🤫 The secret to my writing process
Tags: writing, blog, devlive
Published: 2020-10-05 05:26:57

By far, the most received question from people is what the secret to my writing process is?

- How are you able to write every day?
- How do you come up with topics?
- Etc..

Spoiler: There is no secret

But let me guide you through a couple of things I do to make my life easier.

## 1. Use Notion to keep track of articles

I'm a big fan of [Notion](https://www.notion.so/), by far the best Note app I've ever used. 
Why? Because they use a database.

For my blog, I'm just using one sheet.

It looks like this:

![My notion process](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1601273548067/cD0qhq9c5.png)

What you see here is one a [Notion table](https://www.notion.so/Tables-66a1cce8fb6f4f64b9996f4146c51fad).

I only keep track of the following values.

- Name
- Date
- Status (ToDo/Doing/Done)
- Image (Yes/No)
- Mailchimp (Yes/No)
- Link

Obviously, there is a massive backlog of past articles, and every time an idea pops in my head, I create an entry.

Sometimes I write a little description or link to a source. This helps me generate a backlog of ideas.

I mostly only write one day in advance, but sometimes when I have some spare time, I write blogs upfront for a rainy day.

## 2. Write about your learnings

> "How do you find topics to write about?"

Think about this question as: What are you looking for yourself?

If I need to Google something, even the simplest thing, I write it down. This not only helps me brand it in my brain, but it's also another article that can help someone else looking for that exact same issue.

Another way to do this: Define what you want to learn.

For instance: "I want to learn Azure App Services".

Okay, first, we need to define what the elements we need to learn and break it up in small doable tasks per day.

This makes us learn full topics, but not overwhelm us.

And by doing so, we can document our learnings again!

As you see, it's as hard or easy as you make it for yourself.

## 3. Make use of content checking tools

One thing I do want to mention, English is not my native tongue. I know some of your probably cringe after reading some of my sentences. But I try to do the best I can.

In this effort, I use a paid subscription to [Grammarly](https://www.grammarly.com/) to help with grammar checks' very basics.

And I make use of [Hemmingway](http://www.hemingwayapp.com/) to check if certain sentences are not over the top.

## 4. Have fun, doing the above

Don't write if you don't like to write!

Please, nobody is asking you to be a blogger. If you don't like it, just don't do it. Find other ways to express your knowledge.

- Create video's if that's your thing
- Become a mentor
- Create an open source project
- Create awesome Codepens

There are many ways to be active without blogging. Pick your poison.

## You see, no secrets

It's all about having fun in what you do and writing about topics you want to read.

Don't expect magic. If you start writing, nobody knows you.
Even now, we are 201 articles and days into blogging.

I'm not famous. I'm not making money, I do not have stable pageviews.

If you are that person, inspired to write, learn, and become better; Share your blog with me!

### Thank you for reading, and let's connect!

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