enJOY it

See part one, the sort of posts I write and why here.

This is part two: what goes into writing each post and what I consider the most important aspects of my blog.

THE TITLE : These days I am pretty predicable with my titles (though in the archives the opposite is true… I once named a blog post "paul is currently camping in the middle of tennessee and i am currently home alone. if he had internet he could check this blog and know what was happening. but if he had internet, then i could call his cell phone and this post would not be necessary."). I want this stuff to be easy to locate (for you, for a new reader, for the Google gods and for me. (Sidebar, it's a HUGE priority of mine to get my archives fixed up and more accessible so we don't have to use the search function. This is happening, I promise.)

THE PURPOSE : The posts I write always have only one topic and answer one question. "What did Ellerie's birthday invites look like?" (sunshine!) "How are my succulent clippings doing?" (decent!) "How was Palm Springs?" (awesome!) "How am I handling week two of motherhood?" (not great!) "What's going on right now?" (too much!) "What do I think of the fitbit?" (BFF!)

THE WRITING : I usually write the full post first then add photos in. I always start with a photo on top. It's almost always the "best" photo of the bunch and is meant to draw your interest. Then it alternates: text, photo, text, photo, text until I've wrapped things up. The Internet (and mobile reading) has helped us get used to quick bursts of information and I have gravitated to that style of writing. Ideally, you see short, well-organized paragraphs here.

THE VISUALS : I take photos all the time to support my writing but I never post all the photos I take. Of an event, trip, etc I post about 30-70% – the best and the most interesting, ideally. Of a project I might share closer to 10%. I take a ton of photos from different angles to make sure I have the shot (there is nothing worse than writing a post and realizing you are missing a key visual) but only the "best" that tell the most concise story make it onto the post.

I feel like this is an important point. If you run your own blog you are an editor in addition to a writer. Your job is not just to create the content, but it's to pay attention to what sort of content you are running and how you are communicating it. The post "space" is limitless – in that unlike a print article you're not dictated by page placement or word count – but that doesn't mean you should post 60 photos of one room tour (even if they are all awesome) or all 40 photos of that birthday party (even if they are the best 40 photos that have ever been taken). How many photos do you need to best tell your story, communicate your message or share your how-do? Great. Use ONLY that number of photos.

photo by Tara Whitney.

THE VOICE : Finding and developing your voice is a significant part of running a blog. It's not something that you can decide. (If it was then I would sound like a cross between Amy Poehler and Kate Middleton.) It's just something you will naturally do as you write more and more. My "voice" online is casual, realistic, upbeat and, on a good day, witty. People tell me that I seem the same when they meet me in real life (whew!) and they sometimes tell me that I used to be "funnier" in my archives.

And that's right. I was funny in my archives. I had no audience and no goals and (surprise, surprise) no income. My writing was much more random and off the cuff and I am so glad that I got that part of my life documented in blog form. Some of that stuff is Awkward but it's who I am and I have never taken a post from the archives down despite some really questionable content. This site is no longer a place for random rambles about awesome drunken nights with my girlfriends (I think that's what Vine is for. #newmedia). Although I have developed a better sense of humor in real life (two deployments and a baby will do that), I have built a much taller wall around myself online. While I can't "work on" getting that humor back in text form, I can work on writing for those that "get me" and taking my guard down a bit when it feels right.

Ideally, if I am doing my job right and your blog reader got totally messed up and the titles, names and identifying photos were removed from all the blogs you subscribe to, you could still tell based on my writing and photo style that the post was mine. This should be the goal for any business, brand and writer. While I admire her household name recognition, I don't want to be "the next" Martha Stewart. While I think her branding is impeccable, I don't want to be "the next" Oh Joy! While it pains me to say it, I don't even want to be "the next" Amy Poehler.

This is so "Pinterest quote-y" that it makes me sick, but all of those people are already taken. Martha, Joy and Amy are rad because they kept their head down and WORKED at their own craft. Part of blogging is developing YOUR voice. I think we read blogs that are of a personal nature because we are looking for someone to connect with (and dare I say someone to like). What our favorite bloggers are writing about isn't as important as how they are writing about it. Quite often, we like the "how" more than we like the "what."

THE TAKEAWAY : Be yourself.

Just kidding. Yes that's valuable, but also: Know the purpose behind every post you write. Develop a handful of go-to post types – some that are easier and some that are more involved. Work on them until they become routine. Don't write about what bores you – even if your readers love it. Take photos and write words that only you can create. Don't ever say "I want to be the next _______." You won't. Instead, be that person you already are.

