The Ten Minute Post: It's Amazing How LONG it Takes to Make a Post!steemCreated with Sketch.

in #writing5 years ago

Allright, so I grant you that I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist.

I'd say my attempts to make a "quick and dirty" post are usually hampered by several decades spent writing "articles," which were expected to be thorough, and "of a certain length."

I never did twitter very well, because I was always worried about tweets being "meaningful."

How the hell can you expect to be "meaningful" in 140 characters? Then again, how the hell can you associated "meaningful" with twitter?

0663Whitney14.jpg
Here's my one image. Deal with it!

That's just me, being insane

So this time around — just for grins — I set a timer for TEN minutes, just to see what would happen. I'm rebelling against a post I am still working on, that has already eaten three hours off the clock.

I will not allow myself the luxury of carefully formulating everything, and researching here and there, and before-you-know-it-two-hours-have-passed.

Then getting sidetracked, splitting off into a potential new post (saved as a draft — thank you @steempeak!), going back and forth between several tabs.

Then trying to find some images from my bottomless pit of an image library... re-reading my initial rough draft and fleshing out the topic in more detail... and on, and on, and on.

All I am giving myself time to to with these ten minutes is correct the worst of the typos when the bell goes off, and then add a photo I already have ready and formatted.

In short, this will probably be the closest to a "shitpost" you'll see from me!

Probably says something about me that I equate "short" with "shit..."

What's My REAL Point Here?

Someone in a Discord channel asked my why I didn't publish more often.

Initial thought was: "are you KIDDING me? It takes enough effort to create ONE or TWO posts per day! How the hell would I create more?"

I know people who do, though... and I admire their persistence and sheer volume of output. I guess I am just not that motivated.

And maybe I just don't have that many ideas. Somehow, I think that's a key component, right there. I mean... if you don't have something of at least minimal interest to say, why say anything? Which beings us right back — full circle — to my original worries about creating meaningful tweets.

It could be I just think too much!

Ooops.... there goes the timer...

Thanks for putting up with this "experiment!" Tip of the hat to @mariannewest whose "Five Minute Freewrite" concept inspired this.

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

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*(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190212 00:08 PST
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I'd rather be posting less but working on driving more traffic to my content. Some just want pound out 10 post a day.

If I could work it out I'd do about one point every week or two and spend rest time getting it traffic. I got a long way to go before that will make scene.

I have a lot of amazing content I've created over time and it's sitting there doing now.

other day I did the unthinkable and went back pressed the edit button on couple older ones and made some changes.

I know what you mean.

I have been re-strategizing, as of late, as I have increasingly gotten onboard with the ongoing twitter challenges. As part of that, I am planning to create more content here that's mostly intended for "external consumption."

Perhaps writing about the Steemit community as if to someone who likes to blog, but has never heard the word "blockchain" before. Writing "articles" to some of my old niche audience groups who believe I may just have dropped dead somewhere, and am slowly being eaten by my cats.

In a similar vein to you... I have hundreds and hundreds of "500-word opinion pieces" dating back 10+ years that I may start to dust off, edit and throw out to the community here. Seems like it's "time." I am feeling similar "changes in the air," among quite a few of the "senior" content creators here... time of us to get back to creating our own markets, and stop waiting for "someone" to do "something" from some level above our heads....

Personally, I am starving for well written articles with some thought behind them. I'd rather look forward to one good post a week from someone who has something thoughtful to say than a bunch of daily, off-the-cuff typo-ridden remarks. Otherwise it feels like we're just drowning in noise.

So take all the time you need, I say.

And I generally do, @winstonalden.

Whereas I admire the few ( @tarazkp comes to mind) who seem able to create both quality and volume, I tend to take the writing craft "seriously" in a way that slows me down. And much of what I publish here is "abbreviated," because I realize the "social market" for 2500-word articles is pretty small.

Thankfully, I "did enough time" writing for magazines that I have gotten better at making a point in 500-1000 words and just throwing a "95% piece" out there, rather than finessing it to death till I think it nears perfection.

But you're exactly right... I would much rather contribute to the "signal" than to the "noise."

Were you saved by the bell or were we?....lol.

Matter of perspective, I suppose!
I don't like to "post while frustrated." because it leads to shitty whiny posts... lots of words, but not a good post, usually.
Not that anger can't inspire good writing... but I need the final edits to be done while I am feeling level-headed.
So, yeah....

lol, I guess you are right. Write when you are frustrated about something then go back later to read it and it reads like a bunch of run on blabber that doesn't quite sound as good as when you wrote it.

Well, I think sometimes creativity can be wrapped up In 140 characters though sometimes it can be virtually very difficult but it's possible, like I spend almost 5 hours on twitter daily promoting steem

Admittedly, I tend to be quite verbose.

Some of my friends would call me "too serious" because I don't thrive on a steady diet of dank memes and kitten videos and dancing babies.

I do actually like twitter, as a promotional tool, but I don't tend to use it much for actual social media engagement. But I am glad that there are those — like yourself — who DO put Steem out there, all the time!

To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.

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Hmmmm..... shout out to the 5 Min. Freewrite 4 the inspiration to do a 10 min borderline shitpost.

@denmarkguy your writings (posts) are thought provoking and thought out. None of that in a shitpost.

Question...... Are You and the Curator Cat, Like I & Sammi Jo....? Hoooman & Feline. I guess what I am asking is.... Are You Shadows Keeper?

Hahahahahaha!

Not bad at all for ten minutes! A real "stream of consciousness" deal...

I can't do it either...

And, I've been missing you on Whaleshares!

😄😇😄

@creatr

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