For me, every blog post starts with a single thought. It might be triggered by something I read, it might just come from out of the blue.
Usually, I don’t have time to blog the thought right then and there. In the past, I would try to hold the thought in the back of my mind. Sadly, I’d often forget, and those pearls of wisdom were lost forever. Now however, I enter it in my iPod so I can flesh it out when I have some free time.
Between the time the thought comes to me and when I find the time to write the post, I’ll play with the concepts in my mind. As I build on the initial seed of a thought, I’ll often add specific points to my argument, though these points are generally a few words and mental images, rather than fully formed text.
When I finally have time to write my post, I often find myself elaborating on my original thought or outline, and including interesting links. Sometimes the process of expanding on my thought actually results in a different conclusion.
To finish things off, I’ll look for a fun image to include at the top, and post a link, with punchy commentary, to my Twitter account.
I enjoyed the discussion between you and Lindsey at A Design So Vast.
It's my belief that Truth lives at the heart of paradox and the two of you kicked around some ideas that fleshed that out for me. A sort of peeling back layers of the onion.
Nice.
I find that if I can actually write during those seconds of inspiration, then my post turns out to be one of my best. So no matter where I am or what I'm doing (usually these happen when I'm sleeping), I jump up and force myself to start writing. I've without a doubt had some of my best work done this way. The funny thing is if I wait, even if I remember the idea, it just doesn't come out the same.
Rebecca,
Glad you enjoyed the discussion I had with Lindsey. It was the first time I did something like that. I'll probably do it more in the future.
Eric,
I too believe in grabbing inspiration while it lasts. That's why I use the iPod for writing my posts.
The most important thing for me is to get the idea down…I've forgotten more brilliant ideas than I've ever written.