Control your site; don’t let it run you!
- November 25th, 2008
How many times have you said (or thought), “I really have to get an updated post on my blog!” I know that that’s my number 1 daily priority when it comes to turning my computer on and getting to work.
In case you haven’t noticed yet, I’m a pretty methodical person. I like to have everything that I do to have a rhyme and reason. When I’ve got a reason to blog or topic to write about, I can usually get several posts written in a day. But, then there are days that I simply don’t have the time (or energy) to think creatively and write so many.
These are the days that I dread, the days that I have frozen fingers syndrome. So when this happens, what do I do to overcome the lack of creative thoughts and energy? I’m going to share a couple secrets with you that I’ve had to learn the hard way… from experience.
When I first started blogging, I had so many questions, so many ideas, so much to learn. I didn’t know where to start or how to formulate my ideas clearly much less how to navigate my way through successfully composing a WordPress posting.
I felt overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge out there. I didn’t know where to start. But here are some helpful tips for you in gathering your ideas and managing them.
When you’re feeling the creative vibe, go with it.
It’s my first secret for successfully managing your site and ideas. Get all of that pent-up energy out! Make your fingers fly as fast as your mind is moving. I love the feeling of the words moving around so quickly inside of my head that it feels like it’s going to just burst onto the computer screen. It’s exhilarating. So why stop with just one post? The creative juices are flowing, your heart is racing, and your mind is traveling at one thousand miles a minute. Don’t compromise this energy. Harness it!
Those ideas are a goldmine. Only you don’t really have to dig for anything. They’ve already surfaced and are sitting out in the open, waiting to be snatched up by those who are looking.
From my experience, when these creative juices are flowing, I can get ideas for 3, 4, or sometimes even 10 different topics that I want to further explore, write about and share with you! What I do is keep a notepad next to me; instead of trying to remember these ideas for later, I jot them down. This way, I can stay on topic without straying too far from the topic that I’m trying to focus on at the time. When I’m finished with one post, I can go on to the next without feeling that I’ve compromised my prior blog entry. Not only does this help me to focus and stay on-topic, but it gives my writing a different sense of style. The articles have a more clear, concise theme throughout.
Schedule Your Posts
It’s one of my secrets, which maybe isn’t really a secret. It’s more of a helpful tip for blogging. I use these feature to manage my posts when I know that I will be out of town or tied up for the day. Schedule your posts to let your blog run without you.
I love having a plethora of quality articles to choose from on any given day. It gives me the opportunity to take a very well deserved break once in a while from the wonderful (but sometimes exhausting) world of blogging. When I know that a scheduled “day off” is coming up, I make sure that I have a post to schedule on my site as well.
This method of harnessing my ideas and writing about them when I have the creative thought and energy enables me to control my site without it controlling me!
How do you manage your site? How do you harness your ideas? Do you also schedule your posts?
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I’m a “method” type of of person too
I need help organizing my work better, I guess every blogger need that, right? lol
I like scheduling posts too, just that I don’t do it too often… sometimes I just post what comes into mind…
Hi Rachel,
I certainly keep my notebook handy. And the schedule post feature in WordPress? I just love it. Actually I used to love it. It hasn’t worked on my blog since I think August. I have been through the ringer on that problem. I switched servers, switched themes, I’ve tried everything. Everyone says it’s everyone else’s fault. I hope 2.7 fixes it.
Excellent post! Scheduling my posts has helped out a lot!
Can’t agree more with capitalizing on the creative juice, get while the getting is good. The other thing I like about writing a number of posts in advance, it gives me time to edit them. The worse time to edit one’s work is right after they have written it. Give it a night and you can look at it with new eyes. Sometimes I wish I could do that with comments (missing words, mis-ordered words, wrong words spelled right).
Also, like what Dee said about keeping a notebook handy to write down thoughts as you have them.
I know exactly what you mean. Its the responsibility you feel, but when that lightbulb turns on hit the keyboard. If you do not have that notebook handy, video tape yourself, talk to the phone recorder etc…. Write several postings from that inspirations and schedule them to post.
I tend to write more than one post at a time. I don’t always write everything for the week in advance but I know what I am going to write about.
I am almost always at the computer so when I have an idea, I make a draft. If I’m on the subway or something I write it down on random scraps of paper in my backpack.
I always schedule my posts. I frequently doubt myself and my articles so I schedule them to publish when I am asleep so it’s too late to change my mind
@Dee – That still isn’t working?!? That is so frustrating.
Last tip Scheduling is really successful. Me and my fellow team bloggers do this a lot at http://bloggingwithsuccess.net We move around 3-4 days in advance. This helps us fight Frozen Finger Syndrome.
However, team blogging can also be used to overcome it. Sometimes your fellow bloggers give best idea for you. And if you still do not write, they can write!