Archive for planning
A Free 2010 Blogging Calendar and Planner For You
Posted by: | CommentsA couple of questions I’m asked regularly are “what can I blog about” and “what SHOULD I blog about”? It’s really something each writer/blogger needs to decide, based on interests, likes, and personal experiences. It’s much easier to write about those things you know and like.
But even if you are passionate about healthy eating… or your grandkids… or your hobby or craft – writer’s block can still set in occasionally. Well, one of the best ways to jump start the creative juices again is to simply look at the calendar. How simple is that?
Every month, week, and day, there are strange, fun and downright funny holidays and observances celebrated everywhere. In fact, you can even make up your own ‘holiday’ to celebrate on your blog with your readers.
But you don’t have to make it ALL up yourself. I found a blogging calendar that features some of these fun, crazy holidays. And it has room to jot down your own ideas! You can use it to literally plan out the year’s content – or just a month or two ahead if you’re not the planning type. This really helps keep your blog going without rushing to write last minute posts.
Download and check it out for yourself. I bet you can find at least a few posts you can write about from the prompts. And you can even write about them right away and schedule them for future dates. (If you need a tutorial on how to schedule a post, click HERE).
Yes, I’m printing out the calendar as I type… you can expect to see at least a few blog posts in 2010 based on the prompts.
What are YOU blogging about today? Feel free to share your blog links in the comments!
Scheduling a Post for the Future
Posted by: | CommentsI’m a planner. An organizer. A “think about things way, WAY too much in advance” kind of person.
But I also have three children under the age of 7. Which means that no matter how often I plan and organize and think ahead, I’m always working around curve-balls thrown at me by the kiddos. Or dodge-balls. Yes, I’ll admit that my children like to play dodge-ball with my plans, schedule and those dreams for a little REST during their naptime.
(No, I’m not a Nana yet, but I can still blog here, right? Thanks!)
Anywho… all of this means that I’m actually not really good at the blogging thing, because if anything gets cut from my schedule during these “games” of dodgeball, it’s the ability to sit and think and put words together in a coherent fashion.
(In case you haven’t noticed, I’m also rather wordy. You’d think this would help me be a prolific blogger. Surprisingly enough, it doesn’t).
SO, the point of this post is to tell you how to PLAN in advance for those times when YOU may be dodging balls too.
The next time you are in your admin panel, writing a post, take a look to the right of the “add a new post” box. You should see a Publish box, with a few options inside it. One of those options is Publish immediately. There is an “Edit” link right next to the words “Publish immediately”. See that?
If you write a post, but want to publish it tomorrow (or next week), simply click the Edit link (BEFORE hitting the Publish button), and click on the date and time you’d like your post to appear. This changes your Publish button to a Schedule button. When you are ready to schedule/publish the post, just click that button.
You CAN also change the date/time of a post that has already been posted, so if you accidentally publish too soon, no worries.
And just like that, you can control the date and timing of your blog posts.
Now, if only I could figure out how to control the date and timing of my children’s naps – I’d be in great shape!
