Finding time to over-achieve!

So, the other day I set a personal record for the number of blogs I posted to. It was quite astonishing actually, and my mind was mush by the time it was all said and done. And it occured to me that it might be helpful to say a few words about posting and how I go about it.

I have noticed that for me, putting a couple of days between posts is like the kiss of death. A couple of days turns into a couple of weeks, and pretty soon it's a couple of months. I do best if I can post every day.

But how do you post every day when you are a perfectionist, overachieving, ambitious, possibly nutty person like me with a gagillion blogs? And do I really need that many blogs? And why am I doing this anyway?

What works best for me, is to have the blog organized in such a way that I know pretty much what I'm going to say every day for the next week or so. It also helps if I already have graphics rounded up so that I don't have to go looking for stuff to "pretty" up the post.

Another thing that is important is to have a clear idea of what the "theme" of the blog is, the "reason" for it, my goals for the blog itself, and my motives for doing it. This way, I'm not flailing around unsure of myself, spending lots of time trying to figure out what the heck I'm doing.

This is how it works:

This blog is centered around me blogging. I think of it as my "work at home" job, even though it has yet to pay me more than about $ .02 an hour, if that much. So, that's the theme. My reasons for doing it are as follows:

1. Easy access to various helpful links that I often use for the blogs.
2. To provide what I hope will eventually be something helpful for other hopeful bloggers.
3. Yet another way to "promote" my other blogs. Let's face it, I do promote them here.
4. Yet another avenue for potential adsense and other affiliate commissions.

Knowing this gives me a good idea of what to write about. And if I happen to write about anything related to this blog, I just copy it and repost it here. That's how the post on "trouble at the border" was created, it was part of another project, but seemed appropriate for here as well.

Organizationally, I have not done as well here as I have on other blogs. For example, on Way Cool Pictures, I have pictures stored in folders (one folder for each series or set of images) and the folders are arranged so that the one that is up first is the one that I plan to put up next. If I happen to find something really cool, and I want to put it next, I just move it up. This way, I don't have to think about what I'm going to post, it's already there all lined up and ready to go.

Way Cool Quotes is my easiest blog. I just flip through my quotes files, find several that pop out at me, and then cut and past them into the post, and voila, it's done. No images to find, nothing to write, it's pretty simple. My biggest challenge with that one is how to organize the labels and tags for them.

The Question of the Day is simple as well. When I decided to do it, I went on a protracted image search looking for question mark images. Once I was well supplied with those, it became fairly simple to "decorate" the post. I sometimes think up questions, and I'm always looking out for questions in books, articles, and emails. I keep them in a folder, ready to go.

The Prosperity Project is harder because I often have to "write" the post and then find ways to illustrate it. Usually I do it first thing in the morning when I'm "fresh". And when I'm at work, I jot down ideas for it, and try to flesh them out as much as possible as I have a chance. The same goes for Mandala Madness, which is a cross between the picture blogs, the quote blog, and the prosperity project. I have it organized with folders, and I do the "thinking" and "writing" while at work if possible.

I do have a blog at Zaadz, which I have been trying to stay current on, and what I've been doing there is taking bits and pieces from my daily posts and mashing them together to make a sort of collage of what's up with me. I've also done that here to a certain extent.

When do I do all this blogging?

I blog when I get home from work, usually for about 2 hours, and can usually do the picture blogs, the quotes, and the question. Sometimes I get to the prosperity project, etc. And then, when I get up in the morning, I check my email and get the Prosperity Project up, and spend another 2 hours or so. On weekends, and on my days off, I spend time looking for images, organizing posts, gathering ideas, and sometimes writing rough drafts.

For me, it seems like with this schedule, I can do about 5 or 6 blogs a day and keep them current without too much trouble. I would love to have about 15 blogs going... but... hey... it's just little me, and I have to keep my "day" job for now, so...