Do you have a blog in you? If you have stories you want to tell or experiences you want to share, blogging might be an outlet for your stress, a hobby you enjoy, or even a career. For many women, getting started can be a challenge. If you are a mom, time is tight, especially to do things for yourself. Even fitting in a work at home writing job seems impossible. So how do you find the time? How do you determine the “how,” “what,” and “when” to write? The biggest question is figuring out how to carve out the time.
Finding Time To Blog
Whether you are a busy wife and mother or an overburdened single mom, a quick look at your schedule may lead to the conclusion that you have no time. If you are working a paying job, you must find the time to preserve your livelihood. The same holds true if you are in need of an outlet for your pent-up ideas and opinions. You must make the time by making it a priority. A nicely design time tracking sheet might move you from the point where you have no time to work by making you see which tasks that you do take up most of your time and are keeping you away from your real goals. You can download a lot of these free time tracking sheets online, so no need to spend extra bucks there!
Writing is one activity where Thomas Edison’s famous quote holds true: “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Whether writing does not come naturally to you or not, you must make a conscious decision to set an appointed time to write. This may be really in the morning or late at night, or you may need to take your kids to childcare to free up the space to work on your blog. Sometimes a sick child or other emergency may interfere with your plans, but determining a specific time to devote to writing is the only way it will happen.
Here are a few ways to increase the likelihood you will be successful.
Start At Your Natural Starting Point
What do you love in your life? What are your passions? Your kids? Current events? Popular culture? Fashion? Your career field, whether it is accounting, marketing, science, or retail? When you write about what interests you, the process is much easier. Writing can often be hard work, but if you start with something that drives you, that inspires you, you have a built-in incentive to get going.
The process of writing should not be akin to ing assigned a term paper in high school or college about obscure topics that marginally interest you. Don’t let thoughts of creating 10 pages about nuclear physics or 19th-centuryry literary piece turn you off from blogging. Especially if you are blogging for work, you may have subject matter that may not interest you, but getting started with what inspires you for what you do find interesting is a good way to stay on track
Determine Your Best Writing Time and Protect It
When is the best time to write? Are you a morning person or a night person? Do you have small children or other obligations that limit your time? When you balance the times you are most productive with what you need to do, you may conclude that early morning or late nights are when you will best be able to focus on writing. Even if you have the whole day at your disposal, it is important to set out a specific time you will devote to writing and stick to it. (Having structure prevents you from drifting aimlessly for the day.” Once you carve out the time, jealously protect it to keep yourself on track.
If you follow blogs, be they mom blogs or even professional ones, you may notice a flurry of posts and then nothing. This is because many people who start to blog let themselves get off track and never return. Or they return for a minute only to fall off the blogging wagon again. “Stuff happens” in life, but try to make your blogging time a priority, and writing a habit.
Make It A Habit To Write Down Your Ideas
When an idea crosses your mind for a blog, story, or article, writing it down is the best way to ensure that you will remember it when you sit down to write. Life is busy, and your mind is full of all kinds of things that vie for your attention. If you don’t immediately write down ideas or fragments of them, you may not remember when you have a great idea.
You may find it handy to keep a little notebook by the bed, in the kitchen or bathroom, or in your purse. You can even use the memo application on your smartphone to write or even speak your idea so that it’s electronically captured to jog your memory when you are ready to write. Even post-it notes work for some people.
Race Against Your Own Clock
When you are working for pay, you usually have deadlines for completing a project, whether it is writing or something else. When you are blogging on your own schedule, you can find yourself drifting and not completing anything. It is best to set goals to challenge yourself to make sure that you accomplish something in the time you have.
“Wait,” you say, “writing is a process that you can’t rush.” While there is some truth in that statement, having time pressure may make you more productive. For example, you can set a goal of finding photos for a blog post within 15 minutes, rather than letting the process drag on for an hour. If you know you have an hour before your kid wakes up or dinner is cooked, you can challenge yourself to write a certain number of words or even finish your piece.
You may not respond well to time pressure. But even if that’s true, you may find that setting little goals for yourself will help you complete your blog or at least make good progress on it.
Write A Guest Post
How have you met the challenge of finding time to blog, whether it’s for yourself or for work? Other moms might benefit from your knowledge. Reaching readers can be challenging for new bloggers, so we move written and informative article, make sure to post it on social media.
In addition, many blogs, except guest blogs from other people. If you do not see an invitation to guest blog featured prominently on the site, check other sections of the blog such as the About Us or the Contact Us that may provide the information and give you the specs for submitting your article.
Feel free to comment below about how you have made time for blogging!
