, I start with what type of post I want to write. Usually for this, I simply make this distinction: is it going to be a writing post, or not? I usually have a supply of poems I want to share on this blog, so if it is a writing post, I can easily choose one. If not, I have to do a bit more brainstorming before I start writing.

I actually usually title my posts before I start writing them, but I sometimes change the title before I’m done if my writing takes a turn and I think a different title would better reflect the post. After I title it, I choose the time I want it to be posted, I select the category I want it to be posted under, and I write three tags for it (usually one is always “wordpress”). I find an image that reflects the content of the post on unsplash.com since they offer free high-quality images, and then I get to writing the actual post.

My posts tend to be on the shorter side unless it’s a rant/opinion type post, so it takes between 15-45 minutes for me to write it from start to finish. I’ll have a little introduction paragraph, the bulk of the post, and then I’ll have a really short conclusion where I let readers know that I’m always open to suggestions and answering questions. I also always sign my name at the end (not even sure why- I don’t really think it’s necessary, but it’s a habit).

After I’ve written out the full post, I’ll read it over myself and edit anything I think needs to be changed or fixed. If it’s a poem, I’ll make sure the formatting is in “verse” rather than paragraph so the line breaks are where I want them to be. Another thing I do differently when posting poetry is I write an excerpt, since I don’t do an introduction paragraph for those posts; I go straight into the poem when you open up the post.

It’s a pretty simple process, but here it is in steps:

1. Decide what type of post I want to write (writing/education/organization/review, etc.)
2. Brainstorm post idea.
3. Title post.
4. Adjust all the settings- choose the pre-scheduled time to post, select the category I want the post to be under on my blog, add 3 tags.
5. Find a picture to go with the post on unsplash.com that will be the featured post image.
6. Write the actual post. Introduction paragraph, content, conclusion, sign-off.
7. Read the post over and make any necessary changes.
8. Press “schedule”!

Hopefully this shed some light on the blogging process if you’re a new blogger and wondering how other bloggers get their posts up, or if you’re just curious on what goes into each post. Let me know if you have any questions, as I’m happy to answer them in the comments.

Brooke