Part 8: My Process - From Start to Finish
My Process is not “The” Process
- Figure out what works for you
Idea
- Something I recently learned
- Something that keeps coming up
Writing tools
- Text editor: VS Code
- Static site generator: Hugo
Secret
- I hate writing
- Mostly
Habit
- Write for an hour every morning
- First thing
- Before checking email/news/texts/social media
First Draft
- Write out all my ideas
- Don’t rewrite or fix organization
- Don’t stop to look anything up or add images
- Add TODOs
Example First Draft
- “How to Make Your Code Reviewer Fall in Love with You”
Dealing with writer’s block
- Do easier tasks
- Add in links
- Add in images
- Fix simple wording
Editing
- Takes the longest time
- For a 2,000 word article, I generally write 6,000 words
Read it aloud
- Makes a huge difference
Check my checklist
Check my checklist
Misery
- Key step in publishing
Writing time
Source: WakaTime
Illustrations
- Work with my illustrator on
- Cover image
- Inline cartoons
- Example
Professional review
- Hire a professional editor for feedback
- Once per year
- How I Hired a Freelance Editor for My Blog
Last checks
One final readthrough
- Right before publishing
Publishing
- Push to Github
- Merge to master
- Auto-push
Mailing list
Sharing links
- Hacker News
Add discuss links
Obsessively reload pages
- Hacker News
And then hopefully
Riding the high
- Managing comments