It's All About the Writing

My weekend was so boring.  Definitely boring in a good way but also nothing to write home about since I'm sure you don't want to hear about how I didn't leave the house once, ate chicken, watched movies, did laundry, got rid of some junk, finally exercised and sat at my dining room table in my pajamas writing.  The only person I "saw" was MJ and that was over FaceTime.  This can't be a weekend post because I basically just summed it up in 3 sentences and there are no pictures so I'm going to talk about something else now.  

How often do you go back and read your old blog posts?  I don't do it all the time but now and then I randomly skip around from post to post reading things I wrote two months or two years ago.  It's really fun to take a walk down memory lane.   It's super annoying if I find a typo after so much time has passed.  I guess reading it a million times isn't always enough.  My earlier blog posts are very long winded, overly wordy and way too uptight.  I changed my writing style when I realized that other people were actually reading it.   I had to work on loosening up to make it more conversational and not worrying so much about using proper English so that my personality would come through and it wouldn't read like a boring college essay.

When I write posts I have a tendency to obsess.  I cut and paste entire sections from one place to another, add words, delete words.  I read it over and over  looking for typos and making sure that everything is just the way I want it.  Some posts flow easier, but with others I have a harder time translating my thoughts and feelings into words.  The editing process never ends.  After I read it for the millionth time I can't look at it anymore because if I do I'll probably find yet another thing I want to change and I'm just over it by then. 

By the time I hit publish I don't even know what I'm looking at any more so reading it later allows me to look at it with a fresh eye so it's like reading it for the first time.   I finally get get to "see" what I wrote in a way that I couldn't when I originally wrote obsessed over it.  I don't know how people blog every day! I really don't have that much to say but I also have this problem where I hesitate because I'm not sure if something is "blog worthy" then the more I look at it the worse it seems to get.  I'll throw some words down one day and then finish it the next with a fresh brain or I just abandon the post all together.  I have the same issue with writing my novel.  One day it's the worst thing ever written, but if I don't look at it for a few days I start to like it again.  I'm a perfectionist when it comes to writing even though it's never going to be perfect.  I over think everything and it's really annoying!  I'm still trying to be more okay with blogging just for the sake of blogging without worrying too much if it will be one of the best things I've ever written. 

The sharing and the interaction with readers is a big bonus but it's really is all about the writing for me.  And the preservation of memories.  It's the whole reason I blog in the first place so even if I look back and think oh my gosh why did I even write that, I'll still be okay with how I wrote it and love that it's there to look back on.  That being said, I really do need to learn how to let go a little bit.  Write what I want to say and move on just like I would if no one was reading.  It's just a blog.    

Have you changed your writing style from when you first started blogging to now?
How long does it take you to write a post?
How important is it to you to blog every day?

10 comments

  1. The last few months I found myself reading lots of my old posts because I had all this extra time and I found myself laughing a lot. I think I was a lot funnier when I started. Not sure when my style changed but I don't find my blog as comical as it once was.

    It doesn't take me long to write a blog post because I'm not really looking for perfection. At most it takes me is 30 minutes.

    I don't blog everyday because I don't have something to share or write about everyday. I, too, can't believe those who can! Power to them.

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  2. I like to re-read old posts and sometimes I'm actually impressed with myself. The act of actually writing a post takes no more than an hour, but usually prior to that hour I've thought about it for awhile maybe 2-3 days. If I'm led to write about something then it happens. But I have this theory (that I've never seen anywhere) - I believe posts need time to marinate and to be read. I think every day is overkill, but every 3-4 days is ideal and that's what I strive for.
    This was a post about writing that actually appealed to me.

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  3. I've been blogging for a little over a year now and I have gone back a few times and re-read my old posts. I like to see how far I've come since then.

    I haven't changed my style of writing, but I have tried to change things up a bit from time to time to keep it interesting. Now, I blog about more than just home decor.

