My Workflow for Creating Daily Blog Posts

How I choose what to write about

In my case, I schedule a little time every morning to do a workout-which is part of my #WiteLiftRepeat personal challenge- where I also take the time to choose a topic to write about for the day.

I usually scroll through my list of, currently 200+, article ideas and pick one that excites me.

Sometimes though, I listen to a podcast during the workout, and a new idea comes up. As I'm usually already listening to a podcast on a topic I'm thinking about; I find it relatively easy to start writing about it.

In both cases:

choosing an idea early in the morning is highly preferred because I can let it marinate in my mind during all the morning responsibilities I might have.

When I'm really into the idea or topic, I regularly get out my notebook and start jotting down ideas or even an outline for the article to be written. During which I get ideas for other blog posts, which I then add to my ever-growing list of ideas. 

Sometimes I get a thought in the course of my day, which I'm more enthusiastic about than the one I chose. In that case, I feel it's fine to pick the new idea. I can write with more energy and thus a better piece (I hope), and if I don't jump on the more novel idea, I'd just get distracted from it anyway.

Eventually, when I start writing, it's mostly a mind dump of the topic (when the idea is not yet clear enough). Or it has a specific outline.

In either case, I eventually get to an outline that I use as the base for my blog post.

My writing process

Like I mentioned above, here I already have an outline. Which is not set in stone, but doesn't change much usually. 

I start filling out the details a bit. Answering the 'questions ' that each point in my outline demands. 

Remind me of writing a bit more about this eventually. So I can show you how an outline I make looks.

The writing I do sometimes flows freely- when the information is clear- other times, I have to research a bit more to find a specific example, a piece of data, or wording. In this writing process, the words are full of errors, the sentences are horrendous, and messages are explained in a boring manner. But this doesn't matter; here I only want to get the right ideas from my mind onto the canvas. 

Editing comes later.

Edit + Images

When I feel I have all my ideas onto the 'canvas,' I start editing. I read my written sentences, which, most of the time, results in me completely replacing them with new ones. However, I do still maintain the ideas that I want to communicate.

I try to add some inspiring words. Or let sentences flow more naturally.

At the same time, I also do part of the styling when it's clear how it should look like to me. Things like headlines, bolding of words, and "quotes." 

When I feel everything looks nice, I read it thoroughly. If there is nothing more I think I need to do with it  (which, depending on my level of sleep, is not foolproof), I start looking for images that fit the article.

Extra's

If relevant people were involved, say influencers in a topic area (that I learned from), or someone that helped me in some way, I link to their social profile(s) or add a remark in a suitable place.

If there are particular sources I used, I also link to them.

Sometimes I add a question for you, the reader, at the end, when I'm interested in your ideas on the topic.

Publishing

All of the content related to the article I wrote, I gather into the content management system (CMS) of my website (Webflow). There I put it in its correct spot, making sure to credit the creators of the image(s) authors and such.

Then I quickly look at the 'staging'-view of the article and see if it looks good. If it doesn't, I go back and change what looks or reads wrong. If it does look good, I hit publish. 

After publishing, a whole automated flow is firing to distribute my post on the web.

I do some sanity checks on all posts that my automated flows sent through the ether. There I check if nothing went wrong, and at the same time, I take a moment to reply to people from my audience that made comments, remarks, or mentions of my content.

And that's it! The next day I start again!

Have you ever written and published daily or weekly? How did it go? And how did it make you feel, to notice people reading your things?