Before I go any further on this topic, I feel I should preface it in a sense by mentioning that my current blogging schedule only really works for me if my health stays about (or, unlikely as it may be, improves somewhat) where it is now, and where it was last year.
I know from particularly challenging years (medically speaking), such as 2010 and parts of 2011, that all it takes is an especially rough patch, an unexpected hospital trip, emergency surgery, or other major loophole to throw a substantial wrench into this system. However, for the sake of simplicity - and with only the most optimistic of thoughts in mind - I think it's best if I tackle this subject from the standpoint of how most of last year played out, and how I hope this year - and beyond - will as well.
Over the years I've often seen bloggers, be they from the vintage crowd or otherwise, lament about the fact that they sometimes found blogging to be overwhelming and/or that they were at a loss as to what to write about. Such feeling and thoughts are completely natural, and I think that even the most seasoned blogging pro, probably runs into them every now and then. However, as there are things you can do to keep your blogging mojo going all year long, so too are steps that you can take to help combat not knowing when to post or what to write about.
I not only like, but really feel as though I need, a sense of order and structure in almost every area of my life, and have worked diligently to create just that over the years. My take on blogging is no different, especially since the very unpredictable nature of my health means that I never know for sure just how I'll be feeling from one day to the next. In order to help keep churning out new posts here, I've developed an eight part blogging schedule that I stick to as rigorously as possible.
1.) At least one month in advance of an upcoming month, I sit down with a calendar and create a document with a list of dates that I want to ideally post on. I generally post once every other day, as this is a pace that, over all, works well for me, my health, and my day-to-day schedule. So, for example, in a thirty day month, I might plan to post on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th, and 29th of that month. Though that may seem like a lot, in reality, we're only talking about (in this example) fifteen posts.
2.) Once I've established the days that I hope to post on, I look to see what important events, holidays and/or anniversaries are coming up in that month. I love blogging with the seasons and holidays, so if there's an celebration that month, I'd likely devote one or more posts to said event or holiday. For example, if (Canadian) Thanksgiving fell on the 9th, I might do a "Happy Thanksgiving" type post that day, with one or two other posts relating to Thanksgiving in the days leading up to it.
3.) Having established the days I want to post on and the noteworthy celebrations in the near future, I assign topics that I plan to write about to all of the days that I've selected. There are a few frequently occurring posts here that I like to include on a regular basis (such as Saturday Snapshots and Flickr Favourites, as well as vintage recipe posts), so I then schedule those in throughout the month. I also aim to post two or more vintage outfit posts per month, so up those go on the schedule next (please note that at this point in time, I'm not writing the actual posts themselves yet, I'm just planning them out). If I have an upcoming giveaway in the works, now may also be the time when I'd pencil that in, too. Once those things are in place, I usually have between eight and eleven posts left in a given month in which to write about anything my heart desires.
4.) Often times I have tons of post ideas swirling around in my head and in my inspiration files, as well as topics that I may have said (in previous posts) that I was going to write about. Some of these get added to the schedule next. Sometimes these things alone will cover the remaining topics for a given month, but other times, I may need to put on my thinking cap and come up with some cool new ideas right then and there. Knock wood, I rarely have a problem in that regard (actually, there's usually far more things I want to write about in a given month than there are days in which to cover them!), but there are certainly times when I turn to outside sources such as the blogging community, history books, my day-to-day life, my family, Flickr, Pinterst, and the web as a whole for inspiration and ideas for my posts.
5.) Plotted and planned as I like life to often be, it is fun to have a little mystery, too, so sometimes I leave one to three dates empty (as in I haven't assigned post topics to them yet), to write posts for in the moment, especially if I suspect that something noteworthy may be happening around those days and I want to record and share about it with all of you asap.
6.) For reasons already touched on in this post (chiefly my health), I find that it's important to have at least a few posts already written and scheduled to go live in advance of their respective posting dates, so the next thing I do (over the course of numerous days) is to write several of the posts for an upcoming month. At the same time, I'll check on my supply of "emergency posts", those posts that every blogger should have in the wings for times when, for whatever reason, life throws you a curve ball and you may not be able to sit down and write anything new for a few days or longer. If it's dropped too low for my liking (having any fewer than five reserve posts at any given time makes me antsy), I'll try to set aside time to write some new reserve posts, too.
