Newb Q:Process
 

I could use feedback on how to set up this process in OF.

I would like to put a list together for blog post ideas. These really wouldn't be actionable until I either need them or have the energy to write something about them. They are just the ideas that pop into my head on a daily basis that I tend to forget if I leave them there.

Let's say I am going to blog about vacuum sales. Some ideas that would pop into my head would be camparisson of brands, fixing roller heads, changing lightbulbs, what to wear when selling vacuums door to door, why sucking works better than sweeping, fun things to do with vacuum cleaners, gasoline vs. electric, etc. First, what are these other than inbox items? Is each one a project or a part of a project (because in my actual topic I already have more than 100 of these ideas and that would be a lot of projects)?

Assuming I have the energy I'd have to verify some facts or look up some links to share within the posts and write the articles either in the blog software itself or in another app and later transfer it over to the blog. Then there are the tags and categories and publishing.

So, it seems to be a lot of work, or I'm making it worse than it is. What would be the process to do this keeping it manageable and not overwhelming? Or, do I just use the To Do List that Apple has included on the iPad?

There's lots of ways you could do this. Here's how I might.

Whenever a vacuum blog idea pops in my head, I'd just add it to the inbox and not fuss with projects or whatnot.

I'd also create a project named "Future Vacuum Blog Posts". I'd set its status to "On Hold" and its type to "Single Actions". It'd probably live inside a folder named "Blog about Vacuums". (That folder might also contain other blog-related projects, like "Upgrade my WordPress installation".)

Then, when I clear out my Inbox (ideally once a day, but...), I'd move any vacuum ideas to that project (and any other items to their places).

If I get more facts about a topic, I could add them to the notes. When I actually set about developing a particular blog post, I'd promote it to its own (active) project in the "Blog about Vacuums" folder, with actions inside like "Fact-check gasoline vacuum lawsuit" and "Send blog post to Aunt Ethel for proofreading".

That is helpful. Is there anyone else who might do it another way? Is there an absolute GTD way of doing this?

What Lizard said seems not to contravene any GTD concepts of which I'm aware.

Another variation might be to capture to OmniFocus, but when you process your Inbox, actually store the idea elsewhere until you're ready to turn it into an active project. Slightly more effort, perhaps, but offset by increased flexibility in the other tool? Again, I think this is totally in keeping with the GTD philosophy of capturing everything in the Inbox, then fanning it out to reference files, action lists, someday/maybe, delegation, or trash.

I often put some things into an outline in a program like OmniOutliner or any text editor that has outline features such as Microsoft Word or Apple Pages.

In my case, I put it into OmniOutliner Pro and let items stew. I sort, move and reorganize things around until I finally get an outline that I can work with (or at least start with). Then I export my outline from OmniOutliner to OPML file format and import that into OmniFocus.

I don't put it into OmniFocus until I think the first structure is good enough to import into OmniFocus.