How do I Find Time to Write Every Day?

One of the first things I was taught while on a blogging course was the importance of keeping my blog up to date by writing something in it at least once every week. I made a resolution at the time to do just that – after all, I want people to be regular visitors to my blog to read what I’ve written.

It started off OK because I had plenty of material in my “back catalogue” that I could post on my blog, and at the time I was having to write a 60-second presentation every week to promote my business at BNI that I could use as the basis, or so I thought, for my weekly post on my blog.

But then things changed in my life. The local chapter of BNI fell apart and I was no longer required to write a witty presentation each week. At the same time my business workload increased, which meant that I was spending all day, every day, in front of my computer editing articles that other people had written. This meant that I had no desire to spend my spare time, if I had any, in front of the computer updating and editing my blog. Although I was spending some spare time in front of the computer, my interest in family history meant that it was being filled by visiting the Ancestry and the Genes Reunited websites, and entering data on to my genealogy software program.

As a result, my blog has barely been touched for about six weeks and the number of visitors has dropped to nearly zero. So what can I do about it? One thing that I have noticed is that I have plenty of ideas first thing in the morning and I lie in my bed composing potential articles in my head before I get up. However, by the time I’ve got up, got washed and changed, and I’ve started to make my breakfast my initial enthusiasm and creativity has waned, and I find myself thinking more about my next editing job I have to do for one of my existing clients.

So, the answer is simple! I get up at least one hour earlier each morning and write something for my blog before breakfast. As I write this, in long hand, it is eight o’clock in the morning and I’ve written virtually an entire post without much effort. The next challenge is to enter it on to the blog – but I can probably do that this evening – and if you’re reading it now it means that I’ve passed that challenge without any problems. It’s amazing how easy it is to type something up once you’ve written the first draft and it’s there in front of you.

Right! I’ve proved that it can work – now I’ve just got to make sure that I can keep it up. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem as long as I treat it like a training schedule in preparation for running a marathon (or any other distance, for that matter). After all, every evening during the week, without fail, I go out jogging. So, early every morning during the week, without fail, I must write something for my blog.

There, that wasn’t too difficult, was it! Same again tomorrow? We’ll see – I’ve got a business breakfast early tomorrow morning but I’ll try and write something, even if it’s only a few lines. So, watch this space!