A Blog About Blogging

I wrote a response to Mr Monkey Suit's Blog this morning, and it is, perhaps, the most coherant thing I've done all day. I'm actually having trouble staying awake... we are running around A LOT since we went House Shopping last month and made an offer. Right now, we are getting ready to visit with my FIL for the weekend. We're driving and he's flying so we can take the boys to A Day Out with Thomas. Anyway, back to my most legible thoughts of the day...

The questions were these:

Do you blog every day? Or even several times a week? If so how do you do it? Do you pick a set time each day? Do you make notes about what you want to say? How do you make your blog feel consistent?

And my answer now follows...

I posted irregularly for a year. Then I moved 1000 miles from my friends and family and started blogging about once a week for six months or so. During that time I found a blog I REALLY liked (The Pioneer Woman). She posts everyday. I enjoy reading her, everyday. So, I decided to start posting daily.

Perhaps I should note that I had a writing streak of over ten years, hand-writing in my personal journal every night. Interestingly enough, I tend to blog at night.

I've always found getting ideas out in words to be therapeutic. I actually stopped blogging for a period (after doing it daily). I was feeling bad because I didn't think other people were reading my blog. My hubby reminded me that I NEEDED to blog regularly, just for ME! He was right! And, as it turns out, others do read it, they just don't comment a lot.

Since starting to blog daily, I've had a lot more people calling me on the phone to chat. They read my blog, so they know a lot about what's going on. I find we now talk about bigger "life" issues, instead of just daily ins-and-outs.

What else... that's right, I've always credited the fact that I feel comfortable writing (and am told I write well) with the fact that I wrote EVERYDAY for ten years. It was just for me, but it helped me learn to put words to paper. You know, practice and all that, the more you do something, the better you will get.

Also, remember it takes 30 days of doing something consistently to make it a habit. So, maybe try to give yourself a goal to write everyday for a month, and do something like put a fun sticker on your calendar as a visual reminder and pat-on-the-back.

I have really been enjoying the fact that Blogger now offers a "schedule" feature for their posts. So, if I feel like writing about several topics, I'll save them up and schedule them for days I'm unavailable or busy. Even if you're blog-engine doesn't "schedule" out, you may be able to save drafts and then just log-in long enough to post them each day.

Sometimes I "write a post" in my head, then I rush to a computer to type it up. I do have a Word Document with an ongoing list of blogs. Sometimes just a topic, or idea, sometimes it's a working blog. I find it's easier to write in Word, I can see more and edit easier, and then copy and paste into my blog window. Also, it's MUCH easier for me to upload pictures first, then copy and paste the text. I think I can also email my blog to list posts, but I've never worked with that.

The other thing that helped me to start blogging regularly was to think about a handful of people I'd left behind. I blog things that I might call or write them about... just like chatting with a dear person, rather than writing something High-and-Mighty for the world.