I've had a few people ask about how I stay consistent with blogging. Which is really nice to say because sometimes I feel anything but consistent. That said, there are periods of time when I am consistent, and I know what leads to that.
When we moved into this house last year, I bought a blank calendar that I hung on the wall in our office. It's my blog calendar. I use it to map out each month, giving every Friday an "Around Here" post, planning Carly's monthly update on the 24th, and scheduling any other special events (ie birthdays, holidays, etc.) that need to be penciled in before I can get creative.
Once I've scheduled the regular stuff, I pull up my Dashboard on Blogger on the computer (where all my Drafts sit) and see what ideas are on the docket. I sort through, see what feels inspiring, and try to choose publish dates for them all.
I write on the calendar in pencil until the post has been published. Then I go over it in pen. Just that little thing, writing in pencil and going over it in pen once I've accomplished it, inspires me to get posts published.
Between this month-to-month planning, when I'm just living life and coming across random inspiration I use two tools for harnessing ideas. The first is my Notes app on my phone-- I use this to jot down quotes, concepts & post ideas that I've come across. Later, once I'm home, the second thing I use is my actual blog. Maybe once or twice a month I make an attempt to transfer those ideas from my Notes app to actual blog post drafts on my Dashboard.
Probably once a week I upload pictures from my phone and camera, picking & choosing what pictures will go into each post and get them into the drafts so that when I have a minute to gather my thoughts and finish a post, the photographs are already ready to go. That way I can just focus on the words.
So this is what I have found works for me. It's not a perfect system, but I have found myself blogging pretty consistently since I started using it. Whatever you do choose to do, don't aim for perfection. Your readers just want honesty. They just want your truth. Remember what I tell myself, "Published is better than perfect!" (Oh, and it doesn't hurt to have a few people you know will read and let you know if there are any grammatical errors! Thanks Roxanne!)
"You're going to feel like hell
if you wake up someday
and you never wrote the stuff
that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart:
your stories, memories,
visions and songs
-your truth, your version of things-
in your own voice.
That's really all you have to offer us,
and that's also why you were born."
-Anne Lamott
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