Seven Tools for Writing Blog Posts

I have a hard time finishing blog posts, personally. I'll get a great start and then just lose interest or get distracted working on something else. Because of that, I've started to use www.writtenkitten.com to write my posts, and then I put them into WordPress. What better motivation to actually finish a post when every 100 words, the page shows you a new picture of an adorable kitten?!

And I love your point about writing every day. The ability to write isn't only a talent, it's also a muscle. I can't expect to become a better runner if I don't go out and run on a regular basis, and I can't expect to become a better writer if I don't sit down and write - something - every day. Sometimes it's not a blog post, sometimes it's an email to a friend, a press release for work, or even some tweets - it doesn't matter because I'm still writing.

Thank you for this article.  

I believe that because writing is such a personal thing, nobody can 'tell you how' to do it.  I still use pen and paper most of the time, so I don't think it is silly at all.  I use photographs as notes for the bulk of my blog entries.  Some days I write my blog posts directly in Wordpress, but other days I choose to draft it in a Word document.  I think it depends on my day or my week...did I lose my keys this week?  Well, then maybe I'm feeling wary that I might lose all of my words on my Wordpress page today.  Did I have crappy service at a restaurant and want to write about it RIGHT NOW?  Well, then maybe I'll skip the word document today.   I like to go by feel.  

Might want to check the terms of service on google docs. The retain the right to use any material posted there in any way they wish. This might create some intellectual property issues if you wish to publish your posts later.

I'll add Evernote to this list; much like Google docs I can collab and share from that app as well. And much like you I find it just as easy to do it all in WP - except that 1-hour thing. Takes me so much longer to edit, to find the links, to add images, etc. Once in a while I can crank one out that writes itself, but coding/linking itself.. whole other thing. FWIW.

All good tools but paper and pen are well above the others. In this age of technology at all costs which will bring us probably to become a kind of cyborgs permanently surrounded by unhealthy electromagnetic waves due to all those things we carry around everyday going back to stone age technology can really make a difference. That's for a simple reason: using paper and pen activates our brain in a different, more creative way; it's an active use of our brain while simply pushing keys is a much more passive thing.

There is a reason if in China they still make computations using abacus first and then checking the results with a calculator: it keeps the brain alive and sharp.

As regards productivity the other six tools surely win but taking into account our brain and creativity paper and pen win without competitors. And we are our brain, so to say, not our tablet, or smartphone, or whatever. :)

This is a great post! I just got Scrievner and am playing around with it for some of my longer form content too, although I haven't quite got the hang of it yet (and admittedly haven't spent enough time playing around with it). I recently found the 'Focus' setting in Word for Mac which is a life saver when writing longer form content too. Much like WriteApp, it blacks out the entire screen so that all you see is your document. 

I've only been at this for just over a year but my typical strategy is that I have a pad of paper next to me while I am at work. As the day goes on, I write everything that pops into my head on the pad and bring it home with me. Once the kids are asleep, I take out that day's sheet of paper, open up my Wordpress, and start expanding on my handwritten notes. It's what works for me and I am totally with Gini on the crafting in Wordpress thing, for all the same reasons she listed. (Sorry, I can't tag from work because we are in the stoneages here)

"Write every day. Even if you don’t publish every day, you can’t call yourself a writer if you don’t write every, single day."

Thanks for the reminder, Gini! I know this, but it's so very hard to practice!

Blog posts take me more than an hour. How do you do that? But my art works have taken sometimes years (but usually take weeks)  so blogs are lightning quick.

Thanks for the tips Lady!

ohhh- I LITERALLY just learned the first steps of wordpress today- the blog is coming any day now! It's pretty intuitive thus far but I will say that I worked on the articles first in word, then copied them over. However, that was because it's not "live" yet. How interesting and freeing that I could eliminate that step!

Gini;

Everything said in that podcast was out of MAD respect -- know that!

