As I described in my first post, I have taken a bold step to make this website functional: I have chosen to publish this blog before doing anything else to make the site presentable. The following describes my process as I proceed along this trajectory.
I begin by deciding what I want to create: I want to create a website that functions as a platform for publishing my creative work. For the moment that creative work will consist of and be woven into this blog; over time additional features will emerge.
In order to create this blog I take several simple steps and repeat them, adding a simple step each work session until I arrive at the full complement of the practice.
First, I create a list of potential blog topics. These include ideas for individual posts as well as recurring topics.
Second, I begin to write drafts of these topics. I write what is known in the trade as a “shitty first draft” [SFD] for a few of these topics in each work session. This is a way of making it past the initial blank page without a prohibitive amount of effort.
Making it past the blank page is inherently valuable, but this step also facilitates traction in editing. The SFD guarantees a strong opinion about what I have to edit and tends to make obvious what needs to change.
Third, I begin to edit these drafts. As I make additional editing passes over each one, final drafts emerge.
Fourth, I begin publishing these final drafts as they accumulate. I take into account the sort of lead time I need in order to feel comfortable in the process of writing and publishing, as well as the sort of cadence I want the blog to have. I like to have a few completed pieces in the queue before I begin, as that reduces the pressure I feel to complete the next post.
To recapitulate, the steps I have taken are the following, beginning with one on the first day and adding another each day I work until the whole list of steps is in play every time I work on the project:
- list topics
- write “shitty first drafts”
- first pass edit or redraft a post
- publish as final drafts accumulate
[several months later]
When I wrote the above portion of this post, I was snowbound in the middle of January. As there was nothing to be done out of doors, I went to work inside.
I did not know then if I would wind up moving forward with this project. I wanted to see if I could develop the habits I would need in order to follow through with publication.
As it turned out, I was able to maintain the process I described, at least as long as I was snowbound. After that, life took over again and I had to set the project aside for a while.
I returned to it in the middle of May for the first time since late January. Two weeks of work while confined by snow generated an enormous amount of material and resulted in a great deal of new clarity in my vision for the blog.
As I pick up where I left off I can see how valuable my efforts were on this foundational work, as it has allowed me to follow through with little enough effort that the process is easy enough to maintain.
As I spend more time writing and working on the site, I also find I have a new level of clarity about my vision for the website as a whole, beyond the initial project of the blog.
Having a solid handful of not only posts but series of posts to draw on has made it easy for me to hit the ground running at a pace which might otherwise take me months to gain.
While my intention was to maintain continuity in my process from January on, I also know that disruption is woven into the pattern of life. I am learning to navigate unexpected changes of plans with growing faith in my own resilience, and witnessing the unfolding of this blog through publication reminds me that resilience continues to grow as I proceed.
For more about how this process began, please see Part One of this series. In Part Three we will look at some of the reasons this process has worked for me. You will have to find your own way, of course, but I hope this account of my process encourages you and helps you generate ideas about what might work best for you, whatever project you may be contemplating.