Note: This post is in response to Frank Paynter's "how do you blog?" question. See his site for a compilation of answers to be posted on a yet-to-be-determined date.

How I blog

I blog at work. In other words, I blog instead of working.

So how I do it is, first I shirk my official duties, I drink my coffee and read my favorite bloggers, progressive sites, and other assorted weirdos. I follow links. I read news stories.

Then I turn my attention back to work and don’t do anything blogwise.

Then I take a break and remember that I really should post an excerpt from that great piece I read this morning. So I do.

While I’m at it, and since the work can wait, I open up Word and start writing something that I’ve been meaning to write -- for the blog. Usually the day’s reading has stirred up my ill-formed thoughts to the point that I overcome inertia and put words to computer screen.

I type out some leaden, pedantic crapola you can get anywhere on the web. I go to lunch.

I come back from lunch with a good idea! (yes, every once in a while). I glance at the earlier effort and scrap most of it, if not all. I type furiously. I edit even harder but not extensively. I wonder, briefly, if it’s good enough yet. I decide what the hell, it looks like a blog post to me. I copy and paste it into blogger. I do my necessary hotlink work. I hit publish.

And briefly, once again, I am a blogger and a legend in my own mind.

Then I go back to work, if I can bring myself back, checking periodically to see if the post has garnered any response.