Write Blog Posts As You Would Write Code

There are not many things more intimidating in life than a Blank Editor Window staring you in the face. As a developer, this is a scenario I encounter many times a day. The bully is waiting right around the corner ready to get me whenever I create a new class, start working on a new library or in the scariest of cases, when I embark on learning something completely new to me, such as for example a new framework or a new programming language.

At each of these opportune moments, the Blank Editor Window hovers like a mountain in front of me, its muscular arms crossed, and pierces me with its cold and soulless gaze. 'You think yourself worthy of passage young one? Ha. Not on my watch boy'. As it turns out, him and the other manace, the Impostor Syndrome, are good old friends.

But I am an adept developer having faced a worthy foe once or twice before. Through the tricks of my trade the Blank Editor Window is no match.

Starting on a new class? No problem at all. Just name the file something reasonable (no worries, you can change it later) and start adding the bare essentials and go from there.

Hacking on a more complex functionality? Easy. Take the happy path first, implement the most basic scenario and build on that. Functionality particularly hard or having hard time delineating what should be correct behavior? Whip out a couple of unit tests to start feeling better.

But what about... DUM DUM DUM DUM the gloomiest of scenarios, the scariest of cases? What if I am learning something new from scratch and don't know even where to start? It is not like the founding fathers of our field have not already given us a tool to address this, right? May I present you the Banner of Hope, the Grail of Salvation, the one technique to rule them all: Hello, World! Once you make these words appear you are no longer lost - you have secured yourself a cosy basecamp to scale the Mt. Everest of yet-another-js-framework or whatever else you are embarking to learn.

The bottom line is that no matter the scenario I encounter in my life as a programmer, I have the tools to combat the Blank Editor Window without much need for exercising my will muscle. We all know the drill nearly by heart. Start with something small - add more - rewrite.

Than why - when I am to write a post or an article - the Blank Editor Window seems so intimidating? Why do I spend days on days pondering what should I write and how do I start? Why is it that the moment I put down the first sentence I already know that is not good enough and that I better rewrite it 100x times before I go on?

But what if the skills I acquired writing software were transferable to writing prose? I mean, why shouldn't they be?

Maybe, just maybe I could - through composition - take the tactics I already know well and feel comfortable applying and abstract them from MeTheCodeWriter and apply them to MeTheBlogWriter and wouldn't that be fun?

As it turns out, this is 100% possible and this post is a testament to this approach as it has been developed using the methodology I am about to outline.

TacticsForDefeatingTheBlankEditorWindow

1. Blank is a no no - come up with any even tangentially relevant file name (can be changed later) and jog down a heading.

2. Write, write, write whatever comes to your mind until you cover the happy path - until you have covered what you set out to write about to whatever level of depth. Ideally no edits! (minimal edits on the fly will do but make sure to not lose pace).

3. Step 2.succesful? Goto step 4. Step 2 might have failed if what you are to write about is particularly complex. In such a case, write down in any order a list of topics you would like to touch upon and goto step 4.

4. Take a break. Go for a run. Listen to your favorite tune. The hardest part is done.

5. When ready, scan through the whole article expanding the sections that need expanding, rewriting text as need be. If you only have a list of topics to talk to, start by adding a single sentence in any of the sections and go onto the next iteration.

6. Repeat step 5 until relatively happy.

7. Spellcheck and ship.

And this is it :) The act of writing a blog post can be scary - it's like doing a code review but with the entire Internet as your peers. But hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. Build slowly, a sentence on top of a sentence. One blog posts after another. And sooner then later you will find that you are just as good at creating well written stories as you are with putting together those clean and cohesive git commits and structuring your code.

Found this approach interesting and willing to give it a try? Cool :) Have any questions or concerns? Either way, let me know what you think in the comments below - would love to hear from you.