Since I’ve been blogging for ten years now, I thought it was the perfect time to share some information about how I blog, especially how I fit it in around a full-time job!
To give you an idea of the time that I have available for blogging, I work from 8.30am to 4.30pm five days a week, but luckily just a short distance from home. I don’t have any children/husband, so my free time is all my own! I’m usually home from work at about 4.40pm.
Photography
Living in central Scotland, lack of light is my main problem – it’s very challenging trying to get well-lit photos in a Scottish winter! From the change of the clocks in October until about mid-February, I can’t really take any photos for my blog after work, so I find it quite difficult at that time of year (plus I feel I’m ready for bed as soon as it gets dark!).
This means that a lot of my photos, especially in the winter, are taken at the weekend. This can sometimes mean keeping a close watch on the weather forecast as the weekend approaches, to work out whether Saturday or Sunday will have the best light for what I want to photograph, as I do like to take my self-portraits outdoors. Taking photos at the weekend also means that I have more time to do my hair and makeup for self-portraits. I also try to take photos in a number of different outfits on the same day, to take advantage of this.
Some other ways I get light for photos are to dash home at lunchtimes, to have everything set up to take a few photos as soon as I get home, or to take them just before leaving for work. And I have a SAD lamp to boost my energy and mood in the winter, so in an emergency I use this as a source of bright light for photos!
In the summer it’s much easier! I have a lot more energy and can take photos at 9 o’clock at night if I want to!
Writing
I do a lot of my blog post writing on Sundays. Usually I make sure I’ve done the housework, then sit down for a few hours to write blog posts. This means I can also take any extra photos I may need.
Another thing I do is to keep a document on my memory stick with ideas and half-written blog posts, and to work on these at breaktimes and lunchtimes when I am at work (it’s how this post was written!). This tends to be when I’m in a hyper-creative mood with a lot of blog post ideas brewing, and I’m keen to get started on them! I copy these into Blogger during my next Sunday blog-writing session.
Planning
I print out a blank calendar each month on which I write the blog posts that I have planned. This starts by writing in the roundup posts which happen on the last two days of the month – it always feels I have made a start once these are in place! If there is a theme for the month I will write this at the top of the page.
Then I fill in a few ideas that I’ve had for blog posts, starting at the beginning of the month. These are usually things that I’ve already got photographs ready for, or that I know I will be able to take photos for very soon. If I have ideas that are less fully-formed, these go at the bottom of the page as potential posts for that month or the next.
I try to space out the blog posts depending on how many I think I will be writing that month. Usually I aim for about three posts a week, but it could be as few as two or I could have a blog post every day if it’s a themed week or if I’m feeling particularly inspired and creative. I do start to hit panic levels when that buffer runs out, but somehow some new ideas take hold and the blog post ideas reappear.
I do write my blog posts quite far in advance. I generally have three weeks’ worth of posts already scheduled. This gives me a good buffer if I go through a creative slump or if I’m really busy or away on holiday. But it can be confusing – my dad recently asked me, “What have you been up to this month, I haven’t read your blog post yet?”, and I answered, “I can’t remember, I wrote that three weeks ago and I’m working on next month now!”.
Content
A big portion of the blog posts on emuse are craft projects, so I also need to find time to create these. This just seems to happen naturally as a part of my everyday life – I have an idea, I create it, and then all I have to do is photograph it and blog about it.
At some times of year there are a lot of birthdays, so this leads to a lot of cards and other craft projects. I tend to spend some time crafting most weekends, and a bit of time during the week too. Generally my mind is overflowing with craft ideas, so it’s just a case of deciding which to do first!
Some of my other content is based around the books I’m reading, the places I visit, and the activities that I do. So I don’t really have to make an effort to do anything specifically for the blog, I just blog about the things I’m doing anyway.
Social media
A lot of my social media is automatic, through IFTTT, so I really don’t do a lot as far as that is concerned. I know that other bloggers do a lot more with their social media presence, but I really use social media more for a way to relax by reading what everyone else is up to. I do love posting photos to Instagram, so I do that when I remember! I suppose I could do more on the social media side of things, but I prefer to concentrate on creating the blog posts themselves. There is only so much time in the day and I do need some time to relax!
Sometimes blogging feels like a full-time job on top of the one I already have, but I love it and ten years of blogging is a huge achievement!
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