How to Manage Your Blogging Time

Being a blogger is easy ... until life gets busy.

If we all had a couple of extra hours in the day when we weren't allowed to do anything except stay in, glued to our computer, and pound out a post, it would probably be easier. But the fact of the matter is that, even if we had those extra hours, they'd probably get taken over with all those busy life things if we were lazy about it - the trick is to manage all the time you have.

Yes. This is easier said than done. But never fear, for I AM THE MASTER OF ALL THESE THINGS AND SHALL TEACH YOU.

*everyone bursts into uncontrollable laughter so acute that they struggle to breathe*

Okay, fine. I am not exactly the master of blog organisation. I'm the un-master, if that's a thing. What that does mean, however, is that the tricks I use must be mind-numbingly easy to use, or I just wouldn't be able to follow them. So ... you have guaranteed success, right?

That has to be a good thing.

Now, I have experience balancing blogging with school, homework and choral singing, so some of my examples might be a little specific, but this advice should be general enough to blog while keeping up a job, looking after kids or guarding your secret ninja identity.

Tip #1 ~ Make the most of all your time.

Some days, that convenient half an hour you can use to blog isn't going to involve you sitting at home with all the supplies you could possibly need. It might be while someone else drives you to school, or while you wait at the bus stop, or in your lunch break at work. It might even be divided into 5 minute chunks.

But that doesn't mean you can't use them.

Both WordPress and Blogger have apps that you can use to write up posts on the go. They don't have as many features as the desktop platform, obviously, but what I love about the Blogger one in particular (I've only ever used that because frankly I'm scared of change and WordPress seems a little scary) is that it works without WiFi as long as you've 'synced' your posts before you start. So you can literally blog anywhere in the world.

If you do happen to have WiFi, you can catch up on emails and blog comments too. Doing anything that would otherwise eat into the little in-front-of-the-computer time you have will help so much, I promise.

Tip #2 ~ Keep track of ideas.

There is nothing more annoying IN EXISTENCE than having all the time you need to blog ... and then not being able to think of a single thing to type. Except maybe getting food stuck between your teeth. I'm sure you'll recognise that horrible sensation of time slipping away - any clocks in the room usually end up sounding ten times louder at this point - and knowing you're just wasting it, but not knowing how to stop.

The thing is you'll also have times when you have a brilliant idea, but no time or space in your schedule to write it. Or maybe, while you know it's good, it just isn't inspiring you right this minute.

Please, please, please write it down somewhere. In a list. As a draft blog post. Just have a place where you put all of those unused ideas (plus tags you've been tagged in - I always seem to forget about these), and then they'll be ready and waiting when you have a spare moment but nothing to fill it with.

Tip #3 ~ Break it up

No, not that kind of break up.

So, you have to write a blog post.

At a first glance, that sounds like a basic task that can't be split up much more. It can be difficult, but isn't the kind of thing you can take in stages, right?

Wrong. Off the top of my head, these are some of the stages you have to go through to get a blog post from a blank screen to the archives. I'm sure there must be more that my over-busy, slightly exhausted brain can't come up with.

• Come up with an idea.
• Plan the structure of the post.
• Write an introduction.
• Write your main body.
• Find / take photos.
• Make a title graphic.
• Proofread final post.
• Add labels, or tags, or whatever you want to call it.
• Publicise

Recognising each of these stages as seperate tasks is something I find really helpful. First of all, the psychological joy of having ticked nine things off my list instead of one is ridiculously motivating, and secondly it makes things a lot more productive when I have to blog in short bursts. Ten minutes? Okay, get your introduction done. Five? I can make a title graphic in that time. Two? Oh, I can write a tweet. Even thirty seconds is enough time to add my post labels. 

And all this from properly splitting up your tasks.

Tip #4 ~ Look into co-blogging

I don't know very much about co-blogging, to be honest. I have always been and will always be (for risk of sounding too scary and dramatic) someone who works better alone. But I can't possibly write a post for busy bloggers without mentioning sharing a blog with someone else an option. The way I understand it, there's less work if two or more people can split it up between them, bouncing off of each other is both fun and great for when you're blocked, and ... sometimes it's just generally a lot of fun?

Clearly, I am not an expert on this subject, but luckily I can link to some people who are. Shar from Virtually Read wrote this lovely post on The Benefits of Co-Blogging, YA Midnight Reads' Melanie can tell you All About Co-Blogging, and Pages Unbound has some more specific advice on How to Find a Great Co-Blogger. They're all awesome enough to tell you more than you need to know.

Tip #5 ~ Let go of perfect. Strive for better.

Sometimes, you just have to admit that nobody's perfect, and things you hadn't planned on are going to happen. You might miss a post one week, but hey! You still wrote the rest! Not having the time to take your own photos for a day or two doesn't undo all the amazing photography you've done in the past, just the same as it's okay to take a week off for exams or a family holiday or to look after your mental health for a while. Blogging is amazing, but only if you give yourself the freedom to truly enjoy it, and you can do that in any way you want.

Don't compare yourself to everyone else. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday.

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In the comments: What tricks do you use to manage your blogging time? Are they the same as what you've seen work for other people? And do you have anything motivational to say to other busy bloggers?

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Labels: Tips & Tricks