College Journey #7: Running a Blog in College

Welcome to another installment of College Journey.  This is now a monthly post rather than an every other week post.  If you ever have a question/topic you want me to cover, feel free to let me know in the comments!  This month, I want to talk about what it's like to run a blog in college.

First of all, it's not too different from running it in high school.  I read about the same amount I did when I was in high school, so that's been nice.  I was hoping for more time, but I'm pretty good with maintaining.  Writing the posts, too, isn't that difficult.  At least, most of the time.  I do run into weeks where I don't have enough time to really write as many posts as I would like (there was a time, over the summer, where I could pump out two a day), but I had those weeks last year as well.

The biggest difference is the when I write.  In high school I would write every night after I had finished my homework and other responsibilities.  Staying at college I write the posts whenever I want or have time.  Often, because I really do enjoy blogging, I'll blog to destress.  So I'll find myself writing in the morning, the middle of the day, in the library, in the cafeteria, in my room, late at night, whenever.  That's one of the reasons I write posts ahead of time and schedule them.

For anyone who's worried about losing track of their blog in college, I have a little advice: plan breaks ahead of time.  The week you move in/move back into your dorm (or wherever you'll be living if you live on campus), and the first week of school, I really think a break is good.  Make sure you plan ahead of time, though, so that you don't feel like you're letting readers down.  It's also a good idea to take off around midterms and finals.  It allows you to really focus on your studies which are, honestly, more important than the blog.

In high school while I would have a rough sketch of what I wanted to post each day, I didn't really keep it on a calendar like I do now.  I have a day planner that I adore, and I use it for pretty much everything in my life.  My blog is in there and I have a section where I write down which posts I want posted and when I actually plan to write them.  Having something physical to look at, and things that I can cross out when I accomplish them, makes things so much easier.  I recommend keeping something to help organize.  If you do this, make sure you stay up on it, though.  Having a day a week (for me that's Friday) to organize and write in the planner is the best way to keep atop of things.

Well, that's just a little advice from me.  I hope it helps!  I was worried I wouldn't be able to stay with the blog in college, but over the first term I really managed to work it out and learn how to keep up.