The gap between your skills and experiences and mine are VAST -- I need remedial help. That's why I use these nerdy writing tools. (See list here: http://www.enmast.com/2013/02/nerdy-writing-tools-work/)

There is something about WORD that triggers my left brain, I have to have it all figured out tendancies -- but plain text tools like Markdown also help me get stuff onto the web easily. Evernote, Word and Google docs famously mangle the HTML and add a lot of friction to getting the writing onto the web.

I wish I could just write in the Wordpress interface -- maybe I'll get there some day.

I've noticed I trend towards the "pen and paper" model. Perhaps it's because I grew up writing in a diary, because there were only typewriters, and rotary phones? It doesn't mean I can't write in WordPress, because I do so at times, but I just have a flow that happens from my mind through my fingers to the paper. I'll change my mind and draw arrows to change things around to make a point and then sometimes see a whole new point developing - new paragraph!!

With that said, I have friends who love Evernote but I have not played with it too much just yet. Cheers!

I actually use Blogger to write blog posts. I also use Catch Notes when I am mobile blogging (I even utilize code when I am mobile blogging and I email the text to my account). I haven't tried Scrivener yet. I think I will check it out. Thank you for sharing this information. 

When I used to blog, I wrote in Wordpress for many of the same reasons you mention. I've also used Tumblr. It worked well for my jazz blog, which was more about audio, video, and quotes and less about words, although it worked fine for that, too. I'm currently using Apple's Pages to write my book, but I may look deeper into Scrivener. I like what I see so far. Thanks for the tip.

This is a very interesting post!  I'm awed by those of you who write every day - I must get in that habit as I don't write nearly as much as I'd like.  When I do I'm like @lauraclick - draft it in Word (doesn't seem to tweak out on me  - maybe due to Mac?) and then I copy it to WP & finish off the formatting & links.  For blog ideas, I haven't found the ideal solution for me yet - have tried a bunch of apps, but still mostly use pen & paper.  Found my old handheld voice recorder the other day...might try carrying that around!

I write directly in WordPress as well, although I have to admit that I've lost a few minutes of typing here and there. It happens occasionally due to computer malfunction.

I hear you on the pen and paper. I use a weird mix of Evernote, Twitter favourites, notebooks and whiteboard notes to get my thoughts straight.

@juliaprior Julia, I realize I am six months late, but I just saw your comment on writing blog posts. I am so sorry I missed it originally!

I love writtenkitten.com. That's hilarious!

@AllisonP I think going by feel is perfectly acceptable. To your point, it's not a one size fits all, by any means.

@Colleen Sharen THAT is very good advice!

@3HatsComm Ha! I guess I'm some sort of cyborg or something. 

@Andrea T.H.W. If there is a world war, it could very well be our technology is the first to go. So pen and paper works for me!

@SavvyCopywriter Ohhhhh. I didn't know Word for Mac did that. I'll check it out!

@Chris_Read You're in the stone ages at work?! That kills me. Whenever I meet a business owner who says they have firewalls up to the Internet, I want to shake them. Sometimes I do.

@Unmana I got some flack for that comment, but I really do believe if you want to get better at your craft, you have to practice.

@Howie Goldfarb I'm in the same boat. I tend to write a bit stop. Then come back to it and see how I can improve it. 

It can take a couple hours. It really depends on how detailed I want to get. 

I still edit it via reading out loud. It seems to work best for me.

Having said all that, I think I am better on video. 

@Howie Goldfarb I guess it's because I think about content all day, every day. Even though the actual getting it down on paper takes only an hour, I've likely thought about and researched it for days beforehand.

@photo chris When does the blog launch??

@blfarris I really, really loved it when you said it's hard for you to write content in Word because you use it for strategic (I can't remember the word you used, but I got "boring" out of it) documents for clients. I thought that was REALLY interesting.

@susancellura "draws arrows to things..." LOVE IT! Why is there not a "LOVE IT" button? My editing notes consist of arrows, circled numbers with arrows and paragraphs of tiny font. NOT 100 yet, ALMOST 39, almost.

