My Blog Writing Process

Shashi from Runnin Srilankan nominated me to participate in the Writing Process Blog Tour. You can read her post about her writing process here.

Before I talk about my personal whats, whys, and hows, I have to say a few words about Shashi. Not only is she dedicated to her fitness and health, but she’s an amazing cook (check out her latest Mushroom Shepherd’s Pie recipe) and an even better mom! I love how most of Shashi’s blog posts start with an inspirational and heartwarming story. In a world where you don’t have to go far to see the bad, it’s very much appreciated that she not only seeks out but shares positive stories. If you love healthy eating and want to be inspired, I highly recommend checking out her blog!

On to my blog writing process…

What I am working on?

I started my blog back in January 2011 with no real goals. All I wanted to do was share my passion for healthy living. And while that’s still true, my blog has grown a tiny bit and so has my mindset. I’ve expanded my definition of healthy living from what I eat and how much I work out to include a lot of other things. And by a lot of other things I mean anything and everything!

With that being said, here are a few things I’m working on right now:

1. My photography skills – I got a fancy camera for my birthday, and now I’m trying to learn how to use it. And while taking pictures of food is fun, I want to be able to take beautiful pictures of the people in my life and the places I visit and share them with my readers.

2. New Indian recipes – Honestly, this is something I’ve been working on since 2011. Growing up, we ate my mom’s homemade Indian food at least five times a week. And while I probably should have appreciated those meals a lot more, that sense of culture is something I don’t want to lose now that I’m married and will (hopefully) have a family of my own soon. Also, my culture is something I’m very proud of and I want to share more of it on the blog. So expect more Indian recipes from me going forward!

3. More personal posts – I think I do a good job of mixing things up with my blog posts. I honestly love the randomness! However, something I’m working on is sharing more of the personal stuff – the good and the bad. While I love writing about food and fitness, my favorite posts to write are the ones where I share a little more about me and what I’m thinking/going through/etc., where I’m a bit more transparent. Of course, not everything is appropriate to share on a public blog, but I do want to delve a little bit deeper with the hopes that my stories will help someone else out there that is going through a similar experience.

How does my work differ from others?

If I had to choose a genre for my blog, I suppose it would be healthy living. But like I said earlier, my definition of healthy living, and thus what I write about, has changed A LOT over the years. I no longer just focus on nutrition and fitness. Instead the things I write about have evolved to include personal development, relationships, marriage, finding balance, etc. To me, healthy living is about the mind, body, and soul working together at all times, and I think that’s what makes me different.

Why do I write what I do?

I have two answers for this. One, I really love to write about all the things I mentioned in the question above. It makes me happy. When I sit down to write a blog post, I find myself getting lost in my own little world (just ask Vishnu!) where I can be creative as I figure out how to put my scattered thoughts into words. And two, I truly love sharing parts of my life with others from an honest and genuine place. As mentioned earlier, I consider even one post impacting someone in a positive way a huge deal.

How does my writing process work?

This may come as a complete shock, but I honestly don’t have a writing process. I’m not one of those bloggers who plans out a month’s worth of posts and sticks to a schedule. I do, however, have a little black notebook I use to write down ideas as they come to me. So essentially, I either write about whatever is on my mind the day I sit down to blog or I pull an idea out of my notebook.

As far as blogging frequency goes, I prefer to stick to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. Do I stick to this week after week? Nope. Haha. It just depends on the week – sometimes I only have time to churn out two posts while other weeks I am able to write four.

So even though I don’t have a formal process, I can say one thing with absolute certainty. Blog when you want to because you want to. If you do this, you won’t really need a process.

Tag!

This is where I’m supposed to tag my blog friends to continue on with the tour.

I’m going to tag one my best blogging buddies Khushboo because I know she’ll have some fabulous answers.  And I just love her blog and her perspective on healthy living and living in general!

AND I’m tagging YOU (the person reading this right now!). If you have a blog, please feel free to join me, Shashi, and Khushboo on this writing tour. I found these questions to be really thought provoking and would love to hear your whats, hows, and whys! If you could, just tag me in your post so that I know when it’s live!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!