A buddy of mine once wrote me that he was amazed I managed three fresh blog posts a week. He told me that his own hectic schedule limited him to two posts per week, so he didn't know how I did it. On days like today, I see his point more than I want.
I'm now in the middle of one of the wildest months of my life, with several events happening at basically the same time. You know about one of them - the birth of my daughter, Amelia. However, that's far from the only life changing event this month. Most of the rest are work related, as I'm assuming several new responsibilities that require focus. At the same time, I know that drawing readers requires consistency so that they know they can count on a new post showing up on schedule.
So, how do I manage to consistently make new posts each week? It's simple - I usually plan in advance.
Granted, today was not one of those days. In fact, I haven't been able to truly plan in advance for almost a month now, but that doesn't mean I stop trying. It's probably more important than ever now for me to plan ahead since life will get in the way if I try to wing it. Making sure new posts get up on schedule can be challenging if I wait until the last minute, but I've found myself doing that more and more in the past few weeks.
However, what I normally like to do is prepare three posts and write them all on the Saturday or Sunday the week before they're published. I can schedule all three of them to come out at a certain time, and I can be done for the week. Sure, I'll always respond to comments, and I'll also be prepared to post on something new if there's breaking news that just has to get out right away, but that's almost never the case on this blog.
It takes me around 30 minutes to write a post, and I sit down and try to do all three in a 90 minute span on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, sometimes I'm either tired, or sick, or something comes up...or I just plain don't feel like it. And that's where I get into trouble.
The feeling of finishing a week's worth of posts is incredible, but I can convince myself I'm good if I do two posts, because then I don't have to do another one until Thursday. Yeah - four days off BABY!
Thing is that Thursday creeps up on me a lot faster than I think it will, as it did today. I then find myself hemming and hawing about whether anyone would notice if I skipped just this once. I can find all kinds of rationalization to not post, but I then recognize it for the excuse it is. I liken it to my writing schedule - skip one day and it becomes easier to skip the next day as well.
I guess that's why I push through, so that I don't fall into that trap. I've fallen in before when writing a novel, and breaking the inertia again to get back into a flow is painful. I can't afford that to happen with this blog or it'll fall by the wayside quicker than the Pacers' defense parted for LeBron James. I've only had one extended absence for this blog, and that wasn't something I could do anything about.
It requires more discipline on my part so that I pump out posts in advance for the week and don't hit that wall on Thursday evening. Remembering that I get some kind of peace of mind when my week is free to do other things, like edit one of my novels, should help spur me on.
Or at least that's what I tell myself.
I'm now in the middle of one of the wildest months of my life, with several events happening at basically the same time. You know about one of them - the birth of my daughter, Amelia. However, that's far from the only life changing event this month. Most of the rest are work related, as I'm assuming several new responsibilities that require focus. At the same time, I know that drawing readers requires consistency so that they know they can count on a new post showing up on schedule.
So, how do I manage to consistently make new posts each week? It's simple - I usually plan in advance.
Granted, today was not one of those days. In fact, I haven't been able to truly plan in advance for almost a month now, but that doesn't mean I stop trying. It's probably more important than ever now for me to plan ahead since life will get in the way if I try to wing it. Making sure new posts get up on schedule can be challenging if I wait until the last minute, but I've found myself doing that more and more in the past few weeks.
However, what I normally like to do is prepare three posts and write them all on the Saturday or Sunday the week before they're published. I can schedule all three of them to come out at a certain time, and I can be done for the week. Sure, I'll always respond to comments, and I'll also be prepared to post on something new if there's breaking news that just has to get out right away, but that's almost never the case on this blog.
It takes me around 30 minutes to write a post, and I sit down and try to do all three in a 90 minute span on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, sometimes I'm either tired, or sick, or something comes up...or I just plain don't feel like it. And that's where I get into trouble.
The feeling of finishing a week's worth of posts is incredible, but I can convince myself I'm good if I do two posts, because then I don't have to do another one until Thursday. Yeah - four days off BABY!
Thing is that Thursday creeps up on me a lot faster than I think it will, as it did today. I then find myself hemming and hawing about whether anyone would notice if I skipped just this once. I can find all kinds of rationalization to not post, but I then recognize it for the excuse it is. I liken it to my writing schedule - skip one day and it becomes easier to skip the next day as well.
I guess that's why I push through, so that I don't fall into that trap. I've fallen in before when writing a novel, and breaking the inertia again to get back into a flow is painful. I can't afford that to happen with this blog or it'll fall by the wayside quicker than the Pacers' defense parted for LeBron James. I've only had one extended absence for this blog, and that wasn't something I could do anything about.
It requires more discipline on my part so that I pump out posts in advance for the week and don't hit that wall on Thursday evening. Remembering that I get some kind of peace of mind when my week is free to do other things, like edit one of my novels, should help spur me on.
Or at least that's what I tell myself.
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