For about a year and a half now, I’ve been a (mostly) regular participant in the Weekend Assignment writing exercises hosted by blogger Karen Funk Blocher – I’ve missed some due to other commitments (or, a few times, honestly not having any idea what to say in response to the prompt), but for the most part, I’m there. Sadly, though, there aren’t many of us turning out for the Assignments lately, so I wanted to invite you to join in on this one – if you’re a blogger, no matter what your focus is, you probably have something to say about this week’s topic.
And yes, I know it’s Tuesday – the Assignments are posted on Friday (or sometimes Saturday) with the idea of giving participants something to write about over the weekend, but you have until Thursday to post your response. If you need some blog fodder over the next couple of days, here you go: post your response on your own blog, and then leave a link to it in the comments for the current Assignment at Outpost Mâvarin.
Weekend Assignment: #278: How often do you blog? Do you try to maintain a schedule, or just blog when you’re inspired and have the time? How do memes affect your blogging habits?
Extra Credit: Are you blogging more or less often now than you were a year ago?
I’m probably blogging about the same as I was a year ago, but I’m not entirely sure, because I can’t remember exactly when I began posting at the Los Angeles Moms Blog, where I contribute twice a month – I know it was some time last summer, though. It may be a little more, or a little less, but it hasn’t changed dramatically.
“How often I blog” and “how often I post” are two different things, usually. I try to post here at least five times a week, and most of the time I have something up on one of the weekend days as well. But most of my posts are written ahead of time, and then I schedule them out daily; posting time is 5 AM Pacific time weekdays, and 6 AM on weekends. I do a lot of my blogging on the weekends whenever possible; my family may not always be pleased about the amount of time I spend with the computer instead of them, but when I have posts laid out and ready to go for at least three or four more days, I tend to feel pretty good. I like having open time to do my writing – one reason I took three days off afterBlogHer ’09 was because I was pretty sure I’d have a lot to say about it afterwards, and I wanted to make sure I had the time to get it said. I work full-time in a job completely unrelated to what I do here, so my weekdays normally don’t really offer much blogging time. I can work on drafts during lunches, and as I check out Google Reader during breaks, I find links for my Weekend Review; I have learned it’s much easier to keep those in an ongoing document as I find them than to try to chase them down on Friday night! I prefer not to do much blogging at night anyway; I’m usually just too tired to do any serious writing then.
There’s one drawback to blogging the way I usually do, though; it’s harder to get posts up that are part of the current conversation – posts that respond to stories or issues that are in the news, or that lots of other bloggers are talking about. It’s not impossible, though, and sometimes having less time-sensitive posts already in the pipeline is actually an advantage; those can always be rescheduled to make room for something more timely, and I’m now even slightly more prepared for the near future.
I try to stick to posting just once a day, so I don’t participate in very many memes; there are lots of them out there, many themed to the days to the week, and it’s entirely possible to post nothing but memes on your blog. In fact, there are quite a few blogs that do that, but I don’t tend to stick with most of those for long; unless the blogger can flesh out the memes and make them a bit more self-expressive, I usually lose interest. I’ve confined my favorite book-related memes to one day a week, in the “Thank Blog It’s Friday” posts, and I don’t really consider Weekly Geeks or the Weekend Assignment memes, because they vary quite a bit from week to week. But I do like incorporating memes into my blog programming; they help give it a structure, and I can work my book reviews and whatever else I feel like writing about around them.
That’s a little look at what goes on behind the scenes here. How do you organize your blogging time? If you have some time to post about it, I hope you’ll participate in this Weekend Assignment!
Thanks for the explanation. . .I might jump in on the Weekend Assignment. Sounds like you've got a great schedule. I like to have posts written ahead too, but I need to get caugh up again.
Amy – Some weeks I'm further ahead than others :-). I hope you do decide to join the Assignment, or at least try it out for a week or two!
You are probably the most organized blogger I read. Not that I read a lot of them, but you know what I mean. I post when I can and with whatever I feel like talking about. The memes I do aren't even planned. That's pretty much how I live my life too. 🙂
Mike – I just look organized :-). Seriously, I do prefer to have a plan most of the time, and being organized is my self-defense strategy against chaos!
Wow, I knew you were a daily poster, but had no idea that you worked ahead like that, and with so much discipline to your routine. Very interesting! The few times I've written something in draft for later, it's almost never been posted as originally written. Maybe I'll try it your way, because my entries have been posted in unsightly "clumps" lately. And thanks for the plug!
Karen – Like I said in answer to Mike's comment, the scheduling and organization are just what work best for me, considering everything else I have to do :-). It doesn't work for everyone, and sometimes I wish I could let go of it a little…but again, it's what works.
Sorry the plug didn't get any new players this week…maybe next time?