Scheduling {Blog Organization}

Posted March 18, 2016 in Let's Discuss, Life, Reading / 12 Comments

Blog Organization: Scheduling

Welcome to the second part of my series on blog organization. The first part of the series was on the plugins I use and this post will be on scheduling.

I used to use exclusively Google Calendar to help me schedule my posts. It was great because I was able to sync between computer and my phone. However, I had some problems with it. I was forgetting to look at it or update it as often as I should.

Now, I use a May Designs planner. I have a months + dots agenda and IΒ will show you how I use it. The months are, obviously, for scheduling and I use the dots to help keep track of reading challenges.

The first thing I did when I got my planner was add a key to each month’s page. My key is as follows:

  • red for Monthy Wrap-Ups
  • green for Reviews
  • purple for Discussions
  • blue for Memes
  • orange for Catholic Liturgical Calendar
  • pencil for personal things or tentative posts

Planner Key

I then went through with my orange pen to add the feasts of the liturgical calendar. I took this step because I will sometimes align certain posts with certain feast days. Most of you probably don’t do anything like this, but I did.

Next, I went through the year with my pencil to print in personal events such as days I’m going to be traveling or days when I have something going on.

Then, I went through the year again with my red pen to add Monthly Wrap-Ups. This was easy since I usually pick the last day of the month unless I have a good reason not to. One month’s wrap-up had to be moved since I wasn’t going to be in the country when I would usually have posted it.

Next, I write Memes in blue as I schedule them. However, until they are scheduled on the blog, I keep them in pencil in case I decide not to do them. This has happened quite a bit recently as I haven’t been feeling well and, subsequently, I haven’t spent as much time prepping posts.

Discussion posts are scheduled in my planner in pencil until they are ready to be scheduled on the blog. Then I switch to purple for them. Discussion posts tend to move around a bit depending on my mood and if I actually wrote the post I wanted to write on time.

Reviews are entered in my planner in green once they are written and scheduled. I enter the reviews in pencil when I begin to read a book or accept a review copy. Pencil is so much easier to move around than colored pen.

So that is basically how I plan and schedule posts. Usually, there are reviews on Mondays, Thursdays, and some Saturdays. Memes are usually Tuesdays and Fridays, if I have them written in time. Discussion posts are typically Wednesdays though there isn’t a discussionΒ every Wednesday.

The following pictures were taken in late January and help to show how I use my planner.

JanuaryFebruaryMarch

This is how I schedule. Let me know if this helped you at all and please feel free to share how you schedule in the comments.

amanda

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12 responses to “Scheduling {Blog Organization}

  1. This is–wow. I am always so awed by people who’s brains work this way. My posting schedule works like this: I think of something to write, then I write it. If I have some free time, I write a few posts and stagger them over the next few days. If I don’t have a lot of time but haven’t posted in several days, I make myself think of something to write and post in a slap-dash manner. I’m actually okay with my method, since it works for me and my brain, but your method is lovely.

    • Thank you. It is always interesting to see the methods different people use. I need the schedule or else I would be completely lost.
      Thanks for visiting. I hope you have a great weekend!

  2. Awww schedules. While yours are on point (amazingly so, if I may say!) mine are more like…. a napkin sitting next to my laptop. Written in like, a pink crayola marker saying “CRAP, POST X REVIEW!!”. Otherwise, it’s all on a whim. (Technically I am exaggerating a tiny bit- I do put tour dates in a Google calendar so I don’t forget!) This is seriously amazing. I wish I had your organization skills!

    • Thanks. I need the organization or my brain hurts too much. Some might call it my weakness. πŸ™‚
      Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

  3. Wow is awesome and so detailed! πŸ˜€ GO YOU for being so onboard with organisation and scheduling. How do I do it? Hhahahah…. ahem. Basically 4 hours before I want the post to go up. xD No really! I do schedule everything because I always post at exactly the same time each day I want to blog. But I’m really flexible about what goes up. I just know that I want a review and a discussion and a fun post and possibly a meme (like TTT) up per week, but the order (except the meme, because, ya know, that has rules for when it needs to be up) is just up to whenever I feel like it. XD So I’m very not organised in that respect. But I totally admire you for being so amazing at it!!

    • Sometimes I wish I could be a bit more spontaneous with blogging but when I try to be, I just end up stressing myself out. Basically, my schedule is just saving me from a panic attack and a nervous breakdown all at once. My blog is the one place where I can, with almost absolute certainty, control what happens when. Real life, especially adult life, sadly, does not have this reassurance. It would be absolutely beautiful if I could schedule all the things but that is not the way the world works.
      Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

  4. I do this, too, but I use Google Calendar! I like Google Calendar because you can actually have a repeat button for events such as memes and wrap-ups instead of having to write it out every time. However, writing it out seems like it could be soothing and it’d be a great activity to do while reading an audiobook or listening to a podcast. That’s good that you keep track of your books for review. More often than not I forget release dates and when I should post them, haha!

    • I have tried using Google Calendar and still do to some extent. However, I find I actually remember to update the physical planner much more frequently than the online calendar. That might just be me, though.
      Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend!

  5. Ha! We are like polar opposites. First of all, anything that I write down on paper is promptly forgotten. I’ve tried about a thousand planners in my lifetime and I can’t stick to them – at all. The only planning I do for my blog is for tours – I put the dates in my Google calendar along with the rest of my schedule (things I have to drive the kids around to, etc.) If I try to keep it separate, I just inevitably forget to check the calendar. Everything else is just written on a whim when I get to it, though I try to post one discussion a week, in general. Glad you found a system that works for you!!

    • It is so interesting how different systems work for different people. I don’t have children to chase around (unless you count teaching) so I really only have my own schedule to worry about. I’m glad there is something that works for you even though I know it wouldn’t work for me.
      Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a great April!

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