A while back, Dyskinesia (or was it Taoist Biker? or was it Dyskinesia e-mailing/commenting from Taoist Biker’s account?) asked me about my writing routine. She wanted to know how it was that I organized my work and came up with topics for the two writing gigs that I have (Beyond Megapixels and UpTake, for those of you who have been REALLY distracted lately and missed that part).
At the beginning of each invoicing cycle, I list out the days that I need to submit a post (whenever I feel like it for UpTake, though I try to offer 13-15 per month; and every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for Beyond Megapixels, plus one entry per week e-mailed to my editor for him to submit to other photography-oriented websites). Next to each date I list a potential tentative topic to write about. I actually have a list of ideas, one for travel related topics and one for photography related topics. I’m continually mildly surprised that I haven’t run out of ideas yet, and here I am 71 articles in for Beyond Megapixels, and 75 articles in for UpTake.
I am a wordy, wordy bitch. Have I mentioned?
For UpTake articles, I write about the places I’ve been, the stuff that’s going on in Arizona, the stuff that I recall and love from Maine, and any other travel related topic that comes to mind. Any time I go on vacation or out of town, I regard it with an eye toward spinning an article out of it. If there are holiday related festivals occurring in my home state, I write about them. I wrote a LOT about our road trip last summer – not only what we did during the trip, but how I planned and prepared for it.
Here are some of my favorites:
The Story of the Happy Buffalo
Eight Road Trip Pet Peeves
Three Jumping-Off Points to Canada
I Left My Heart in Portland, Maine
A Typical Sight at Scottsdale Fashion Square
For Beyond Megapixels, I write about photography and post-processing tips and techniques. Often times I’ll learn how to do something, and then immediately turn that into an article. If a new product has come out, I’ll talk about that. I’ve done lens reviews, book reviews, and talked about what’s going on at other photography websites. Articles about composition techniques seem to be popular, as are the articles where I’ve done a before/after post-processing tutorial, then asked folks what they would have done differently.
Here are some of my favorites:
Four Things Photography Has Taught Me
Photoshop CS3 – Create a Black and White Image
Four Basic Tips for Photographing the Moon (a guest entry for PhotoDoto)
Inspiring Emotion – Technical or Talent?
Event Photography – Restaurants
It’s fun, but it’s a lot of hard work. There are some weeks where I have so much to talk about, I don’t even know where to begin. There are other weeks when I have writer’s block like you read about, and can’t come up with a single topic. There are some weeks where I’m really on the ball and get all of my writing done per my schedule (Three on Saturday/Three on Sunday/Three on Monday). There are other weeks where I Just. Don’t. Feel. Like. It. Then I scramble on the day they are due to whip up a halfway-decent article.
I have a lot on my plate, but I’m having fun, so it still doesn’t feel like too much. When it stops being fun, then I’ll address what needs to stay and what needs to go.
Watch the stats on this site and win! The readers who are visitor numbers 99,999, 100,000, and 100,001 will win a prize the likes of which will amaze and enthrall! Here’s how you enter: