It depends -- sometimes I think of an idea, brainstorm/take notes, then write, stripping out whatever undermines the flow or main point. Other times I'm playing a game thinking about whether there's some interesting angle I could take in writing about it, or looking for an idea around a particular theme.

When I think of something I take some time to consider the idea, explore it in more detail within the game, then write about it. And occasionally I just start writing, hoping that I'll figure out what I'm doing later (that's actually how my Bully Game Diaries started).

I always do (a ridiculous amount of) research, though, and I always explore my asides, just in case there's something good there. Sometimes I end up rewriting the whole article from a different angle because of an interesting-but-undeveloped idea I spotted while editing.

I never go looking for story ideas, I just let them come to me; usually from conversations I have with friends. Then I always begin by free writing, basically just writting everything I can think of about my chosen topic. From there I organize everything into a consise article.

The great thing about free writing is that sometimes where I end up is different from where I started. I love that as a process it doesn't have all that much structure so I can be creative. 

If it's deadline reporting, I write it up as best as I can while at the event, paying close attention to the news value of the happenings and seeing if a narrative naturally arises (did this frequently in my newspapers days as a sportswriter). If it's a feature, I'll spend a day transcribing and properly punctuating interviews before dedicating another day to an outline and a couple of days to my first draft. I tend to tear apart my first draft and start fresh with the final, sometimes writing into the wee hours of the morning. (Well, frequently writing into the wee hours of the morning). 

I can be a bear when writing. Did any of you see the scene in Treme when John Goodman's character sat down to write and growled at his wife when she walked in? I'm like that when I'm deep into writing. 

WARNING: My writing process may make me sound crazier than I actually am.

I LOVE writing. So I'm always searching for story ideas. I'm at the point where my brain is trained to just continuously, almost subconciously search for ideas in every day life. It sounds kind of crazy (I thought my magazine writing professor was a little bonkers when she first mentioned this), but it really does work, at least for me. Many of my story ideas just come from being interested and active in daily life, news, and my hobbies. Being curious about a lot of topics helps.

After I have a story idea I research. (Unless its a traditional games review—then I put myself in a sealed bubble and refuse to look at any other game reviews until mine is written. I've found in the past that other reviews influence my review writing more than I'd like to admit). How much research goes into the article really depends on the idea. I try to balance the time I spend researching because you can easily do too little, or too much (the latter is my personal pitfall).

I can write just about anywhere, but am a lot like Jason where I need a "disturb at your own risk" sign when I get deep into writing, ESPECIALLY with feature stories. God help you if you try to make contact with me during a feature story. ;) That being said though, I can write pretty much anywhere—my room, the kitchen, planes, trains, car, whatever. I usually have earbud headphones in, even if I'm not listening to music.

If I'm writing a straight news article, then I try to go beyond reporting just the facts and give it context/analysis. For example, don't just say there are new 3DS screens out for a certain game—say why it's important or what the impact could be (there is one, but it's a potential story idea for me so I'm keeping it secret for now ^^). Even if its just a few sentences.

I don't miss deadlines. Ever. And that's pretty much it!

I find that my best writing is done like this:

I will open up my note book and look at all the ideas I have listed down. After choosing one, I will spend most of the day outlining the story I want to do. Then I put the article off and think about how I should be writing it.

Then I wait until 1am and start writing. I write until it is finished. I edit and I add pictures. Then I get a few hours of sleep before going on a morning jog. Afterward I continue to edit my writing. I spend ten min trying to decide on a title before choosing one that I think sucks. 

Now, I sit back and worry that no body will read my writing because people hate it. I become extremely self conscious about myself and every aspect of my life. As soon as this feeling passes (either after it is confirmed by low readership or disproved by front page promotion) I do it all again. 

I generally fail to come up with an idea when I actively try to think one up. Most of my story and puzzle ideas come as random flashes of inspiration while I am usually engaged in unrelated tasks. I worry for the day that the indescribable cosmic horror that is feeding me ideas comes to collect on what is owed to it.

If I'm writing a feature with quotes I usually put the quotes I want to use or may want to use in a doc, or maybe even cut and pasted at the bottom of the doc I'm working in. I write pretty slowly, and I edit as I go. By the time I get to the end, I have very little rewriting to do...I reread it a few times, tweak a few lines here and there, and done.

I just put what ever comes to my mind .

Not so much a process, more of a routine. I mostly garner ideas from my day-to-day, listening to podcasts, playing games and more. I never sit down and try to come up with ideas.

