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Collecting material: For a number of topics that I may write about in the future, I have text files where I collect information as I come across it during coding, on the web, on Twitter, etc.
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Outline: The collected material is my starting point. I rearrange it into an outline which I refine until I’m happy with it. Refining includes adding/removing/rearranging items and doing more research when I notice gaps in my knowledge.
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Skeletal draft: I add bullet points and code examples until almost all of the content exists at least in skeletal form. This process often uncovers knowledge gaps and flaws in the structure of the content which I then can fix.
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Draft: Once I’m certain that the information flow of the content works, I go through the skeletal draft and turn it into English.
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Editing: I go through the draft and correct spelling mistakes and other problems I notice.
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Publication
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Revisiting the content: I often go through the content again later, e.g. when someone asks me a question, when someone suggests an improvement, or when I move content from my blog to a book. Each of these passes improves the content. Revisiting old content has the benefit of me having forgotten a lot. That means that I’m in a better position to judge if I have explained everything well.
- I find it important to keep creating (writing new content) and correcting (editing existing content) separate. If I try to do both at the same time, I usually end up do neither well.