I often find myself wanting to write something, but am put off by my own process. I want a tag that conveys my writing has skipped my normal process, and thus likely a bit rougher than my other articles.
Consider what I put into a typical article:
- gather topic points and rough outline
- write first draft
- review and improve flow
- wait a day or two, review and edit language
- upload to grammar tool, make final adjustments
- post here, post there, post and promote everywhere
This certainly dissuades me from writing something quickly. Not all of my opinions are worthy of this process -- I'm willing to admit that. But sometimes I have something in my head and want to get it out!
I've used the #discuss tag for this before, but then I ended up framing it that way. For my previous post, I found the #healthydebate tag -- it appears new. Perhaps that's the right place.
But I also tagged it #offthecuff. For those unfamiliar with the expression, off-the-cuff refers to doing something spontaneously, without a lot of planning or foresight.
What do you think?
I'm okay with aliasing the tag with #rambling or #curmudgeon. :)
Top comments (6)
I like this idea, if it means more people will post more articles. I love it when I search and find out that someone had already done what I plan to do or experienced the same problem that I'm experiencing (especially if they also SOLVED the issue!).
#healthydebate's been around for a bit but isn't super popular so it's less of a sidebar fixture than #meta, #discuss, or the identity crisis-plagued #explainlikeimfive.
I don't know that extemporaneous posts need a special tag, though. Everybody writes and edits differently, and rigor can easily vary from post to post as well as from person to person. I don't think it's a big deal.
Honestly, every article I've ever written was "off the cuff". It's just the way I write, even in college (and I was a regular on the Dean's List). I'd write my essay, do a quick read-through to correct any obvious errors, and then go back and create the outline if it was required. On occasion, I'll write my headings first, and then the rest of the article.
I seriously even write most of my books that way. I just do a whole lot more editing in that scenario.
I need to be less thorough in my articles I guess. :)
I've seen #streamofconsciousness used before, then again it's really hard to spell without stopping to check! :)
Sounds vaguely familiar to how I approach writing a program 😑 #meta? #IIHE (immediately invoked human expression)? 🤔