For me that is. An entry can take a couple of hours.
The reason is that most of my blogs are travelogues, generated from old travel diaries. First of all I have to decipher my own handwriting. Ok, that's my problem. Actually that doesn't take too long except for the odd word or two.
In the case of old diaries I have to dredge up the memories associated with the events recorded. I have to ask myself, was what I remembered plausible and consistent with the record? Why did I phrase things a certain way? I'm a stickler for accuracy, you see. But this phase is good to shed light on the details.
Then I have to find les mots justes to entertain the reader. This is the fun part. I have to avoid cliches, and overuse of certain words. I have to make the tenses consistent. I have get the tone right. And sometimes I have to check that a word means what I intended. This is good practice for a writer actually, to truly understand the meanings of words.
Then I have to add background information and hyperlinks. I must make sure that I spell names correctly. I must present the correct facts and not guesswork. Wikipedia is my friend here. I learn quite a few facts in this phase, long after the journey has been completed. It's humbling to discover that sometimes what I took to be the case was somewhat in error, or not the whole story.
In the case of my opinions, I have to be fair-minded and label my prejudices as such. It's not a matter of political correctness. Part of the spice of life is comprehending how there can be so many aspects to everything.
Finally I have to proofread and correct minor mistakes like mismatch of case, tense or number. Or poor phrasing with misdirected referents. Sometimes this correction continues even after publishing.
Sometimes I forget to include an anecdote and have to go back to amend the entry.
I have to insert pictures at appropriate places. It's kind of fun to look for the good shots in my collection. I often wish I had taken more shots so as to have more candidates.
And of course, I like telling jokes and playing with words. And playing with readers' expectations.
All in all it's an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.
So, if you would like to enjoy some of my travel blogs, follow the links from this page.
