If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that things have changed a lot over the last few months in the Mum’s the Word household and for me personally, the biggest change has been going back to work full-time. The way in which this has impacted me the most is that my time is a lot more scarce that it used to be.
A typical day goes: Get up at 6.45 am, jump in the shower, get out, iron my work clothes (yes, I know doing this in the morning isn’t the most practical solution), get Sausage up, make her breakfast, get myself ready, get Sausage ready, gather bags/flasks/keys etc, say goodbye to Husband, take Sausage to school, go to work, get home from work, do dinner or eat dinner that Husband has made, watch The Simpsons, get Sausage ready for bed, snuggle, invariably fall asleep in front of the telly, drag self to bed and get up at 6.45am, ad infinitum.
As you can see, there’s not much wiggle room in there and one thing that struggles to get a look in is blogging. Now, I may not be winning any awards for my site (but if you want me to, you can nominate me here <—- SEAMLESS PIMPAGE), but I adore blogging and am not in a hurry to give it up, so I’ve had to make a real effort to fit it in where I can. I know that a few of my blogging buddies have also faced a struggle in terms of where blogging actually fits into their lives, so I thought I’d give you all some tips and share how I’ve been coping.
1. Technology is Your Friend
I realise that many bloggers are super tech-savvy, but there are plenty out there who aren’t and the best advice I can give them is to get to grips with mobile blogging. The WordPress app for Android and iOS is really rather good and if you spend some time getting used to it, you can get a lot out of it. I’ve composed whole posts, including pictures, in my lunch hour at work. Sure, typing on a touchscreen can be frustrating, but if you take the time to get used to it, it really can be a great tool. I have a photo editing app which I can use on the go too, which can enhance any mobileography you do. Also, if you’re an old-fashioned type and still like pen and paper, check out the Livescribe 2GB Echo Smartpen
2. Make Notes
I have several ways of making notes, from a permanent file on my iPhone with ideas for posts, to writing on scraps of paper or even the back of my hand. I think most bloggers would agree that there’s nothing more frustrating than having an idea for a post and then forgetting it before you get a chance to write it out. I know of other bloggers who actually use their blogging platform to store ideas too, giving a new post a title and possibly some bullets before saving it as a draft and coming back to it at a later date which, if you take note of tip one, could be a great solution if you use a blogging app.
3. See Time Differently
If you’re poor on time, you often find you can scrape some seconds back if you start to see time differently. Don’t see your commute as a wasted half an hour, see it as time in which to think or even write. Use your lunch hour to start posts and if you don’t finish them, get them polished off while daddy reads the bedtime story. So often, people get stuck in a blogging rut and do things almost formulaically including when they choose to write. Shake things up a bit and you may find you have plenty of time to write (like now, for instance, Sausage is in bed and Husband is having a pre-bedtime session on Far Cry. Also, I started this post on Saturday night, finished it on Sunday morning and have scheduled it to publish now!).
4. Think Ahead
This one depends on your blog, but I tend to find that if I publish a post at a certain time, it just doesn’t get read. I’ve spent a fairly extensive amount of time looking at my stats and other info and know roughly when a post gets the most hits, so scheduling is a good way to get around this. If you take the advice of tip number one and think about using a third party app for posting to social networks (like Hootsuite) you can also schedule your social media posts too, so even if you’re busy, your posts will still be publicised. I know some bloggers also keep a blogging diary or calendar where you can plan posts as far ahead as you need to and this would work especially well if you’re a craft blogger or regularly write themed posts, i.e. for Christmas, etc.
5. Go Easy on Yourself
If you’re blogging for the sake of blogging, it’ll show in your posts. If you’re mega busy, super tired and barely have time to think, give yourself a break. Your blog isn’t going to die on its arse because you miss a Silent Sunday and your readers will forgive you for taking some time to refresh and ultimately, you’ll be doing them a favour as when you do have something to write about, it’ll really be worth reading.
Great tips, in general not just if you’re strapped for time.
p.s. excellent pimpage!
Excellent tips, I need to make more notes, as I have all these great ideas for Science sparks and then I forget them. x
Making notes and scheduling posts ahead of time is a great idea. Thanks. I’m sure there are many time-pressed bloggers out there, so, I’ll share this too,
This is a really great post, with fab tips – thank you
I need to find a mobile blogger app cos the one I have doesn’t allow me to add photos for some reason – I’m sure that some master blogger out there must know of one! My task for this week is to join Hootsuite and work out how that functions….I’m still manually pimping posts and sometimes I just don’t have the time 
This is a great post! I totally agree about being time poor but going easy on yourself. I used to feel bereft if I hadn’t got a “great” image for Silent Sunday but at the end of the day …… we all started blogging because we love it and putting pressure on yourself kind of takes away the pleasure! I have just chosen to relax and enjoy my blog and hopefully that comes out in my writing!
Great ideas. I never even thought to schedule my posts! May have to look into that as midnight isn’t a great time! I have started writing posts on my memo pad on my phone. I email them to the laptop then copy and paste it onto my blog if I’m really pushed.
I love blogging and wouldn’t want to give it up either! xx
Great tips Thanks. – I definitely need to sort out scheduling my posts and even tweets and stuff. Just need to get round to it. I do use the mobile app though, there is also a really good Ipad app called Blogsy which makes it really easy to blog on go.