Thinking Blogger or Writing Blogger

I'm definitely a writing blogger. I don't even do rough drafts for my papers! I hate the damned things anyways. I just write. My views most likely will not change within the next 24 hours or so.

Both... but primarily a "writing blogger". Like Stu Mark, I've been writing since I was very young (although not as much professionally like Stu) and words just generally flow. I am a writer... therefore I write. As others have mentioned, the act of writing is often my tool for clarifying thinking.

However, like David Beckemeyer, I've always got longer posts in my queue that I keep stewing around in my brain waiting for the moment when I have the time to write them all down. I do pretty much all my blogging using an offline editor (either MS Windows Live Writer or the open source Semagic) and so it's very easy for me to have drafts lying around of longer pieces. Unfortunately, like Aswath, sometimes those longer pieces never see the light of day because they are no longer relevant.

But probably 90+% of the time in my blogging, I simply pop open an editor window, write the blog post, read through it to see if I can tighten it up or make it read better, preview it to make sure image links work... and then hit Publish and go on to something else.

Thinking blogger - actual make that an OVER thinking blogger. Sometimes I edit so much that I finally just decide that what I was going to say wasn't that important a topic for one of my blogs. So I don't publish anything.

Definitely a writing blogger. I write it, review it, then post it. And never look back :-)

Thinking.
In fact, change that to obsessive.
I keep a notoebook for ideas in my purse, plus a folder on my laptop of ideas. Things I have seen in my life, or read that I would like to let percolate for a bit in order to maybe comment.
I generally write my posts on the train, and then when I get to work (connected), read them again, fiddle with them and then copy into my blog.

I am a little bit of both. I decide what I want to write on. Then as I sit to write my post, I think about the topic, try to analyze it from different perspectives and then decide what are the key points to emphasize and what will be the clearest, most organized way to express them. I don't over analyze it though because I think that over analyzing hurts the writing process in the end. I find that usually I think better as I am typing. I usually write a first draft, go over it another few times, only making minor changes. I find that the first draft contains the most "passion".

I think about what I'm going to write ahead of time- I collect a group of thouhts in a separate file for future posts- quotes I like, things I don;t have time to express fully at that moment; but when I sit down and write, I pretty much write with little editing. (Thankfully, Stu edits over at GNM to make sure I am not too scattered about anything). But many times, when I write about something I really care about, it's like a river that's hard to stop in the process. Sitting on some stuff before I post would probably be a good idea, though.

Writing, with occasional thinking. At first it was hard to come up with post topics but now it's so easy that I keep a list of interesting subjects for future posts and try to space them out. Otherwise I could spend hours every day writing blogs. In the beginning the writing was difficult, but it became easier with each post, once I found my conversational "voice." The more I do, the easier it gets, as with nearly anything else. That being said, the content of each post kind of rolls around in my head for a while. I read somewhere that for nearly anything we do, we're only using about 30% of our brain power. What do we do with the other 70%? "Noodle."

Writing blogger, with one caveat.

Frequently, I'll get an idea for a blog post while walking or driving, and so I'll "pre-write" it in my head due to lack of computer at hand. Otherwise, I just start typing and see where it goes.

That's how I give live presentations, too. Come to BootCamp and marvel at my off-the-cuffery.

I tried a strictly "thinking" approach at one point. I still have those drafts in WP a year and a half later!

Thinking/Freaking out. I think, change my mind, and then freak out about all the other things I could have gotten done.

Maybe vaporware...

Thinking blogger. Many potential posts have been discarded because they have been taken over by events as I am still thinking about the topic.

I'm both, but more often I blog in the "think" style, as defined here (I agree that it is an oxymoron, in that blogs, and least for me, are intentionally informal).

I have posts, or post ideas, in the queue almost at any time. While working on (and thinking about) those, I may well spew out a few "write" style posts (or "write" leaning anyway) before one of the "think" style posts is done (some, well perhaps many, never make it to the blog).

I envy those that can apply the "write" approach to good effect.

I mull over ideas for quite a while before writing. However, sometimes it takes just writing to help extract those ideas out of my head. Other times I can just start writing and its very easy to express a concept. I agree with Kevin that sometimes you just have to Write It and hope for the best.

Now the next question should be: do you edit or just hit publish?

I've been writing since I was six, writing essays since I was 8, writing research papers since 10, and writing professionally since I was 18. I'm now 40 and still write, this time it's a weekly column. And every word has come from head to hand to pencil/pen/typewriter/computer keyboard instantly, with little hesitation.

There are upsides and downsides to this behavior. Almost all upsides. I save time, sure, but I also get my thoughts across most clearly. Like they say about True Or False tests, go with your first thought, it's most likely correct.

