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by munmaek 2414 days ago
I do something like this from time to time, just with pen and paper. I often have thoughts for blog posts, and I'll write out as much as I can in a dedicated notebook. After ~2-6 days, I'll look at it again with fresh eyes and type up a first rough draft, doing edits, writing more, and rearranging everything to be more cohesive. Again, after 2-6 days I'll take another look and polish the draft.

Generally by that point I find the post is ready to go, but sometimes I go through three or four edits on pieces I'm not sure about. Feedback is also good- I typically ask a friend or my brother to see what they think.

Planes and trains are great for this; I find that I get a lot of writing done while traveling. Even on the subway, sometimes I just type up thoughts into the Notes app, and then pull it up on my computer later.

2 comments

I wrote the second half of the draft of my novel (kids Sci-Fi) on my iPhone on the train to/from work (scrivener app). I could get in the zone and just tap away.

Now editing, that’s a whole different ballgame. I find editing very hard to do on the phone.

I think you'd enjoy "Draft No. 4" by John McFee. He talks about a very similar approach to writing. You might pick some things up from him talking in depth about the same :)
If you mean this [0], that was a very good read.

[0]: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/04/29/draft-no-4