on life, ambitions, and dreams

How to Fail at Writing One Blog Post a Day

NaBloPoMo-Content_Calendar

On average, it takes me four hours to write, edit, and post a new blog. The end time is extended if I have to find an image to accompany the post. And, no matter how hard I try, I’m always fighting with WordPress to correct formatting issues (shakes fist!). Knowing this, when I sat down to write last night’s post at 9:38pm, did I really expect to meet my posting deadline of 11:59pm Wednesday?

Actually, I did.

That post was supposed to be a quick paragraph or bullet point rebuttal about Mike Elgan’s article but turned in to one of the most epic blogs I’ve ever written on here. It went in a direction that I wasn’t expecting it to go—which I love with all my creative heart, but not when I’m on a deadline—and since I write about a topic I know a lot about, I had a lot to say.

Don’t you love it when you underestimate yourself?

Here’s what needs to change if I am going to meet my NaBloPoMo goal:

Limit epic blog posts to 2 per week. The problem with epic blog posts is you don’t know they’re going to be epic until you finish writing them. I need to simplify my mind and just hit publish. If it’s taking me forever to write, I need to break it up into two posts. Whatever. Say what I need to say, edit, format, publish, done.

Start writing before 10pm at night. I have a calendar of ideas swimming around on paper and inside my head, but I have not outlined every post or written them in advance.

My NaBloPoMo buddy asked if it’s considered cheating if you write a post in advance. I looked at him and said, very seriously, “Yes, of course it is,” before turning my head and smiling. I may have a content calendar, but maybe there could be something to his strategy.

This blog project is what I do in my “spare” time, which means it comes after “work.” If I want to spend quality time with my husband at night, some things need to change.

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