Update To My Blogging Process

A few months have passed since the last post about my blog workflow. That means it has probably changed since then. Yup. I use more apps and steps than before, yet it's still simple. There are three stages and three apps.

Draft

1. Open Apple Notes > tap New

2. Type text (including text formatting and adding links)

3. Tap Share > "Open in Pages"

Edit/archive

1. Edit text in Pages

2. Add date prefix and post title to file name

3. Save file in archive folder location

4. Copy text

Publish

1. Open Pika (web app) > tap “Write post”

2. Paste text

3. Adjust headings and breaks, add title, add post tag(s)

4. Tap "Publish post"

5. Delete draft from Notes

A few things:

• There is no social media sharing step, which simplifies the process

• I use Apple's native/default Notes and Pages apps on Mac, iPad, and iPhone, keeping things easy

• I prefer archiving before publishing

• On the rare occasion I include an image, I add it at the Edit stage in Pages. Then I add it on Pika after pasting the post text

• I have a Smart Folder in Notes for hashtag "#draft," which is added to each draft.

• Once published, I have two copies of my post: the final edited .pages file archived in iCloud/local storage, and the public hosted version on Pika

Seeing the steps broken down like they are, I wonder how I might reduce them. Yet the overall workflow feels simple to me because of how the stages are compartmentalized per app.

While I've enjoyed third-party writing apps in the past (Obsidian, Ulysses, and others), I'm glad to rely on Apple's default apps since doing so gives me more value from my investment in the ecosystem. I know that when I buy an Apple device, I'll get Notes and Pages with it, syncing across all my other Apple gear via iCloud.  No additional apps, subscriptions, fees, or accounts are needed. It also helps me avoid the temptation to try other cool text/word apps. I'm saying Notes and Pages are enough.

Why not use only Notes or only Pages? Because Notes lets me easily draft on my iPhone; Pages isn't simple enough to draft on it. And I need Pages to create a discreet file in the file system to archive my post. Although it's a .pages file, it's easy enough to export to .txt or .docx from Pages.

Another idea would be to use only two apps instead of three. First, I'd use the Pika web app to draft, edit, and publish altogether, creating the blog post on the public web. Next, I'd copy/paste the post from Pika to Pages, archiving a discreet file in my personal storage. I'll consider this more at a later date; it seems simpler.

For now, I'm sticking with the blogflow above. Yet I also plan to try the new Writing Tools coming this Fall as part of Apple Intelligence beta. I don't plan to use the re-write feature (I'm the writer). But I do plan to use the Grammarly-like proofing for grammar, punctuation, and spelling.