Blogging is hard-Chapter 2: Making a schedule

Hello, and welcome to My Ambiance Life.

In today’s post, I want to take about blogging in general, not how to get started, not how to win at increasing traffic, but blogging in general.

Myths in blogging…

One of the myths I get when I am reading post from Pinterest, searching on Google, or anywhere else on the interwebs (Internet), is “blogging is dead”, “no one is interested in blogs anymore”, and phrases like that.

I am here to tell you that the way blogs got started might be dead, but the overall concept of blogs is not.  In fact, blogging is very much alive.  This is how blogging works for me….

You can do the following with a blog:

·         Use it as a follow up to a video

·         Offer products with the blog:  Talk about your subject, offer a free product (say a free guide), then if you are able, offer a course to further talk about your subject.  I have seen it a lot and it is something I am thinking about doing in 2020.

o   An alternative is to offer a service like freelance writing or graphic design service.  This also works if you are an organizer or party planner.

If you feel that your blog is dying a slow death, these ideas and many more can help bring new life into your blogging experience.  I not necessary say bring in traffic but help spruce up your blog.  Perhaps you are on a server that is limited, like Blogger.  Now I like Blogger and it is good for those who want to get their feet wet into blogging.  I have outgrown Blogger, as I have mentioned many times before.  I am also not a programmer, so Joomla, which is a website language that I would love to learn how to do, but WordPress is my go to language for the moment.  Maybe one day.  It is very easy to learn, and it takes no time to build up a website.

Scheduling a blog post, Part 1

I have learned something new in the past few weeks.  Schedule out your posts. There is a way for to do it on Blogger: 

1.       On the right side, you will see Post Settings

2.      Go down to schedule and click on it

3.      If you want the blog to post when you click on Publish, leave as it.  If not, click on Set date and Time.

4.      A calendar will pop up and you can click on a day of the current month or use two little arrows on the right side to advance a month ahead.  You can also click in the box for the current time or type in the time that you want.  Remember to highlight AM or PM.  Make sure you have the right time zone.

5.      Click Done when finished,

For WordPress:

This comes from WP Optimus (2014), but it still hold true today:

1.       Once you are finished writing your post, go to the right side of the panel of your post where the Meta-publish box is located. Click on Edit

2.      Set the date and time for when you want the post to publish.  The time will be listed as a 24-hour clock format, not 12-hours.  This is also called Military Time.  Ex. 1 PM is 13:00

3.      Click on schedule when finished.

Now you are able to schedule times for when you are on vacation, or too busy to write.

Scheduling a blog post, part 2

OK, the following was how to schedule when you blog post will publish to your blog.  Another thing I found out about scheduling is the art of writing when you feel the need to say something.  Christians call it, “God told me to tell you something that has been on my heart”.  Others say, “I have something to say, and I am not going to back down until I say it”.  Trust me, I do not have nothing to get “off my chest” (another saying).

We all have complaints.  In most Facebook groups I am in, it is having a rant, but there are tactful ways of complaining without getting chewed out by other.  I have learned the following.

1.       Do not say something just to get an audience.  In fact, do not expect for someone to respond with a “me too”, “I agree”, or “I feel the same way”.  Speak your peace and move on.

2.      If you journal, write the rant there.  You have gotten off your chest and you have left it in a place for you to see.

3.      Ask questions before you rant, especially if you are in a group setting. It is best to ask questions than to assume and get kicked out of the group.  You may still get kicked out, but at least you are not ranting blindly without all the answers.  Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question.

4.      Calm down before typing

5.      If you are in a group setting and you are still angry, do not announce that you are leaving the group.  Just leave and let go.

When situations are treated with kindness, you will have a better result.

Scheduling a blog post, part 3: know when to write

OK, confession time:

I have set up all these day the type of themes I want to put in this blog.  Some weeks it works out great, while others, not so much.  It is embarrassing, and I do not have any hard copies to remind me of what I am supposed to write about.  For example:  I write my journaling prompts posts on Wednesday instead of Thursday, Motivational Monday becomes motivational any day, and so on.  The only thing that has been constant lately is that I do not write and post on Saturdays and Sundays.  I have a solution for that.  I am picking two days out of the week to write, posting them on the days that I pick (probably Monday and Wednesday or Thursday) Friday may be a bonus day, and I am scheduling them so that they automatically post.  Everything has been edited complete with pictures.

Why am I saying this:

My schedule is full, and I need to take time to do things carefully. 

My takeaway for this is simple:  take time for you.  I know I have mentioned some portion of that to you in the past few posts, but I am serious as always. 

Yes, I need an audience, clients, and viewers, but I also need me, and I need to continue my spiritual journey with God.

If you do not have that, then what is life.  I am not saying that life is meaningless, but your life has meaning and a purpose.  We all need to find that purpose and it is not always about making money.  I know I push making money, but you are not going to die if you do not make a 6-figure salary.  Make enough to allow you to save and to live on the daily.  This means if you need toothpaste, make enough to buy it.  Same with your home.  Make enough to afford a decent home for you and your family.  It does not have to be a 5-room mansion with a 3-car garage, it can be an apartment with a parking space, but not a one-room boarding house where all 6 of your family members sleep in it.  If this means you have stay in that one -room for a moment, fine, but aim higher.

In other words, you can change your situation.

Have a good day.

Write what you know, research the rest

Today’s is Tip Tuesday.  This is where I give you tips in writing, anything that I come across (except crafting, which will be on The P. Lynne Designs blog).  This is information only, and it makes sense in life to me, and life as a writer.

As you may know, I am a blogger and freelance writer.  It is my job to make others look and sound good, as well as make myself look and sound good on paper and in the digital world.  I also wear many hats in my business and have many facets that will eventually get consolidated into one cohesive unit.  For the moment, I am loving this exploration. So, what does it have to do with today’s tip?