Now I know that Hemingway once said "The first draft of anything is shit." But I also know that Hemingway was a sad man, chasing ghosts and the love of a crazy mother whom he couldn't ever please well enough. For me, the first draft is the heart and bones of it, and if I bring my A Game, the first draft won't need more than a quick polish.

But that's me.

Workflow kind of dictates think blogger - I use BBEdit for virtually everything, and its method of managing URLs and stuff is really fantastic, so I draft my blog posts, along with everything else, offline first. If it's going to be a long blog post, or one that requires research, all the more reason to use BBEdit.

Haven't tried OmniOutliner for blog posts yet, though I hear great things....

I'm most definitely a writing blogger, talking podcaster, and writing student. In fact, the only way I could EVER write a paper in college was to sit down at the screen. (Yes, a writing process teacher's nightmare... no outline, T-list or bulleted points for me... rough draft to hand in? No such thing because I create as I'm typing.) I podcast the same way... fire up the mic and let it flow.

Thinking blogger... now there's an oxymoron for ya.

90% writing blogger. The numbers reflect this.

I'm a thinking and a writing blogger. I believe this is because I have two reasons for starting my blogs. Which also may explain why I have two main blogs (TheFemGeek.com and http://thefemgeek.vox.com/). My reasons are for the purpose of the projects I want to do (scripts and articles) and for bringing a closer community together in Chicago as well as having a place to rant and rave. This is actually a great question, it really got me to thinking about my blogs in general.

Writing.

I get a germ of an idea in my head, decide what the main point of my post will be, then I just start writing.

The act of writing clarifies my thinking. There have been a couple of times when I'm surprised by what eventually gets posted because it's so different from what my original "main point" started out as. In such cases, the act of composing my entry helped me realize that the original idea was actually quite lame, and that the real point lay elsewhere.

I write best when I simply imagine myself talking to an old friend. This tactic works for me since I maintain a personal blog, and not a blog for my profession / work.

Nice question. It made me stop and think for a while.

Writing blogger, definitely.

Which doesn't mean I haven't gone back and edited the ramblings after I've hit publish and seen them on the screen, but I have always been a writing writer, a talking talker, whatever. Even my few forays into podcasting, with the exception of a song list mapped out, I dove right in without a net. Usually, when I blog something, I've hit an inspirational moment and I just HAVE TO GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD, grammar, syntax, semantics be dammned. Sort of like this comment. ;)

Thinking.

Spent too many years as a copy editor and I'm also a perfectionist my nature, so it takes courage for me to hit the Send button. I'm working on combating this because it means I don't post as frequently as I should.

One technique I adopted this week - created a Tumblr account to use as a place to practice being a Writing blogger. It's a great way to post snippets, links, photos, quotes. I called mine TumblrWeeds--"stuff that blows through my mind and gets snagged on my keyboard."

Writing blogger, in that I don't know what I think until I see it emerging to the left of the cursor. Lots of sliding backwards on the delete key, trying again, shaping and crafting the thoughts, letting some slip through unnamed. A blog entry starts like a poem, with something bugging me, a small piece of mind agitation, a tickle, a question I can't answer with yes or now--like this one!

Given that I haven't posted in over a month, I'd have to say thinking blogger. That's only because you didn't have a category of "lazy" blogger.

Thinking. I have a draft in Wordpress from two days ago.

Most of the time I'm I thinking blogger, I spend every day 2 hours in the train, my only problem is that in there I can only post with my cellphone... and that's a shame.

But I considere myself as both: thinking & writing blogger

I think a little bit before sitting down and gushing into WordPress, then I edit extensively and laboriously, but seldom to the point of, say moving paragraphs. My edits are about "How can I make this sentence more clear" or "Does that set the right tone, or does it look like sarcasm?"

In a perfect world I'd have time to say, "well, this point should be made earlier, that one later." and mess with structure.

Yes, occasionally my ramblings look half-baked even to myself, but the cardinal rule of becoming a better writer is "Write, dammit!" and trust in Kaizen. If I made writing into a chore, it would happen even less frequently than it already does.

I'm too self-conscious to just post pure ramblings.

Obsessive Think blogger.

Due to my sometimes crazy work schedule. during the average work week, I generally write out my first post of the day before I go to sleep the night before.

this comment is writing. [send]

the thinking one will be ready in a couple days, maybe with video, maybe not, but then it will be written in one draft and sent.

Definitely a thinking blogger. Possibly even a vaporware blogger. Compose posts in my head, it great details I might add, sometimes for days, only to get sidetracked and for the post never to make it any further.

This is definitely something I want to tackle and get more out there.

- Neil