#managing blogs

For me, writing has always been the harder part of blogging - forcing myself to sit down and get the post done. But some people have a hard time organizing their ideas and keeping track of their posts or their posting schedule. If you’d like to post more consistently, this article is for you. If you’d like to have a more organized system for keeping track of your posts and ideas for future posts, this article is for you.

I’ve recently started a three blog project - writing for Colbiemagazine, a lit enthusiast blog, and an education blog to better student study skills. If one blog is like having a  job, managing three is a full time job with overtime - minus the getting paid extra. It was a bit a overwhelming at first but as usual, I’ve found that organization is key.

These are 3 tips I’ve found in organizing and managing these blogs:

Keep a Writer’s Bible When I was in high school and trying to write my first novel, I heard of the writer’s bible. It’s basically a notebook or binder where you keep all of your writing. I use a Five Star Flex Hybrid Notebinder. It has five dividers which create the five sections of my writer’s bible: creative writing, Colbiemagazine, the literature blog, the student study skills blog, and a back section where I keep extra looseleaf paper. The first few pages of each blog section are dedicated to a running list of possible blog articles. Whenever I get a new idea for a post, that’s where it goes. This way I never forget an idea and when I need to come up with a post while I'm dry of inspiration, I have my list to fall back on. The pages after that are dedicated to the articles themselves. I use headers with my blog topics on the top of the page and use the front of the page to brainstorm and the back of the page to write a draft of the article. Once I’m satisfied, I type it up and post. While I have a physical notebook, I’m sure you can use a similar system with a word processor or writing app. A good substitute would be Evernote.

Schedule Time for Writing This is true for writing of all kinds. You have to make sure that you dedicate time to writing - whether you’re working on a novel, generating content for your blog, or journaling. If you don’t, it’s easy to fill up your time with other things and next thing you know, it’s been weeks since you’ve posted anything. Think about what kind of person you are and pick a time that’s right for you. I, for example, know that I’m more productive in the morning. I hate doing anything other than watching tv and surfing the web after a day at work. It’s impossible to pull myself away from Dance Moms or Elementary to go and write. So I’ve dedicated my morning hours to writing - one hour of creative writing (because I’m STILL trying to write a book) and one hour to write and post my blog articles every morning, Monday through Friday. I know this sounds hard, making sure to stick to a schedule like this, but like most things, once you make it a part of your daily routine, it just becomes habit.

Try to Schedule Themed Blog Posts if Possible This may not work for every blog but it’s been a great tool and timesaver for two of my blogs. Having a themed post on specific days of the week takes away some of the pressure of having to post. If I know that I post a student app of the week on my student study skills blog and that I post an author of the week on my literature blog every Monday, I’m not freaking out about missing a post or what I should post about. I try to schedule at least three themed posts a week and leave the other two days for other article ideas I may have had. I find this creates a good balance and makes your posts feel a little less formulaic. For writing up my schedule, I use a weekly notepad I bought from Target for $1 and Target’s dollar spot. In the boxes for each day, I include the name of the blog and a bullet point for each of the articles I have to write for that blog. This way, there’s less of a chance that I’ll miss posts and I’m never scrambling keep up with which blog I should be posting to and when.

I hope these tips are useful to you and if you have any comments or suggestions I’d love to hear them. I’m always looking for ways to make my organization systems better.