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What's your garden blogging routine?

garden blogger routine.jpg
This is just another one of those nosy "what do you do?" blog posts because I really enjoy getting to know garden bloggers and how they tick. So if you have your own garden blog I'm asking the question "What is your garden blogging routine?"

Do you post everyday? Do you take days off? Are you a morning blogger or a night blogger? Have you ever scraped a post together while at work? Do you have a routine or do you just blog when it's convenient?

I can see that there's no point asking the question if I'm not going to share myself. So here goes,

  • Monday - I'm back in the blogging seat after taking Sunday off so I'm really keen to catch up on what's happening in the garden blogosphere. I check my stats (I always check my stats - OCD!!) and then try and put two gardening posts together before heading off to work.
  • Tuesday - Tuesday morning's a little stressful. I always feel that I'm still behind the eight-ball here as there are comments that need to be made, blog directory submissions needed to be updated and bloggers that I want to connect with. I head off early to a church prayer meeting so I only have time for one post on these mornings.

    I will often try and use my lunch break at work to comment on other blogs and send emails to those who have contacted me or that I want to make contact with.

    Tuesday night is my 'blogging' night. I update the garden blogs directory and try and write a post for each of my other two blogs. By Tuesday night I'm starting to feel like I'm getting it under control again. I love Tuesday nights - so don't bother inviting me out for a Pizza and Beer night on Tuesdays. It won't happen.


  • Wednesday - two more gardening posts and I'm catching up on reading some other gardening blogs.

  • Thursday - another two gardening posts, a chance to comment more on other blogs and keeping up on my reading. Depending what else is going on in my world I may even get in some extra blogging time on Thursday night but It doesn't always happen.

  • Friday - you guessed it, another two gardening posts.

  • Saturday - Saturday mornings are my easy morning. There are no deadlines (although my kids soccer season is soon to start which will throw this routine out a bit, especially now I'm coaching one of the teams) so I can just enjoy being creative.

    This usually results in two more gardening posts and one more post each for my other two blogs. I also try to come up with some ideas for the following week or adjust my routine if I'm going to be away.


  • Sunday - I rest. The computer gets turned off on Saturday night and doesn't go back on until Monday morning not for any religious reason but I find I just need a break. I have actually discovered that I can be far more creative if I've taken some time away from blogging than if I just blog everyday. And it means my family gets my undivided attention.

So there's my sad little life in a nutshell. What does your blogging routine look like?






Comments

I'm not structured about blogging at all. I do love to catch up on other people's blogs every day. And I try to post several times a week, more if I feel inspired. I check my stats maybe once a week, if I have time.

I already feel that this takes up an enormous amount of time, time that is enjoyable but which keeps me from doing other important things. I'm amazed that you have time to work on so many blog entries. Impressive.

Great questions! I'm "nosy" like you, so it'll be fun seeing what other bloggers say.

I try to post at least three times per week. Some weeks I end up posting every weekday, some weeks, I'm lucky if I manage to post once. Morning is my blogging time. Like you, I'm OCD about checking my stats. I tend to take a peek at my feed reader before I get started, to see what's going on out in the blogosphere. I comment if I have time. If not, I try to remember to go back later and comment. I sort of "check in" throughout the day to approve comments and respond. Doing it this way generally means that I can respond personally to each comment, which is kind of a rule for me. If I let them all build up, it's less likely I'll respond to my comments in a timely fashion.

I finally started using a feed reader to keep track of my fave garden blogs. I was spending far, far too much time on Garden Voices. Reading garden blogs can be absolutely addictive :-)

I shoot for the sky and promise myself that I'm going to blog every night and then fail miserably. Especially in these long winter months my posting frequency goes way down.

Having a 9-5, two young kids and a fix-er-upper house I should be amazed that I post at all. But when I do, it's either late at night after everyone has gone to sleep or early in the mornings on the weekend.

During my lunch breaks, I usually sit in my car with my laptop and plan out future posts and site related marketing tasks, etc.

If I can ever become a problogger it will be so much easier with a full day to work with.

I'm not at all disciplined about blogging, and I will readily admit that. If something comes to mind, either in response to something I have seen in the garden or something I have read on someone else's blog, I will start to write. Sometimes I start posts when a topic is in my head and then come back to finish the post a week or more after the initial burst. (I think that I have 4 blog posts started but unfinished right now.)

I have dropped everything in the garden to come inside, wash my hands, and race back out with the camera to take a picture (for example, of parasitic wasp eggs on a tomato hornworm) so that I can blog about something later. I have also put off making a post for days because of life: good gardening weather, volleyball tournament games, etc.

And stats? I don't even look at those... I'm just delighted when I get comments on my posts because I generally learn things and appreciate the sharing.

I do need to subscribe to a feed thing soon, though. More and more of the blogs that I like to read are found through Stuart's blog directory, comments left on other garden blogs, etc., and I can't even find all of them through Garden Voices anymore!

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