a guide to blogging and tips & tricks

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I don't know who would be interested in today's topic, but on the off chance that it's you, I thought I'd share a guide a few tips and tricks I've learned in the last few years, and also talk just a tiny bit about blogging consistently. Some of the things I've mentioned before, but I also have a few newer things to add! 

On scheduling blog posts...

You've heard me talk about using a calendar and scheduling posts, but another thing I do is work on lots of posts at once throughout the week and month for those link parties that I love to join. I like to at least get a start on all the weekly posts at some point over the weekend, or at the very least, I'll work on Monday's and Tuesday's. I have time in the afternoons on those days to work on the later posts, but this gives me a head start on the week. I like to post everyday, because I am me. It's not that I feel pressure to post or that I'm trying to keep up with anybody, it's just that I genuinely love to write; this little slice of internet brings me so much joy! That's my reason, simple as that. Of course I also love to encourage people and to maybe even inspire them in some way, so I always hope to do those things as well. 

As for my blog scheduling notebook, here's what I use and what the inside of it looks like. It's just a regular composition notebook that I picked up several years ago from Target. 

I use it for notes throughout the year as well, for each month when I do year end recaps.

I always get a head start on planning posts early in the year, and then I fill in as I go along. You see lots of scratching out and double posts; I tend to make lots of changes throughout the month, but at least this gives me some sort of thought on what I'll be writing in a week. I also use this notebook to keep up with the books I read. In case you haven't picked up on it yet, I'm a list-loving girl! Isn't my J bookmark adorable? My dear friend who knows me so well bought this for me. 

Now onto a few tips and tricks...

Did you know you no longer have to double space after punctuation? It's true! This is something I've picked up on in being an editor for things that have been published. Once you get used to writing with no double spaces, it's so easy to spot it when someone does that in their writing! It's funny how hard it is to unwire our brains from how we were taught, right? 

Did you know that em—dashes are the "new" parentheses? Do you know what one of those is? It's that long dash you see in the sentence above. Editors love to see these nowadays! There is also something called an en — dash that is the same thing, but with a space before and after the dash. You don't really see those in publications, though, but you do see tons of the em—dashes! 

You know how when you're reading a blog post, and someone has a link? And then you click on the link and it opens up in the same window of the blog you were just reading? And then you have to go back and find the blog post again? And maybe even click out of all the ads at the bottom once again? (Can you tell I hate those??? It's true.) Did you know that when you link to something, there is an option to "open in new window" so that your readers don't have to jump through all those hoops? I may be the only one that was late in finding out about that, but I thought I'd enlighten you in case someone doesn't know. 

I may have mentioned this a while back, but did you know that you can right click to gain access to emojis? Try it, it's true! 😉 (I just did that very thing right there.)

Do you have any pet peeves when you read blogs? I would say that my number one pet peeve are the ad sense ads that you have to click out of to keep reading. I know people want to make money, but I'll confess that when I see those, a lot of times, I'll quit reading immediately. All of the "bigger/popular" bloggers have lots of those, and it drives me bananas! Another big pet peeve is seeing lots of grammatical mistakes, or poorly written sentences. Every once in a while I'll come across a blog full of those, and I just can't take it! I understand mistakes happen sometimes, especially on my own blog, but they always happen when I don't take the time to go back over it with a fine tooth comb. Reading it aloud helps! I often do that, but I can tell when I've skipped that step.  

It's your turn! I'd love to hear about your tips and tricks, or any pet peeves you may have. My inquiring mind loves to know! I'm linking up with Joanne today for this blog post. Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all.