Monday, January 16, 2017

A 2000th Post

Back in August, I noted my 1900th post. And I said, "I'd wait and say something when it hits #2000, but knowing me, I won't even notice until that occasion has passed and I'm on post #2003 or something". Turns out I was wrong.

Well, to be fair, I've been paying attention since then.

Yup, this is post #2000.


via GIPHY

And to honor the occasion (since the Star Wars beanie isn't quite done), I thought I'd post my blogging "tips". Not so much tips as the things that I do in blogging that work for me.

People post these sorts of things from time to time. I like to peruse them as sometimes they have something that'll work for me. Or, it can be modified to work for me. It is in this spirit that I offer this list. 

So, in no particular order:
  1. I write this blog for myself. While I appreciate those who take time out of their busy days to stop in and read my words (and I especially appreciate those who take the time to comment), when I sit down in front of my computer, I'm writing for me. If I didn't do this because I wanted to, I wouldn't still be doing it.
  2. I have a schedule. But it's not too terribly rigid. It's a guideline of what to post when, so when I don't know what to write (school's not in session or the classes are too well behaved), I have a place to start. (I do have the schedule posted if you're interested.
  3. Even though I have a plan for each day of the week, I don't feel the need to post each day of the week. Some weeks I'd rather only do three posts. And some weeks I have enough stories for five. It just depends. 
  4. My plan changes as my life changes. At the moment, I'm still trying to figure out a good theme for Wednesdays. (Which is why if I'm skipping a day, that day is usually Wednesday.) At one point my "what if?" questions were on Thursdays. And I had three or four themes for Fridays until I happened upon the quiz thing. 
  5. I write my posts for the following week in one or two sittings. By Thursday I like to have an idea of what each day's post will be. (Although I tend to save the Friday post for what transpires in school on Friday. For some reason, some crazy stuff tends to happen on Fridays.) I usually sit down and write out the posts over the weekend. (If I'm lucky, I might have time to rough out a post or four during the week.) 
  6. As for my subbing stories, I let those happen. Some things jump out in the moment as "blog fodder". Others only occur to me after I'm contemplating the days I had. 
  7. I tend to work most school days. I only tell subbing stories three days a week. I leave out a lot. I edit out the boring stuff--i.e. the stuff where the kiddos do what they're supposed to do, the classes that work silently without too much effort on my part, and the days when I barely feel like I'm working. There are a lot of these instances. 
And as with anything, this is a work in progress. What works for me today may change over time. My blog must adapt to this. Otherwise, I'd have stopped doing this ages ago. 

What about you? How do you blog? What works for you?

32 comments:

  1. Happy 2000th post! Such an achievement! I don't think I've gotten to 400 yet and the blog is 5 years old! Great tips shared here. I do think we need to write for ourselves. I don't plan too much on what I will write about, lately kind of what seems somewhat interesting in an otherwise mundane life :)

    betty

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations on two thousand posts! That's a lot.
    I imagine you'll never run out of sub stories.
    By Friday, I have a good idea what I'm posting about on Monday and have some of it written out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations on your 2000th post.

    I think those are all very good tips. Especially the first one. It makes me happy when I get comments, but on the whole I just like to get my thoughts out there. But it is nice to get confirmation that you're not just shouting into the ether. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it is good to know you're not alone, but if you're not enjoying the writing of it, there's really no point.

      Delete
  4. 2000 - Now thats a big number worth celebrating, Congratulations.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congrats on the 2000 post! That is a great milestone. I do my post for myself also. I would love for them to be read more but I am okay cause I have friends and family that read but don't comment.....and that might be a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. And any reader is a good reader, even if they don't comment ;)

      Delete
  6. Congrats on hitting 2000. I always miss blogging milestones.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. I was watching the counter as things got close.

      Delete
  7. You remembered! And congratulations on 2000 posts! That's very impressive, and of course we all have enjoyed having you around.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy 2000th. That is an impressive milestone. I'll share some of my secrets. Ha. I blog daily - why is a long story, but it originally had to do with a friend (now deceased) who was seriously ill, and read my blog, and I always wanted her to have something to read on her good days. And now, it's just habit. I have several "theme" days - Wednesday is a seasonal post. For four years I did a "Civil War Sunday" and, who knows, I still may do that from time to time. Fridays, right now, I participate in a "Skywatch" but I did a Falling Friday for a while. The 15th of the month is another meme I've done monthly since (gulp) May of 2011. And I rarely do a blog post that doesn't give me pleasure in either writing or researching, but I suspect that will change this week. Alana ramblinwihtam.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a great reason to blog daily! So sorry your friend is no longer with us.

      Delete
  9. Congrats on the big 2-0-0-0! I started my blog once I moved from my home state back in 2009 to sort of chronicle things that surprised, bugged, or elated me about where I had moved. NYC, LDN & ZH gave me much to write about. Nowadays, I write what inspires me. Sometimes I'm rarely inspired, to be honest, so it feels as if there's less to say than in previous years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, perhaps something new will come along to inspire you.

      Delete
  10. Congrats on hitting 2000!!! I tend to schedule several week's posts at a time. I think the only one I do the night before is my Thursday post the on sale ebooks in case the sale ends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Scheduling ahead makes sure you're not scrambling for topics :)

      Delete
  11. Happy 2000! I think that is a great milestone and one should always write for oneself and write what interests you. I do the same and try to do some cards when I am not busy with something else. I write about movies of course and sometimes that comes last minute. It's always fun reading about your ...um...creative students

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Creative". Yeah, that's the word for them ;)

      Delete
  12. Yay for your 2000th post! That's awesome. And good to hear many of your classes are good ones :D

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Liz - 2,000 is an amazing number ... and being prepared helps. Theoretically I am too - but then decide to write something else ... we all develop our own blogging voice ... but have some interaction is the special bit ... Here's to another few thousand! Cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete
  14. Happy 2000 and excellent tips. I especially like your what ifs, though you probably already know that ;)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Of course, Congratulations on 2000. WOW! The reason I write is split 60/40. The 60% is for me. But I will be honest, I would be writing in a personal journal if I were only writing for me. I am inspired to keep writing by knowing others are reading what I write. So I would say it is a form of communication for me. Obviously, I have no schedule. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yay! :) Congrats on reaching post 2000! That's a lot of writing! I bet you've been paying more attention since posting 1900. I know that's what would have happened to me. (Then again, who knows how many posts I've written!) Thanks for sharing your tips and schedule with your readers. It's interesting to see what works for other people in comparison to what I do. I really enjoy reading and following your blog and look forward to seeing what all you write about in the time between now and post 3000! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. At the rate I'm going, post 3000 should be in 2021.

      Delete
  17. Congrats on 2000! I'm still figuring out what works for me. It's interesting to read your blogging experiences.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's always a work in progress. If we knew what we were doing, we'd probably stop and move on.

      Delete
  18. Congratulations! So glad to hear you only write for yourself. That's a brilliant reason. Me too. It's great to keep track of one's life. If I forget when something happened in the past I can just look it up on my blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, that makes me sound so selfish...

      Thanks. Yeah, it makes it easy to look up dates for things.

      Delete
  19. Congrats! And your tips are very good. Happy blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I have no idea how many posts I have made over the years. Congraulations on 2000! That is a lot. I don't follow any set posts, for the most part, maybe that would help me be a more faithful blogger. Good tips!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're on Blogger. In the upper left hand corner, under "Posts" on the screen where all your posts list, it says "All (X)" and "Published (X)". The "X" is how many posts you have published or written.

      Delete

I appreciate your comments.

I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.

*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.