7.) Once some of the posts for an upcoming month have been written and scheduled, I'll usually let the rest happen organically throughout the month. I don't always have the photos for two to four wardrobe posts on hand at the start of the month, so in such cases, I'll create some of my vintage outfit posts as the month progresses and new images have been captured for them. As some posts take a lot longer to pen (and/or may require more advance research), I'll often focus on writing those ones first, so that if one (or more) of those pesky curve balls comes my way, I don't have to worry about writing a post that takes six hours on a day when I'm up to my eyeballs in stress or busyness. On those kinds of days, if I'm able to get in any writing, it's often best to have fun, easy posts to cover, such as vintage recipes or perhaps an edition of Flickr Favourites.
8.) At some point, usually after the half way mark, during the month, I start the process all over again for the next month, so that most anytime, I have about four to six weeks (or occasionally more) of planned posts all lined up, with anywhere from one to four weeks of posts (or most of the posts, I should say, for that period) already written and ready to go live. I do enjoy blogging in the moment, as mentioned, so I pretty much never write all of the posts for a given month completely in advance. Most however, will be ready to go - or I'll know what I'm going to write about as the month unfolds - when the first of the month arrives.
{Some months I like to keep my blogging schedule in a Word documents, others I use a good old-fashioned pen and paper, in which case a free printable vintage inspired calendar page like this really comes in handy. Image source.}
That's it, folks. Eight steps or points might seem like a fair amount, but once you've got a month or two of this kind of approach under your belt, it really becomes second nature. I find my mind often works better when I'm able to blog at my own pace, without worrying about not having any future posts lined up. In fact, and this is certainly a helpful boon of this system, I often find that the more posts I have scheduled and written in advance, the easier it is to come up with new ideas for future posts down the line. It's a sort of productivity spawns creativity spawns more productivity circle, that I hope I'm able to keep going for as long as I'm a blogger (and I certainly hope that's for a very long time indeed!).
There are a lot very good reasons why you should implement a blogging schedule, whether it's a carbon copy of this one, or another style that works for you and your life. You may have limited time in which to write, have a busy job or school schedule, need to run a household and manage a family, be planning a wedding or preparing for a new baby's arrival, travel a lot, have chronic health problems, or just find not knowing what to blog about, and when you're going to do, it so off-putting that it discourages you from blogging on a regular basis or at all.
One of the most important aspects, I believe, to successful blogging is for it to not feel like a chore, burden, or full-time job, especially if you blog for fun, not as a means of earning your living (however, if such is the case and blogging is your day job, you'd want to approach it appropriately – and would, more so perhaps than ever, need a good blogging schedule). By implementing a blogging schedule that works for you, you're better able to help alleviate some of the potential risk of this kind of stress cropping up.
You presumably blog because you enjoy writing, what to share one or more of your passions with the world, and enjoy the act of creating new content for your website. The less things there are to detract from this, the better - and more productive - of a blogger you stand to be.
Case in point of coming up with topics to write about well in advance, I first started thinking about this very post last October, but instead of writing it in the moment, I felt that it would be of more benefit to my readers if I held off until the beginning of January, when not only a new month, but an entirely new year was just beginning. (And for those who are curious, I wrote this post last night.)
If you've wanted to, but haven't yet done or, or have tried, but have not stumbled upon a system that really clicked for you yet, now is the time to start following a blogging schedule. You can create whatever plan works well for you - the point is not so much the system you use - but the fact that you have one in place and that you try to maintain it as best as possible.
There will always be things that throw you off course, times when you need a blogcation (a short break from blogging), or when you simply don't feel like writing, but those periods will seem a great deal more manageable when you know that you've ideas to write about when you return, and (hopefully) some posts already lined up (or in your "emergency file") for the days when you're definitely not going to be producing new content.
Blogging can, and most often should be, a joy. It's a creative process, a learning experience, and a way to share your voice, thoughts, and soul with the world, and for me - as for many people - having a posting schedule in place can truly help make the act of blogging, and being a blog, worlds more pleasant, stress free, and fun.
So as we embark on all that the next twelve months hold in store for us, I hope that this year, complete with its blogging schedule, will be every bit as wonderful - if not even better - than the last for me, as well as for all of you and your awesome sites. Here's to the prospects, promises, and potential of 2013!
