Development stages of my writing


Next steps:

  • Review http://richardcarter.com/sidelines/my-notes-tagsonomy/?ref=Obsidian+Roundup-newsletter and see whether want to update mine

For everything I write, it can be in one of five stages - outlined below. Initially, only the fifth stage will be visible on the site. I may change this later if I become more confident ☺️.

1. A hook

When I have defined the question to be answered, I have created a ‘hook’ for the answer to hang off. I haven’t yet thought about what the answer may be though.

2. First pass

During my first pass, I “brain dump” all of the ideas I have which answer a particular question. I haven’t yet filtered or sorted them though.

3. Refining

I’ll then refine these initial thoughts. Remove the bad ideas, identify a potential initial structure, add in more ideas from research. It’ll typically be filled with notes-to-self for improveing different sections.

4. First draft

The article now has a complete structure and has been fully written out. No more ‘notes-to-self’. It’s ready to be sent to close friends for review, as well as for a future review by myself. Still not happy with it, but getting there

5. V1 complete

I’m now happy with it and ready to share. It’s still a living, breathing and evolving document, though, so I may make improvement in future.

These will be denoted on the YAML front-matter as:

  • status: hook / first-pass / refining / first-draft / ready (respectively)

References

  • This article has some great ideas: http://richardcarter.com/sidelines/my-notes-tagsonomy/?ref=Obsidian+Roundup-newsletter