As you explore your many talents, and we all have them, it does not have the top ones like musician, dancer, or writer, you could be great at delegating, tasting a food, or even complaining.  I know people who always complain, and as my dad says, they will complain If you “hung them with a new rope”. Ok, I am getting off the subject, but the point is an expert in anything.  Oops, let me make my point.   As you explore your many, talents, you may be called to talk about them.  Some people shy away from this sort of thing, but if you are a talker, you will be asked these questions in life:  “What do you do” and “What are your hobbies”?

I love dancing, playing a musical keyboard, paper crafting, and Disney for starters.  I can tell you almost all things about these subjects, such as the perfect glue to use on chipboard, the correct way to do a paradiddle (that’s a tap dance term that I obviously do not know how to spell correctly, LOL), The perfect spot to view the fireworks at Cinderella’s castle, and what G#min7 chord is and how to execute them all.

So, what do the things that I love have to do with the subject of writing what you know?

Well, I know about these subjects, in addition to organizing, being a Christian, marketing, chocolate, sushi, being a single person, writing, and being an aunt.  I can write about these subjects in my sleep.  I have studied them all my life, and when I am asked to write something on them, I know what I am talking about.  Does that mean that I cannot write about being a parent?  I am afraid that I may steer some people in the wrong direction, but I have to research on some things, such as disciplining a child.  I can tell what I do as an aunt. Most of these answers will Most likely be based on your experiences with the subject, but even with subjects you know about, you may have to “fill in the blank” on parts you are not sure of.    (Such as wait times for the Slinky Dog Roller Coaster.)

What if I do not know something?

You have a plethora of information that you can research.  For instance, I can tell you where I would stay at one of Walt Disney World’s 22 plus resorts, but I cannot tell you how much a room is for 5 nights, and the amenities that you would get when staying.  It depends on your situation:  what are you going to be doing besides the parks or are you a new Disney Vacation Club member?  I will have to research the answer for you.  That G#min7 chord I mentioned earlier?  I cannot play it on a guitar so I would have to research it for you.  Clogging (a country dance similar to tap dance)?  Yep, that too.  Plus, researching make information more credible.  Not only that but for some things, such as a scientific equation or theory, you almost need to research the information to prove that it really exists.

So, there is nothing wrong with researching a subject that you do not know.  It is fun, and you can sit at the computer or in the library and leave your bottom lip hanging on the floor when you discover something new and different. Not only that

but some of these subjects (like Quantum Physics or theory, oops, Star Trek Voyager term, LOL), makes for some good discussions when you have nothing to say at a party.

Blog.litcentral.com

Monday musings: Research tip

(c) 2014 P.Lynne Designs

Before I get to today’s post, I want to give an apology to those who have been following this blog:   I goof up again.  I am trying to make my life a little easier by automatically uploading blog posts from Blogger to pinterest.  I often use a website called Ifttt.com to perform little tasks for uploading stuff.  Unfortunately, instead of getting a recipe that uploads my posts after I publish them to my pinterest board, it is posting everything I repin from my feed (like a greeting card idea I like), and posting it to Blogger on this blog.  It is not doing it to my other blogs.  It has gotten traffic, just not the traffic I wanted for this blog.  The ones that were repined, should be for my P.Lynne Designs blog, NOT this one.  

If you are here to learn about different writing techniques and my musings, I again apologize, and if you do not mind the posts, ignore my apology.  Either way, I have stopped the recipe from automatically posting pins that have nothing to do with my post.  I am, however, learning to create one on my own, and not rely of others.   With that being said, I hope you will enjoy today’s post.

Research can be a bear (I had another name, but I am trying to keep it G).  In case you have lived under a rock, this is how research used to be:  Come up with a subject.  Narrow down the subject.  Go to the library.  If your family was lucky, you had a set of encyclopedias and you looked up information that way.  You wrote out your information of 3x5 cards (10 points if you showed it to the teacher as proof you did it).  You arranged your cards in order of appearance in your report (essay, dissertation, thesis, Et. all), and that was the hard part.  Now, you have to write the little bugger.  Typing was, and still is not my strongest skill, so using the typewriter was really grueling, and you spell check was the dictionary (my parents had Webster’s, the only game in town according to them).   If you messed up, you had to either use whiteout, a typewriter eraser, or rip the whole thing out and start the page over again.    Thank God I had caring teachers who did allow students to write the report in their own handwriting.  When I was a teen, computers were introduce to the home, and life got a little simpler.

Today, I do not know how we got along without computer.  You do not have to go to the library, take notes on a 3 x 5 index card, and so forth.   I do not remember the last time I was in a library.  I just look up my information on Google to research my subject, type out my post (or article), but what do you do with all that information you find.   Well you can store it on an external drive, your internal drive on your computer, or on a cloud drive.  How about your browser?   If you have not made this discovery, let me show you have it is done.

I am using Google Chrome, but any browser can actually do this.  You just have to know how to save.

(c) 2015 P. Lynne Designs

First of all, make your folder.   On Google Chrome, go to bar which is right under the URL bar.

 Click the right button on the mouse to bring up the menu, and go to “add folder”.

This should bring up a menu like this:

(c) 2015 P. Lynne Designs

Type in a name such as “research”, “musings” (you come up with the name)

And your folder should look like this on the saved bar (what I am calling it from now on)

Next, you want to save the website that you are researching on, so highlight the URL.

Then drag it to the new folder.

(c) 2015 P.Lynne Designs

Now if you need to go to the website, instead of typing in the URL each time, just go to your research folder in your browser.   It saves time, no need to think of the URL each time, and a bunch of trees (no more little pieces of paper with the URL floating around your desk).