Hi Goddesses
So last week we looked at how I started the blog. Later in the week, we’re going to look to the future of The Crumpet, but for the next couple of days we’re going to look at the present.
A lot of people ask how often a blogger should blog. I think that depends on a lot of things –
* You
* Your lifestyle
* Your style of posts – do you do 1 pic and a paragraph or 12 pics and 12 paragraphs
* What your readers expect from you
* Whether you have enough material
I tend to average 1.5 posts per day. I try to post everyday, but sometimes life does get in the way (more on that in a mo), and there are days where I will do 2 posts or even 3. Remember what we talked about before – the more regular your schedule, the more people who tune in.
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So, how do you stop life getting in the way? This is my life: I am a team leader in an insurance company, so my job takes a lot of brain juice. I also have Beth, who is now 9 (Happy Birthday Beth) who also takes a lot of brain juice :) I have to travel to and from work, drop off and collect Beth, have dinner and entertain my madam til she goes to bed at 8pm (or longer if she can drag it out). A lot of days, I feel like I don’t “clock off” til 8.30, which then doesn’t leave a lot of evening. Oh, and bear in mind that a Crumpet likes a LOT of sleep:)
So I’ve found a few strategies that help me.
The Weekend
The weekend is your friend. Use it wisely :) I will often do 6 or 12 manis at the weekend. This then gives me more than enough material for the rest of the week.
Recycled Nails
Come back tomorrow :) I’m going to do a BIIIIG post on this.
Keep A Vault
I take photos as I go, and then I store each set separately in The Vault. At the moment, there’s about 80 sets of photos in there, all waiting for a little blog post of their own :)
I do this for several reasons. Firstly, if you keep each one in its own folder, it’s easy to pick one out to blog about. Secondly, it helps you chunk the tasks. If Beth wants me to watch a film with her, or sit with her while she reads, I’ll often bring my laptop and crop or watermark photos, getting them closer to being ready to blog about. Thirdly, I find for me it avoids the panic – I know I’m not really going to run out of posts, so I can be calmer and more relaxed about the whole process.
Keeping On Schedule
I am, by nature, a lazy bugger. As I said last week, I’m a great starter, full of ideas. Crap on the execution though. So for me to find a blogging rhythm, I’ve had to find some mechanisms that work for me –
* Long Challenges – I’m talking here about the 31 Day ones, the Spring Challenge and the current Summer Challenge. You commit to it, you have to follow through. Especially if your name is on the group, natch
* Find weekly challenges – there are loads of these, and they are another great way to form habits. I do Stamping Sunday and Monkey See Monkey Do Mondays. There is also –
* Teal Tuesday
* Twinsie Tuesdays
* We Wear Pink on Wednesdays
* Blue Mondays
It may not work for you, but it has certainly worked for me.
Be Smart. Plan Ahead
The most stress free times on a blog are when you are ahead. If you have lots of manis and posts in the pipeline, you’re golden. If you wake up and there’s nothing in the vault ? That’s stressful.
Try to think through the sort of posts you want to be doing over the next month. Is there a Challenge or Challenge Days to fit in? Do you want to do a Theme Week (I’m a biiiiig fan of these), are you going to be on holiday ? If so, what are you going to do – leave your blog lonely for a week, or get some posts scheduled?
I’ll admit, I am a control freak. This may surprise you, as I am also random, chaotic and “mad”. However, those parts of me are only free to exist because I underpin it with a good structure. All I’m saying is, find a structure that works for you.
Tomorrow, I’m going to talk you through my biggest weapon – Recycled Nails, and it’s something you’ll start to see a lot of on the blog.