1. Idea strikes. Often I'm out somewhere eating lunch, walking, in transit to work, etc.

2. Write down article idea as a headline in my iPhone app.

3. Sometimes take a lunch break and flesh out the article some more within the app.

4. When home, grab working article from the app and finish a first draft. Research if necessary but I try to avoid it as I don't have a lot of free time.

5. Revisit article the next day or at least a few hours later after some gaming. If it's a piece I want a second set of eyes on, I'll send it off for edits (shout out to Meghan Ventura).

6. Finish any edits, produce second and final draft.

7. POST!

8. Look it over when posted and make any quick last minute tweaks.

That's it!

P.S. If anyone else wants to swap edits with me, let me know :D

Oh yeah, I do Rick's first 3 steps for a lot of my articles, too - except that I don't have a proper job, so for me "lunch" would be code for any time I don't have to be paying attention to the task at hand.

I tend to only write when ideas come to me. More often than not, if I think about what I'm gonna write as I'm playing/reading/watching something, it never turns out. But if I finish something compelling, I usually just start free-writing about it in my notebook until I have to go and do something else.

At the next chance I get, I start typing what I've written on my blog, editing as I go along. Depending on how I feel about that draft, I either publish it or leave it alone for a bit--take a nap, eat lunch, go to class, etc.

In those instances, when I come back, I revise and publish. Then I just hope someone reads it...

I tend to eschew the traditional writing setup. I never write multiple drafts. I believe that's just time wasted on one idea when I could be out exploring another idea.

Consequently, I end up taking a long time to write an article, knowing that every word counts because I refuse to do any major overhauls. This ends up being a little counter-intuitive because I also prefer to do all the writing for an article in a single sitting. The moment I stop working on an idea, I lose all that wonderful context and momentum and  don't really end up writing anything more of value.

If I do end up coming back to an article I feel like I'm artificially adding on to it. Then I just get frustrated with it and it goes into a purgatory-like state. Or just gets posted as is, which is less than ideal as well.

Usually what I'll do is write the entire thing, methodically tweaking as I go, in a single sitting. Then I immediately read the entire article once, sometimes even twice, to fix any grammatical errors or to tweak word or sentence choice. Then depending on how much time I have, I'll either find and/or make the pictures and links to go with the article and post it ASAP, or leave it as a Word doc until I have the time to do all the aforementioned stuff.

After posting, I'll read it one more time on the site, mostly to see if the pictures and links work and if the spacing, format, and page layout are correct, but also for a final grammar check. Then I usually wait an hour or two and come back to see if the story has any views or comments. Then I usually check back every 15 minutes for the next couple days because I'm obssesive like that (and sadly, that is only slightly exaggerating.)

So yeah, it's definitely not the most efficient process, but it's worked for me thus far, both in school and on Bitmob.

Hell, occasionally, someone will even read what I write and, less occasionally, will post a comment!

On Writing: I don't work from a plan, generally, just an idea or a compulsion. Writing, as a process, really helps me think. I don't do as well with articles if I have an idea of where I want it to go, as opposed to following. I'll work on one piece at a time, in one or two sittings; there will be a walk in there, either between or after. Walking is good thinking time, too.

On Editing: I edit as a go. For me the most important part of editing is, after the piece if finished, I almost always go back and read it to myself out loud. It helps me catch stuff that sounds really farty that I might not have noticed. I also frequently start an illustration to go with stuff I've written, but I rarely finish in time. After I've done my out-loud review I get antsy to put it out before I lose the nerve.

On Posting: After I post something I force myself to walk away for a bit. And I mean I find something very distracting and ideally far away from the internet, so I can't keep checking back, which is my compulsion. When I do look again I will without fail go through and change one word here, a sentence there -- little fiddling that I probably should have done before posting.

it starts with a really bare bones rough draft  that gets rewritten and tweaked dozens of times until I'm happy with the final product.  It produces quality work but i need a deadline, otherwise i get nothing done. i have 10 articles that are in various stages of development and 3 of them I can't do anymore because the story/article idea has been done to death by other people or its no longer timely. 

I write down any ideas that come to me, whenever they come: At home at work, in the middle of the night. It doesn't matter if they're half-brained or fully developed; I just run with it. If I feel I need some research to merit my words, then that is done.

But most, if not all my ideas are written down on old-fashioned pen and paper.

I'm horrible at writing off the cuff, so I usually speak into a recorder, and then work what I said into words. And yes, I am aware this is not the best way to write!