The other day a friend, after reading one of my posts, mentioned that it was impressive the amount of work I seem to put behind some of them, with research and so on. He wondered how long it normally takes me to write a post.

Of course, it depends on each one of them. Some posts take me just a few minutes to write (and then a bit longer to proof read them and make edits) but I can pretty much publish a post in less than half an hour, if in a hurry.

Other posts, on the contrary, take a bit longer.

A quick look at my drafts can tell you that some ideas have been there for quite a long time, some have been gathering dust for months even! Those are the extreme cases.

Normally, my inspiration comes from pretty much everywhere. From the songs that I’m listening to, to whichever is happening in the news. More often than not, it’s just a small detail that prompts me to think and wonder, and create one of those long form posts that some of you seem to like so much.

If I’m on the go, I normally scribble down an idea in whichever piece of paper I can get hold of, or even a quick note on my phone. However, that idea usually stays with me for a while, at the back of my mind, until I’m ready to put it out to the world.

At the moment, there are 25 drafts on my dashboard. Most of them, don’t even have a title yet (that’s usually the last part I come up with) but all of them are chockfull of ideas. Some of those I revisit, and then I rebuild into a brand new post, others get forgotten forever. I think I should make it a goal to clean up my draft queue a bit more often, I’m sure there are some gems there.

When I went on to a feature writing training recently, I realised that I really like doing research for a piece. It reminded me of my dissertation, which I enjoyed, and made me realise I missed that kind of thing. The closest I have at the moment is this blog. I have many silly posts, and others that are more well thought – or that’s what I like to think!

So, how do I write them?

Whenever I get an idea, the first thing I do is do a Google search, see what’s already out there. I look up information about it, and try to learn more. Usually I have about 15 tabs open on my browser, ranging from Wikipedia, to WordReference, to BBC… Anything I can find. If the topic is a bit trickier, I try to find more specific information.

Ultimately, however, every word you read here is my own (unless I say otherwise) because I always try to give the different topics my own spin, to make them my own.

There are some posts of which I am quite proud and, looking at the blog stats, it seems you guys have also liked them. It is gratifying to see they get views over and over again. Below, are some examples of posts that have taken me a bit longer than usual to write, but that you have enjoyed reading, which shows that the effort is totally worth it.

Y.H. Clothing
Memories
Making a Dream Catcher
Beware, the hipsters are coming!
One More Day

Let me know what you think of the posts above, if you liked them at all the first time around.

I’m looking forward to writing more posts, and hoping that you will still enjoy them!