I write the first draft of my blog posts in a doc that I have named Collection of Posts.

This doc is filled with ideas, observations, and new learning – anything I think I can write about.

Having this doc helps because whenever I want to write a new blog post, I can open the doc and start writing. Much better than looking at a blank screen and thinking about what to write next.

So, I open the doc and write until I get a rough draft or what Anne Lammot calls the shitty first draft. I edit this shitty draft so that it is easy to read, makes a point and the sentences and paragraphs appear in a logical sequence.

During edits, I delete a part of the original draft because the words no longer add to the point I am trying to make. Writers find it hard to kill the words they write because it’s their baby.

I have learned to kill the words that don’t serve the reader. Deleting those words is empowering. It is like letting go of a bad memory. It makes you calmer and opens your mind to new possibilities.

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Another interesting thing happens when I open the doc to write about an idea. In the course of writing about an idea, new ideas emerge. 

Many of these ideas seem to be good. But I won’t know which idea will work until I start writing.

To find out whether an idea is worth exploring, I create a new headline based on that idea. Then I start my ‘idea to blog’ process that I shared above.

Not every idea ends up as a blog post or a bigger piece. Sometimes the writing just flows. Other times, not so much. There are times when I’ll write 1 or 2 lines about an idea and realize that I don’t have something worthwhile to say on that topic. I know then that is the time to kill that idea and make way for new ideas and new words.

Nothing bad with the idea itself. When I am ready the same idea may come back.

I am happy that the creative process gives me new ideas, as by-products. These ideas may be as interesting or even more interesting than the idea that gave birth to it. I am also grateful for the choice to delete what I want and make my writing better.