How to Never Miss Writing a Blog Post

http://nathanbarry.com/how-to-never-miss-a-blog-post/

by nathanbarry • 15 years ago

66 19 15 years ago

Regular blogging is trickier than you think.

For instance, I started a little hobby blog a few weeks ago. I have a hobby of collecting funny pictures, so I thought it might be fun to filter them yet again, then tag the hell out of them and post them on a blog. Who knows? Might have a lot of traffic one day. If nothing else, it'll make it personally easier for me to find my pictures. (shameless plug: http://caption-of-the-day.com)

Pretty simple, no? I already have the pictures. The tags should be pretty obvious. It's just select one, then write a tiny bit of text describing it, then post.

For some reason even this tiny amount of work quickly becomes a chore. I've started doing exactly what this author is doing: schedule the post first, then use the upcoming deadline as a motivator.

nathanbarry4• 15 years ago

Regular blogging is very tricky. My blog posts scattered across the last couple years are proof of that.

chaosmachine• 15 years ago

tag the hell out of them and post them on a blog. Who knows? Might have a lot of traffic one day.

If you're going to rehost other people's work, you should at least link to the source. Most of the images on your site are taken from popular webcomics/blogs, so it shouldn't be hard to find the url.

DanielBMarkham2• 15 years ago

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll consider doing that (Although the purpose of my comment was what a pain in the ass it is already.)

Hopefully every comic has a link included in the image. If you find one that isn't, I'll remove it. There's no intention of taking credit -- or even of using too many web comics. I have a lot more stuff. I guess the comics just floated to the top of the second sort. If anything, my dream is posting plain images and then letting the audience make up their own captions (hence the name of the site) But I'm happy if it only ever amounts to a fancy image storage system. That outcome still beats uploading them to FB (which is what I was doing before the site.)

hswolff• 15 years ago

Agreed: regular blogging is vastly tricker than usually imagined.

I've been blogging at least once a week for over a year now and the trick I've found to keep me at that pace is unbridled dedication. I firmly resolved to hit my target of 1 post per week and did everything I could to make that a reality.

I've now pushed it up to 2 posts a week as of last month. It's going well so far. (if you're curious: http://harrywolff.com/ )

The trick for me is starting with something tangible and doable. I don't over-reach and I stay within my ability. As I became comfortable with 1 post I decided to push myself to 2 posts a week.

There is no self-imposed threat if I don't complete my goal. That just isn't an option. And in my mind that's enough.

aaronf• 15 years ago

I like Seinfeld's technique - "don't break the chain". http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-se...

We're going to add individual task tracking to LazyMeter to automate this.

joshfinnie• 15 years ago

Has Wordpress's "Future Post Date" feature become more reliable? If I remember correctly, there were some issues with Wordpress posting unfinished posts due to a bug or something...

I do like the idea of forcing a deadline upon you to get a blog post out (though this only works when you have something like a once-a-week post schedule). Just wondering if there is a better way to do this technique.

nathanbarry4• 15 years ago

I've found the WordPress schedule feature to be quite reliable. Just make sure you set your timezone. That caused me some confusion at first.

hxa7241• 15 years ago

I would think you need some kind of content strategy, more than tricks.

Get stimulus from various or particular kinds of things and respond to it. That is probably the best source I can think of.

Maybe keep notes of many/any ideas and add to them and rethink them over an indefinite period.

I have posted something every week for about 8 months now (missing only one week). They are idiosyncratic, but some are probably quite interesting -- two or three have appeared on HN.

AD7863• 15 years ago

Genius. Good for personal blogs but won't be appropriate for some other kinds of blogs e.g. news blog.

azov• 15 years ago

Is writing a blog post no matter what - even if you don't have much to say - such a worthy goal? It's not like there's a shortage of blog posts in the world...

colincsl• 15 years ago

While I'm not sure they should always be public, I think blogs are a good way to force yourself to write. I recently started one because I want to (a) become a better writer and (b) to have a place to put personal reflections and pieces of interest. While each individual blog post might not be read-worthy, the added experience will likely help in your future documentation practices.

nathanbarry4• 15 years ago

You're right. There isn't a shortage of mediocre content on the web. I use this method to improve my writing. Consistency is everything. Also if I have ideas to share (like this post) that may help people, I think that is worthwhile.

matwood• 15 years ago

Writing begets writing. The process of sitting down and figuring out what to say is something that gets easier and hopefully better with practice.

sirmxanot• 15 years ago

I really like this strategy. Its so easy to let those deadlines you set for yourself just slip by.

BasDirks• 15 years ago

I preferred you would have forgotten to write your post so an empty one would have appeared instead of this one ;)

I treat my cats with more dignity than you treat yourself. Stupid little tricks like yours work for about a week, or longer if you're stupid enough to be sensitive to this kind of thing.

It makes sense to schedule your writing, but this method is not exactly the bee's knees, and the title of your post "How to Never Miss a Blog Post" kinda reminds me of bad advertising.

Your work kicks ass though, and your posts on design are interesting. Get a favicon btw!

nathanbarry4• 15 years ago

It almost did. I was only 12 hours away from an empty post when I wrote this.

I try to write useful content, but often need a little encouragement. This helps me. It's not for everyone.

Thanks for the complements about my work. And you're right, I should create a favicon.

veyron• 15 years ago

I subscribe to the "silence is golden" camp -- blogging when there's nothing meaningful to say just devalues your efforts when you actually do have something useful to say.

user24• 15 years ago

this isn't necessarily a point against scheduling posts. I have about 8 draft posts which sit there for months on end until I finally revisit them and get then done. There's even a fully written (and awesome) blog post that's just waiting for me to tidy up and githubify some code.

How to Never Miss Writing a Blog Post

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