How can I contribute to the DIY community blog?

Question

I'd like to contribute to the Home Improvement Stack Exchange Blog, how do I get started?

Answer 1

I'm glad you asked!

Give the team some ideas

The easiest way to contribute to the blog, is to simply send the team a topic you'd like to read about. You can submit blog post ideas to blog.diy.se [at] gmail.com

Contribute anonymously

If you'd like to write a blog entry, but don't want to be hassled by Paparazzi. You can submit full blog entries to the above email address, without becoming a full team member.

Don't forget to include all pictures

Advertisements will be removed from all anonymous contributions.

Freelance

If you don't want to become a full member of the team, but you still want to be recognized for your contribution. You can submit a blog entry to the above email, and include your DIY.SE username. If this information is included in the email, your DIY.SE flair will be added to the end of the post so everybody will know how awesome you are.

Join the team

If you'd like to become a full team member. Visit the WordPress Login, and enter your StackExchange credentials. Once that's complete. Contact one of the moderators in chat, and let them know you'd like to contribute. A moderator will then change your WordPress permissions, and you'll be all set to go.

So I'm a member of the team, now what?

Well... Now you start writing. Login to WordPress, create a new post, and start writing. Remember you can save the draft at any time, so you can write the post all at once, or save it and come back to it later.

We try to post at least one entry a week (Tuesday), So if we have a large volume of posts you may have to wait a bit to see your name in lights. Unfortunately it is a Community blog, so we have to take turns posting entries. If we get to a point where we have loads of posts coming in, we'll increase the rate at which we publish posts.

Yeah, but why did I join Trello?

We use Trello as a way to keep track of new ideas, who is working on what, and how far along each entry is.

When you have an idea for a post, simply create a new card in the "Post Ideas" list. You can then assign yourself to the card (by dragging your icon onto the card), or you can leave it unassigned and allow another team member to write the post.

When you start to actually write the post, you should move the card to the "Being Written" list. This will show the other members that you are working on the post, and we should expect a new post soon.

When you are all finished writing a post, move the card to "Ready for Review". Once a post reaches this stage, other team members will review your post. They may make simple changes (grammar, spelling, etc.) without any further interaction with you. However, if major changes are needed, the reviewing member may contact you via email or chat to discuss suggested edits with you.

Once the post has been reviewed, it will be moved to the "Ready to Publish" queue and be assigned a publish date.

---

If you ever have any questions/comments/concerns, you can always contact the blog team members in the DIY Blog Contributors chat room, or Home Improvement Chat .

For more information on publishing articles, please read this Answer