She's way funnier now online than she will be in 8 years.

This week on ELISE GETS CRAFTY, I'm chatting with Cortnee Loren Brown about thinking productively about your passions. Subscribe on iTunes or stream the episode here.

I have been wanting to write an "anatomy of a blog post" post for awhile. Partly because stuff like this helps me think through and improve my own processes and partly because I get questions about running a blog all the time via email. When I sat down to finally write it though, it got away from me and 2260 words later I realized I needed to break it up into two posts.

So welcome to part one: the sort of posts I write and why I write them.

First, let's review:

Becoming a blogger is easy. Step 1 : Get an account on a platform. Step 2 : Start writing.

Being a blogger is hard. Step 1 : Keep writing. Steps 2 – 10,000 : Keep writing.

The good news is, like anything else, blogging gets easier with practice. You learn your strengths and weaknesses. You develop your interests and instincts. You find your niche. You become more efficient.

I write this blog because I have a lot to say about a lot of random things. As mentioned on Monday, I use this space as a tool to promote my business. This blog keeps me trying new things and pushes me creatively, professionally and personally. I also LOVE THIS SPACE. Love it. I am proud of what I write and what I have built here.

I thought back over my recent/consistant blog posts and charted them on two measurements : EASE and TIME. Below is a matrix that shows where most of my posts fall.

As you can see, personal posts like "around here" and "currently" are the easiest. Those are pretty much just a brain and photo dump. There's no social media value in posts like those – no one is going to "share" them and they are not the sort of post that will get "re-discovered" in my archives years later. But I love those posts. The fact that they are easy is a huge plus but more than that these are often the ones that help me connect most with readers and keep this blog what it started as, a journal for my thoughts. The "Dear Ellerie letters" really fall into this category too – those just rolled off my fingers, especially right after she was born. So do any of the family posts that I write.

Photo heavy tutorials are the most time intensive and somewhat difficult to write. I have to dream up, buy supplies for and complete a project. And obviously I have to take and edit photos, work through the best way to communicate the steps and write it all out. There are usually a lot of links and product sources to share which takes up a lot of time, but some of these posts can bring in thousands of new visitors (which means new eyeballs on the products that I see) and some can make me hundreds of dollars in affiliate income.

Posts like this, business and blogging posts, are "hard" because I have to gear up to write something this involved. I also really work to include concrete information (there is nothing worse than a post that really just says "be yourself!" ten different ways). They usually take at least two MAJOR writing passes – the first to just dump all the information and the second to clarify. Then I go over them again and again for edits. I keep the time spent (somewhat) down on these by including old photos or using a standard graphic. These posts are "worth it" because they get shared often, usually cover material that I get asked a lot via email and I really LOVE (like LOVE) to chat business. Part of why I am having so much fun with the podcast is that I get to talk through a lot of my business thoughts without worrying quite so much about the phrasing or word count. I have A LOT to say and talking through it is easier (and WAY quicker) than writing it.

Show and tell posts, (like the bachelorette invites or a succulent update) where I share something that I recently made/tried without a big tutorial are fairly simple and don't take long at all. I usually crank out a bunch of these all in the same day – I'll photo everything at once, edit everything at once and then write and upload photos to each post quickly. Other than our pizza dough recipe and Chemex post (both which took a long time to photograph but I am proud of), food and drink posts generally fall into this category. These posts are solid but not complicated content for me.

Product round-up posts (like I LOVE _____, this one on maxi skirts or this one where I shared baby necessities) are super time intensive but not "hard." The graphic takes me much longer than it should and all that linking is tedious. I continue to do these posts because the affiliate commission is a nice bump on occasion and I really to enjoy sharing my favorite things.

I want to note that I write about stuff that I actually make, eat, drink and do. I don't make stuff just so I have blog content. Believe me, I have tried because that seems like a hell of a lot easier, but my heart is not in it and it totally shows in the posts. You'll notice more recipes and cocktail posts in the summer, not because we are eating better or celebrating happy hour more, but because I make this stuff for our actual dinners, so I have to photograph it between 6-7pm and need sunlight to do that.

So that's the type of posts and why I continue to write them. You can learn more about how I schedule them here. Very soon I'll share what goes in to actually writing them. (Spoiler alert: a lot of strong coffee and spellcheck.)

This week on ELISE GETS CRAFTY, I'm chatting with Kal Barteski about making and selling original art. Subscribe on iTunes or stream the episode here.