How Is Writing,

Like Brewing Coffee?

This question elicits visions of the Mad Hatter asking the question about ravens and writing desks in my head.  Sadly its much less philosophical and much more metaphorical.  Writing, in my mind, is very much like brewing coffee. This might sound silly or absurd, but give me just a few moments of your time and I’ll elaborate.

How is writing like brewing a cup of coffee?

1. Taking Your Time is So Much Better Than Instant.
2. Having a Refined Process Delivers a Better Result.
3. The Best Things Are Done By Hand.
4. It Should Be Savored.

*Friendly Write-In:

5. Know who drinks your coffee and keep them in mind!

Brewed is Better Than Instant

Have you ever had instant coffee? We take it with us when we go camping or backpacking because there is so much less involved, that it saves precious room and weight in your pack.  Instant is palatable, but it will never replace a fresh brewed cup of coffee.  Writing is very similar.

When inspiration strikes, you might be able to sit yourself down and bang out a good blog post.  But I hazard to say that if you took some time to let those words brew, and then went back to edit that piece of content, you could take it from “meh” to “mmmmmm”.  And your readers, will thank you for it.

Imagine you are serving a cup of caffeine deprived, groggy coffee connoisseurs.  Would you rush to serve them instant coffee? Then why would want to do the very same thing to your readers? Take the time to deliver them a freshly but brewed pot of coffee, not a mug of instant.

Just like Brewing Coffee Takes a Process, so Does Good Writing

There are of course exceptions to the rule that you should always start with a refined process to write your blogs, as inspiration will strike and maybe boost you three steps through your process.  However, you should always take the time to develop a process that works for you, and apply it to every piece – even if it’s after the piece has been written.

My writing process looks a bit like this:

A. Inspiration – or Brainstorming a Topic.
B. Jotting down Three main points
C. Fleshing those points out a bit.
D. Creating a Strong Header
E. Following the Header with a fun or creative subhead.
F. Adding an intro and conclusion
G. Top to Bottom – tying it all together.
H. Read through it aloud to make sure that it flows and sounds…well…sound.

As I said before, inspiration is a funny thing.  It might flow a full blog post from my pen without having to go through these steps individually.  But when I’ve poured everything from my pen (yes I write by hand), I take the time to spot check each of these steps, to make sure that I have a fully formed and functional blog post before I hit publish.  This has come from lots of practice and wasn’t something that I initially knew how to do.  My process might look nothing like yours.  The point is that a process is a way to check your work without having to have someone else proofread each post.

Good Coffee is Made by Hand

I have already eluded to this in the last point, but because my mind works so much faster than my hands, there can be a disconnect.  My mind tends to also get carried away and explore rabbit holes, much like my childhood friend, Alice.  As a means to stay organized, to visualize and read what I am writing, I choose to be a bit old fashioned and write my posts, or at the very least, their outlines, by hand.  Doing things by hand, working in a very tactile manner always produces fine craftsmanship.  A french press will beat a coffeemaker any day.  A purse crafted by a leather artisan will always be of better quality than one ran through a machine, and so on.  From journaling, to writing my to do lists, to crafting my posts, it all starts with pen and paper.

The Final Step: Savor Your Work

After brewing a fresh pot of coffee, let is stand for a minute to cool off just enough.  I like to give my writing the same breathing room, just long enough to distance myself from it so that I can view it with fresh eyes.  Its like cleansing your mental palette.  Pick up your mug, draw in the aroma and savor the wonderful taste.  Or in our case, go back to your post, and carefully read through it.  I like to read mine aloud so that I can hear whether the sentences flow, and the thoughts make sense – otherwise my mind plays tricks on me and makes it look like misspelled words are correct and fragments are fully formed thoughts.

**Friendly Write-In

Know Who Drinks Your Coffee

Its hard to believe that I forgot to include this one.  I was reminded of this one by @KoryBowlin on Twitter!  She made a very good point.  You should always keep your audience in mind.  They like you for who you are – say the flavor of your blog.  If you all of a sudden switch flavors without telling them, they’re not going to be too happy about it.  Keep the in mind and if you want to switch things up a bit, let them know!