As I sit here in a carb coma from tonight’s two-lasagna dinner, wondering what on earth to write about, The Daily Post comes to the rescue again. Rather than posting a writing prompt today, michelle w. offered up some wisdom about maintaining a healthy blog: “A healthy blog is like a healthy colon.” Of course, that metaphor could be followed down numerous avenues, but her focus was on regularity. It seems, for the most part, blog followers are less concerned with the frequency of posts on their favorite blogs than with a regular schedule. Posting too frequently, especially if the content is, “I’m too busy to write a real post,” can kill off readership just as surely as posting too infrequently. Statistics show that regardless of whether they post once a day or once month, successful bloggers maintain a loyal following by establishing a manageable schedule and sticking to it.
I set myself the goal of blogging every day in 2013, and barring any extreme circumstances, I intend to stick to that. Instead of needing to establish the frequency of my writing, my challenge is scheduling what to write. There are obviously days when I have more time and creative energy, and can set down some quality (I hope) words and/or photos on the page. But on those days when the words don’t flow and I haven’t captured any decent snapshots, I need a back-up plan. Reading through the comments inspired by The Daily Post’s tip, I see that some bloggers like to follow a “recipe” so both they and their readers know what to expect and when. For example, each week a blogger might have two poetry days, a kid’s story day, one flash fiction day, one mash-up (any topic, any style) day, and two photo-only days. They’ve chosen a mixture that accommodates their creative needs but also does not interfere with the other demands of daily life–they know they’ve budgeted a couple “easy” days, and if they are on a roll with one genre, they save the extra pieces for a time when the well has run dry. I had been toying with this type of plan, but feared that it would be cheating somehow. Now that I know other bloggers swear by following a formula, I’m anxious to spend some time this weekend scouring their blogs for inspiration to build a schedule of my own. Thanks, DP, for giving me food for thought…
Things I See and Know 