    I don't blog every day because I have a life...lol. It also takes me some time to figure out what I'll blog about next. Sometimes, I start a post and I'll finish in an hour. Other times, I may start a post one day and finish it up two days later. I guess it depends on whether or not I'm going to add pictures... :)

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  4. I went over a lot of my old blog posts when I moved to self-hosting and changed my blog name a year ago, but I have every hope and intention of going through them all again over the summer. I know some need updates as there are broken images and whatnot, but I imagine I will delete some and hopefully "resurrect" others (rework them and repost them almost as if they are brand new post). I struggle a lot with being negative and complainy, especially with my earlier posts, and want to move away from that.

    Most posts take me FOREVER to write. I rarely sit down, write, and publish a post within 24 hours. Most tend to sit in my drafts folder for weeks and I slowly chip away at them. Even then I usually wait a day and re-read/edit it before I publish it. I'm far too much of a perfectionist.... but strangely enough, the posts that I spend the least time nip-picking over tend to be my most popular posts. You'd think I'd learn to post more from the heart, right? :)

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  5. I go back often to read old posts, especially from the days when I blogged on my other site. I love seeing the life progress I made and also laughing at the situations I didn't think I would make through that seem so trivial now. I'm a lot happier than I was so that's great to see lol :) I enjoy a good boring weekend every now and then. They are so rare for me these days that I cherish a pjs for 48 hours don't see the sun type weekend lol

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  6. I periodically read over my previous blog posts, especially on my anonymous blog. I write regularly because of my book club, so over the years I read over long ago forgotten editor's notes and old blog posts and I see at times my writing growth as well as my emotional maturity. It depends on what I am writing on how long it will take for me to write a blog post. If it is a bit more personal on the public blog I take my time. It isn't important for me to blog every day. I write when I want to and because I want to, it is wonderful to get folks to read what you have written, but I write for me. And even with this challenge I have written most of them well in advance because I know some days I just do not want to be bothered with the computer. Especially on the weekends.

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  7. I've been blogging for a little over 5 years and I think my writing style is pretty much the same. I'm not a big writer, I pretty much write like I talk-ha! I'm a pretty straight forward person, I usual say what's on my mind, exactly how I think it is how I say it. I will say at the begining I didn't do spell check, I just typed and published, now I try to proof read and spell check before I publish.
    From the begining I decided my blog would be about MY LIFE and MY FAMILY. I'm always thinking about years from now when my daughters go back and read it, I don't want them to be embarrassed or anything. I want them to look back at it and smile and remember and see how much I love them and see what they were up to at these younger ages of their life. So I really never really care if somebody thinks its boring or not "hip" enough its my life and sometime I enjoy a good boring weekend and I want to blog about it-ha!
    I used to blog almost everyday but I had to let it go, so now I just blog when I can and when I want. No pressure at all, that's why I still like to blog.

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  8. My writing has vastly improved since I began blogging. Since I started EHFAR back in 2009, I treated it more like a diary, (I still share my life but I do it in a different way), I wasn't interacting with people as much (but back then I thought I was a lot, but now you can't even compare to how much I do now), and my sentences were really short and choppy. I attended grad school in 2010, which I think helped my writing and how I wanted to convey what I wanted to say, along with just reading other blogs.

    Usually, it takes me about 1-2 hours to do a post :-( It's even longer if it is picture heavy.

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  9. I do love to look back at old posts just to see how far we've come. I don't blog as much as I used to though. When I started blogging, I had SO much to say. not so much anymore and I only blog when I feel like I have something to say, rather than just because I feel like I have to. That means that sometimes I don't blog for a week at a time.

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  10. I haven't been blogging long enough to see a difference in my blogging style. But I have been writing short stories and novels since I was around 12 and well, let's say I've come a long way in those 14 years! One of the most significant differences being that I stopped trying to "write like an adult" and emulate authors like Poe and Salinger, and just became the writer than I am without those lofty comparisons.
    I only post 3 times a week because when it allows me to really work a subject through and feel like I'm putting good posts out there instead of pumping out daily. It can take me anywhere from an hour to a few hours to write a post. I wrote a post yesterday about bike accidents that I finished in less than an hour, but I wrote a post last week about equality for women that took me almost 4. It depends on the subject, really.

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