Blogging Tips #5: Organization

Welcome back to another edition of Blogging Tips!  This week I'm talking about organization, and how I organize.  If you're interested in commenting and leaving information about how you stay organized (or email me at tsundokublog(at)gmail(dot)com) then next month I'll do a part two featuring your organization tips!  But for now, here's how I stay organized.

How important is organization?

Well, pretty important.  You don't have to be as anal as me, and just keep a loose structure, but I recommend some sort of organization because it helps you post regularly, and this is what you'll want to do if you want to maintain an interesting and engaging blog.  I know I most enjoy reading blogs that post at least twice a week under normal circumstances.  Yes, everyone deserves a break, but if you're planning to dedicate yourself to blogging, that actually means dedication is necessary.

A calendar.

I actually have two calendar's for planning blogging.  One is for just keeping track of when I want things published, and one is for keeping track of when I'm writing the posts, editing the posts, and doing other "caretaker" things, like answering/responding to comments.  You only really need one, and I recommend just using it to see when things are planned to be publish.

Write ahead of time.

This doesn't always work, but if you can write a post in advance, it will really help you out.  I do this for memes like Waiting on Wednesday and Friday 56, and also, often, with review posts so that I can go back and change them if I wanted to.

"Caretaking"

This is just a term I use for the little things involved in running a blog.  I often have to put these on my calendar to remind me that yes, they do have to be taken care of.  For example, I need to remind myself to contact winner's of giveaways, respond to comments, and go on twitter in general (I don't know why this last one is so hard to just do).  I honestly really recommend doing this because it helps to just keep everything running smoothly.

Don't Plan too Much for Any One Day

I have stressed myself out in the past by trying to do everything in one sitting.  I often can only write one good post a day, so I try not to schedule more than one a day.  I also try not to edit more than one or two posts a day, because I just sort of lose focus as I do them.