by Phoenix A. Desertsong
You know what I’m really bad at? Sticking to a schedule with my writing...
I think from time to time we writers simply find ourselves at a loss for words. Thing is, I never have a lack of words. Rather, with me, it’s a lack of enough words that go together to create a coherent piece.
Thing is, you need to be consistent in blogging. Even if you only post once a month, you want to keep to it. I don’t have to rehash all of the advice about blogging consistently, because as often as I’ve tried, I never do for more than a few weeks at a time.
But here’s my plan going forward, and while I may not stick to it precisely, the benefit of experience has taught me how I should go forward.
New Posts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
This seems to be a pattern that works for a lot of bloggers. I have found that these days have been when my posts perform the best on social media. It’s really different for everyone though. You just have to find when people interact the most with your posts. Try to build your schedule around that.
Saturday & Sunday
I usually write at least one post on the weekend, but if I’m really not feeling it with writing a new post, I may just share Friday’s post again. Alternatively, I may get Monday’s post done early and share it over the weekend. But sometimes I’ll have a good week of three solid posts and the weekend post will be a nice bonus.
Stockpiling Fresh Content
What has always worked best for me is just brain-dumping a bunch of topics and working on them over time. When I get enough of them done, it allows me to put the blogs on autopilot for a bit. A stockpile is a blogger’s best friend and I’ve been a bit too lazy to keep it up recently, although even now I still dig up diamonds in the rough from my random scribblings.
Reusing Old Posts
While my aim is to get at least 3 to 4 new posts a week between my few blogs which I post to, I have enough older content that would be #NewToYou for a lot of you out there. So if I have a gap in my schedule, I just find something I know people like and share that. But as this is part of why my writing stalls out on occasion, I’m going to try to stay fresh as much as possible.
Views vs Interactions
I’ve always been a bit obsessed with views. Yeah, they’re important, but as I have learned over the years, it’s the interactions that tell you the most about your content. No, not every post will get interaction beyond views. But views are only one part of a much larger picture. The posts that perform best on social media are the ones I’ll aim to reuse on a more regular basis.
I Can’t Be Perfect
While I’d love to be perfect, I know that I can’t be. I’m going to have weeks where it’s all reruns on my social media channels. That’s going to happen to all of us. Blogging can be a very time-consuming and energy-sucking occupation. Sometimes our posts will get no eyes on them. That just happens and is no one’s fault.
My Biggest Piece of Advice to Any Writer
Whether you’re an author, blogger, article writer, or any other kind of writer, just keep writing. Don’t feel like you have to craft a post perfectly tuned for SEO with a trending topic every time. Don’t feel like it has to sell. Just write what you feel.
This is far from unique advice, but I do get too caught up in trying to draw a crowd. Many of us do. Some of us are very successful at it, and that’s cool. But we can’t all have tens of thousands or more subscribers, and that’s OK. Who we do draw in is what matters. We write for us and what we KNOW people like us want, and not what we think what others want.
Do you have any other tips and tricks on sticking to a writing schedule? Calendars have never worked for me, or reminder apps, or any tool other than trying to internally discipline myself. But these other things do work for a lot of people, so share whatever works for you!
I think from time to time we writers simply find ourselves at a loss for words. Thing is, I never have a lack of words. Rather, with me, it’s a lack of enough words that go together to create a coherent piece.
Thing is, you need to be consistent in blogging. Even if you only post once a month, you want to keep to it. I don’t have to rehash all of the advice about blogging consistently, because as often as I’ve tried, I never do for more than a few weeks at a time.
But here’s my plan going forward, and while I may not stick to it precisely, the benefit of experience has taught me how I should go forward.
New Posts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
This seems to be a pattern that works for a lot of bloggers. I have found that these days have been when my posts perform the best on social media. It’s really different for everyone though. You just have to find when people interact the most with your posts. Try to build your schedule around that.
Saturday & Sunday
I usually write at least one post on the weekend, but if I’m really not feeling it with writing a new post, I may just share Friday’s post again. Alternatively, I may get Monday’s post done early and share it over the weekend. But sometimes I’ll have a good week of three solid posts and the weekend post will be a nice bonus.
Stockpiling Fresh Content
What has always worked best for me is just brain-dumping a bunch of topics and working on them over time. When I get enough of them done, it allows me to put the blogs on autopilot for a bit. A stockpile is a blogger’s best friend and I’ve been a bit too lazy to keep it up recently, although even now I still dig up diamonds in the rough from my random scribblings.
Reusing Old Posts
While my aim is to get at least 3 to 4 new posts a week between my few blogs which I post to, I have enough older content that would be #NewToYou for a lot of you out there. So if I have a gap in my schedule, I just find something I know people like and share that. But as this is part of why my writing stalls out on occasion, I’m going to try to stay fresh as much as possible.
Views vs Interactions
I’ve always been a bit obsessed with views. Yeah, they’re important, but as I have learned over the years, it’s the interactions that tell you the most about your content. No, not every post will get interaction beyond views. But views are only one part of a much larger picture. The posts that perform best on social media are the ones I’ll aim to reuse on a more regular basis.
I Can’t Be Perfect
While I’d love to be perfect, I know that I can’t be. I’m going to have weeks where it’s all reruns on my social media channels. That’s going to happen to all of us. Blogging can be a very time-consuming and energy-sucking occupation. Sometimes our posts will get no eyes on them. That just happens and is no one’s fault.
My Biggest Piece of Advice to Any Writer
Whether you’re an author, blogger, article writer, or any other kind of writer, just keep writing. Don’t feel like you have to craft a post perfectly tuned for SEO with a trending topic every time. Don’t feel like it has to sell. Just write what you feel.
This is far from unique advice, but I do get too caught up in trying to draw a crowd. Many of us do. Some of us are very successful at it, and that’s cool. But we can’t all have tens of thousands or more subscribers, and that’s OK. Who we do draw in is what matters. We write for us and what we KNOW people like us want, and not what we think what others want.
Do you have any other tips and tricks on sticking to a writing schedule? Calendars have never worked for me, or reminder apps, or any tool other than trying to internally discipline myself. But these other things do work for a lot of people, so share whatever works for you!
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