My Writing Process: This is embarrassing

This post is part of the My Writing Process Blog Tour.

I was thrilled when Jodi at Kol’s Notes tagged me to take part because I adore her blog and loved reading about her process. In fact, I’ve enjoyed reading the writing process of all the bloggers who have taken part in this tour. It’s been inspiring!

Until I think about my writing process… whoo, boy…

Let me preface this by saying that I make my living as a writer. Not by writing this blog, but this blog has caused massive shifts in the type of work I receive for my freelance business. Which has brought me to a crossroads in my career. Which I’m still trying to navigate.

For this tour, I have three questions to answer, so I’m going to answer them specifically for the blog, not my crazy “work” writing process. Here we go!

Question #1: What are you working on?

I have a bunch of stuff in the queue. Some product reviews, a training post about dogs who dislike being handled (Molly), and I’m really striving to give Newt some “Caturday” posts. I actually have a notebook filled with ideas, but – as you’ll see from question three – I so rarely get to those ideas! And I just realized this answer doesn’t really answer the question. In short: nothing. I have nothing started. I’m all about fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants blogging, apparently. Which is SO not my personality and is, thus, stressful.

Question #2: Why do you write what you do?

When OMD! began, I needed a creative outlet for my writing because I was only working on corporate communications stuff for clients. I felt drained and wanted something fun to write. So, I started a blog. And it failed because I couldn’t sustain the mash of topics I was trying to cover. I thought, “What can I possibly write about, just for fun, that I’ll never run out of things to say?” The answers were sleeping in a dog bed in the corner of my office: Emmett and Lucas. This was long before Cooper, long before therapy dog training, long before moving and Newt and Molly… And in all that time, I’ve never run out of things to say about dogs!

Question #3: How does your writing process work?

I have the aforementioned list of ideas, and I also have an editorial calendar specifically for the blog printed out in my planner. How my writing process should work is like this: I file those ideas into the calendar, then write the posts a couple days in advance so that I can edit them and add lovely photos before scheduling them to publish in advance.

Here’s how it really works: Wake up. Pour a huge mug of coffee. Login to WordPress, and start to write about whatever topic I’m currently thinking about. I pull pictures off my phone, save, publish. It’s been working okay, I suppose, but also not really. Because days like Tuesday happen, where I woke up, looked at my email and had a drop-everything-and-help client emergency. So I did, of course, because that’s the work that pays the bills, but then a post didn’t happen that day. I’m striving to write more like the “should” scenario rather than the “what really happens” one. It’s too stressful, and it’s unsustainable. But I love this space, and I love, love, love the community of dog lovers who have joined up here to share stories and experiences with our little furry loves. So I’m committed to figuring it out! (In fact, I just finished a time management course that I’ll be writing about in a blog hop in a couple weeks… maybe I should get started now to work ahead!)

So, that’s that. I’m embarrassed to put that out there, especially since Jodi accused me of having it all together in her post! All I can say is that… I’m working on it. I love this blog. I love everyone who reads and comments and emails and connects on social media. Dog People are the best people, and even if I’m flying by the seat of my pants… it’s the best part of my day!

Okay! Now I get to pass this fun on… I’ve chosen three bloggers who I adore. From what I understand of the rules, they each have two weeks to answer the same three questions, and I honestly can’t wait to read their responses!

No Dog About It. If you guys aren’t reading this blog, you must! Seriously, go subscribe or add it to your reader. I’ll wait… The photography is gorgeous, but the writing is what gets me. Mel is insightful and brilliant. I’m constantly amazed at her astute observations about dogs and dog training.

I Still Want More Puppies. I don’t know how she does it. AJ mixes the funny with the sentimental so perfectly that you hang on her words. Every post makes you laugh or cry or, oftentimes, both. I was SO happy to get to hang out with her in person, and she’s absolutely lovely. I can’t wait to read her process. (AJ, divulge: HOW do you come up with all the puns??)

Peace-a-bull Assembly. Ray and Julius, the dog stars of this blog, are so stinkin’ cute. She could just post a photo of them a day, and I’d be so excited to see the daily updates. But Deb also writes about volunteering, and she shares pics of adoptable dogs along with her wisdom about working in rescue. And she lives in Indiana, and we WILL get together for coffee!