Several hours, days, and sometimes weeks are invested in developing a blog post. The days leading up to the day I click on the publish button are filled with both anxiety and excitement; anticipation and doubt; fearlessness and timidity. I look forward to Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, yet when it 6:00am strikes and its time to publish my posts, I hesitate for several moments, for I know that once I click the publish button the entire world will be aware of my innermost thoughts and experiences, opening me up to judgment and vulnerability.
Blogging regimens vary from blogger to blogger. Perhaps my blogging regimen will resonate with another blogger. Or maybe I’m that lone blogger who hyperventilates, deletes, and re-pastes her words on the dashboard like a mad woman 5 to 7 times before it enters the blogosphere.
Anyway, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at my blog creations. It may fascinate you.
- Get some fabulous idea for a post while taking a shower
- Jump out the shower, still wet with soap dripping from my body
- Run across the hall to my bedroom and reach for my iPhone
- Frantically type the idea in the Notes application
- Hop back in the shower before water turns cold
- Repeat steps 1 through 4 about 3 times before shower ends
- Open a blank Word document, while sitting at my desk with my Macbook and an opened bag of Bite-sized Tostitos
- Type my ideas, with no regard for spelling and grammatical errors
- Leave gaps within the post, since at some point during Step 7, I will experience a brain freeze
- Pause. There’s no point in continuing to write at this particular moment. I am fresh out of new ideas.
- The perfect idea makes its debut in my mind while I’m driving down I-75 towards downtown Atlanta
- Speak the idea aloud numerous times until I reach my destination, so the idea does vanish. (I am deathly afraid of TWD, also known as, texting while driving.)
- Enter the idea in the Notes application on my iPhone
- Complete the post once I get near my Macbook
- Edit, edit, and MORE edits
- Search countless websites to find a suitable photo
- Hyperventilate; worry excessively about whether people will like it or not
- Get extremely excited about this piece of artwork that I am going to share with the world..
- Hit the PUBLISH button!!!
- Ask close friends and family if they read it.
- Hear nonchalant responses like, “No, not yet.” or, “Wait, you have a blog?”
- Believe that I am silly for thinking that people will actually read my blog, so I remove all promotions from Twitter, Facebook, and Gtalk.
- Receive no feedback, not even from family or friends who care about me
- Wake up in the middle of the night to thoughts like, “You’re being silly. Promote your blog. At least one person will read it,” so I will replace the promotions that I just removed.
- Compulsively check the stats page to see if anyone is reading it or not.
- Smile as my numbers rapidly increase around lunchtime and 3:00pm
- Frown when my numbers remain the same after 6:00pm
- Receive positive remarks from a dear friend who encourages you to relive this torture all over again.
- REPEAT
Scribbles & Tostitos 
Sounds about right, only my inspiration tends to come while I’m in traffic driving to work in the mornings. Oh, and if you could only see how many revisions my posts have before I publish.. Sometimes I write so fast that I have to read, re read and then re write for it to be clear.
I think it’s natural to be a bit apprehensive about what your posting because like you said, in an instant the whole world will know your innermost thoughts. Then there is always that downtown where you’ve posted and no one has clicked on the twitter or facebook link…”should I have said that?” always runs through my mind.
LOL @ #24…been there! Actually I’ve gone through all of these. Thanks for posting, it makes me feel better since I’m not the only one:)
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Wow, Leigh! Thanks so much for commenting. I thought that I was “weird” for going through these emotions and erratic behaviors, but now I see that perhaps I may be more normal than I anticipated.
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