I've been a member of the Hive Learners for a while now and written on a fairly large number of posts. I've even been nominated as writer of the week for a few of them.
That may lead a person to believe that I have some talent for writing. I don't. Every article that I write is a struggle. I simply have too many ideas, too little confidence, and no particular flair for making things interesting.
However, I do have a strategy that works for me. Since its Creative Sunday I thought I would share it. If its useful, great. If it isn't, well, I'm glad it works for me.
Think before you speak
There is an old saying "Make sure your brain is engaged before you put mouth into motion. It works just as well for Hive. Before you sit down to write take a moment and consider what you want to say.
For me the thinking time is usually while I walk my dog. The walk is usually 30 - 60 minutes morning and evening. Since its the same walk every morning and evening (mostly) I have time to think. Goal: Read the post prompt before I head out and then I have an hour to think about what I'm going to write. I pick out phrases I think will be interesting. Try to think of quotes or analogies. Sometimes its a fight just to see if I have anything I can add on the particular topic.
Jot down the main ideas and thoughts on paper
Sure its old school but a lot of times I have way too many ideas and trying to fit them in a logical order can be challenging. For a short post no problem I can do that on the computer by just putting down the major headings first and then just write a paragraph or two under each heading later.
For longer posts I find it useful to get a piece of paper and put ideas and thoughts on it. Then figure out how they connect and put a few points I want to incorporate into the article. Below is a quick sample of an article I'm working on.
Organize those thoughts
Once I have a few ideas on paper and how they link then its time to think about organization for those ideas and how I can present them in an orderly, logical fashion. Articles are much easier to read if they are orderly than if they are helter skelter all over the place. Below is the next step in the writing process for me.
Time to start writing
After that I start writing. Each part of the post gets a sentence, paragraph or section which I try to separate with dividers to keep it a little more organized. Organization is kind of important. Big blocks of text scare people while breaking it up makes it easier to digest and a little less daunting to read.
Images make great breaks in the flow of a paragraph but sometimes there isn't a good photo so I just use a line, blank space and another line.
Proofreading and Reality Check
Now after writing I could just hit post. If it is an Actifit report I'll just hit the send button. For Hive Learners I want to make a little more finished product. That's where proofreading the article for clarity, typos, wordiness, extraneous information and other things that detract for the article come in.
I will admit that for this I will often head over to ChatGPT to get a quick viewpoint on what it thinks. Sometimes it will say I missed something and I'll decide if I want to add more. Sometimes it finds something unclear so I'll think about rewording it. Other times I'll just disagree with it and ignore it all together. It is MY article not an AI article but I'm not above getting a second viewpoint. I find it especially useful when I'm tired or going on a rant. I want to make sure I'm rational and not presenting garbage or just spewing vitriol.
Here is an example from the article I posted thought points from above:
Think before hitting the post button
This is a screenshot from the article I spent hours working on for the past few days. It is the third part of an article originally written in response to "If I could fulfil one dream".
At this point I have an article that I've spent considerable time on. However, it is a 92 minute read, over 13,000 words, in 15 sections with another section left to write and final proofreading yet to be done.
If I hit publish at this point I'd be crazy! No-one wants to read something that long! @bruno-kema and @kronias don't want to be stuck reading that behemoth of a post. I bet they don't even want me to post it in 15 different segments over the next two weeks. It was intended primarily for two readers @monica-ene and @jjmusa2004. Possibly with a little interest from @dlmmqb and the DREEM crew did say I'd get a featured article for winning a prior contest.
In the end though its important to decide IF an article should be posted. Once on HIVE there are no take backs. If it doesn't fit the community, doesn't reflect your true opinions, doesn't have sufficient cohesion or make a positive contribution then better to leave it unsend than hit the "PUBLISH" button.
Just my thoughts.
Feel free to leave comments.
Always love comments :)