@susancellura Are you 100 years old?! Only typewriters and rotary phones. LOL!

@PTheWyse You use code on your phone?!? I bow to your greatness.

@KevinVandever You'll like Scrivener. For the book, you'll like it a whole, whole bunch.

@lizreusswig In other words, Macs rule, PCs drool.

@giesencreative Do you have the whiteboard in your office?

@IpjRobson @Howie Goldfarb I still edit by reading out loud, too!

@ginidietrich @photo chris LOL- It was supposed to be Friday- HOWEVER...I begged my boss to not go live on a day that I was SHOOTING a wedding, good grief! So it is delayed until tomorrow. We'll see if the formatting problems with the more advanced theme have shaken out by then! I was also asked, for "SEO Sake" to be sure to include a list of keywords in the posts. Um, I thought  that was what developing great content was about. How is this NOT keyword stuffing? 

@ginidietrich Gini,  Yes, WORD triggers all the parts of my brain that want to make a PERFECT thing. For me, blog writing is not about making a perfect thing -- it's about writing a crappy first draft and then honing that into something that others would want to read.
It's a trick, but staying away from Word is part of that trick for me.

@ginidietrich @blfarris old habits and muscle memory die hard. When I get REALLY stuck I take a pen and paper, throw on something hideous like sweats and comfy socks, put my hair in a pony tail and turn on LOUD music- it shorts out my brain from everything else trying to get it's attention, and sit somewhere not desk-like. A couch in one of our consult rooms- the patch of grass outside our studio, the sky chair in my yard...and then I free write until I work it out.

LOL! Well, I will be 44 in August. I did have a dot matrix printer in college, and we did have cordless phones at home. Oh, and we did cable when it came out...we had what I call the'slide" channel changer! First video on MTV? "video killed the radio star". :)

@ginidietrich @lizreusswig ohhhhhhhh........

@ginidietrich @lizreusswig Voldemort died a few years ago, you don't have to pledge allegiance to Mr. Turtleneck wearing CEO monster anymore.

In fact you can pay less and obtain a very fine piece of equipment that works quite well for daily writing, no Kool-Aid required. ;)

@ginidietrich Exactly!  Simplicity in prose...this is why you're a published author and it takes me more than a week to respond to an email! LOL

I have a glass desk that I painted the underside of white. It serves the same function, though I have to keep my desk clean to use it!

@ginidietrich @IpjRobson @Howie Goldfarb lol- I thought reading out loud to edit was "mandatory." It's the only way I can hear the rough spots.

@ginidietrich @photo chris oh, I know. I asked, how is that not keyword stuffing? To which I received an answer, "What is Keyword stuffing? I've never heard of it.  Where did you even hear of it? The purpose of the blog is to maximize SEO People have to be able to find us when they search." I was a bit harried in my answer,honestly. I pointed to you, to Target Marketing, to Coppyblogger. Brief abatement to, "use a few of these words in posts as you are able." Currently no word list received. Me, hitting my head against things. 

@photo chris The list of keywords in every post. That makes me want to cry.

@ginidietrich @photo chris lol- to which?

@photo chris Oh. No.

@ginidietrich That and those darn rugrats that you love so much have been keeping me running!  I'm getting there, though...inch by inch! ;)

@lizreusswig In your defense, I did ask some really hard questions.

@giesencreative OMG I want that. We just have a regular ol' boring whiteboard. @ginidietrich @photo chris @JoeCardillo 

@giesencreative NO WAY!! That is so stinking cool!!

@giesencreative @ginidietrich @photo chris @JoeCardillo SOOOOO cool! And what a GREAT incentive to keep the desk clean! Of course, I think my children would take over in a nano-second and I'd  be left to work on the floor!

One desk-turned whiteboard, coming up!

@ginidietrich  @photo chris  @JoeCardillo

@giesencreative That's awesome. I really do want to see that..

I'll put up a photo for you guys tomorrow!

@giesencreative what a COOL idea!

@giesencreative SHUT UP! I want to see that!