My writing process: A blog tour

A week or two ago, my dear, sweet friend Alex asked me if I wanted to participate in a blog tour sharing about my writing process. Now, while I have a blog, I don't tend to do a lot of those communal, bloggy things. I used to do "What I'm Loving Wednesday," but that's about as close as I got. But this one seemed different, and I liked the topic at hand, so I went for it.

As a side note, if you don't know Alex or don't read her blog already, you are missing out. Alex is a beautiful person, inside and out, and I love her dearly. God is working through her in an incredibly difficult time in her life, and to see His glory shine through her is incredible to witness.

With that being said, on to the questions!

1. What am I working on?

I'm a writer professionally, which, even after almost six years of doing so, sounds incredibly strange to say. I work at the university I attended and write for the alumni magazine and various other university publications. I'm also the copy editor, so I get to mark up text and make it better. Right now, our spring magazine is in the building stages, where the copy is complete and being edited and placed into the magazine layout. One of the less glamorous things I do is the commencement program editing, and this May the university is transitioning from two to three ceremonies because of the large number of graduates. So, I have more than 900 names to comb through and compile, complete with hometowns, honors and majors.

As far as my blog is concerned, I use this as an outlet to write about whatever I want and don't tend to work too far into the future. If it strikes me as something I'd like to write about, I write it and publish it, so I don't have a whole lot waiting in the wings.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

From the perspective of my blog, it's different because I'm different (which is basically what Alex said but totally spot on, so I have to agree). While there are millions of blogs out there written by women, some of whom who are Christians, some of whom have a husband and kids, some of whom have jobs, some of whom like to talk about clothes, at the end of the day they aren't me.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I began this blog mainly as a way to keep Scott's and my families informed as to what we were up to. It was also nice to have a place to write recreationally rather than professionally. It slowly evolved to a place where I could record memories, reflect on what I'm feeling, talk about things I liked or that interested me, and just serve as a map of where life was taking me. Lately, I've really appreciated having chronicled my pregnancy with Preston because I've looked back on it to help me remember what's to come this time around, like approximately how big I was at 20 weeks so I know what to look forward to at the beach this year.

4. How does your writing process work?

When I blog, it's pretty much coming straight from my head to the keyboard to the world. Sometimes I take a little more time to "craft" a post, but usually they are ideas I've been batting around in my head for a little bit or something that's been weighing on my heart. I tend to write it all out the night before I post it, look over it the next morning, and publish it at some point that day. Sometimes, I open a draft, type one phrase, sentence or paragraph that I've been formulating for a while, then come back and build around that.

In addition to visiting Alex's blog, you should check out these three women and their blogs. They'll be posting their writing process next week!

Katie 

from Kate + Nate

Taylor 

from Tea With Mrs. Kee

and Charlene

from From Bisons to Buckeyes