Siôn le Roux wrote in with a good question about how bloggers keep up a semi-regular posting schedule.
I suppose in a way I’m a bit new to blogging. Is it normal for bloggers to post as often as once a day? I don’t see how you (or my other favourite blogger for that matter) find the time and commitment for it. How much time would you say you spend each day on writing blog posts?
Writing is like most arts: people underestimate the value of practice.
Writing regularly
Writing is like walking. It’s easier to go 2 miles if you spent the last week walking 1 every day. And you wouldn’t run a marathon if you spent the last year floating in space.
You’ll also find it easier to write if you have more inputs, and if the quality of those inputs is high. That means finding good books and blogs connected with the subjects you write about.
And just as a marathoner can do a mile in a minute, someone who writes a lot can write a lot in a short time.
Buffering
Some writers end up not writing most days with occasional huge bursts of writing. At times I’ve hammered out 20 posts in a day and couldn’t write another for a month. But it’s still a good idea to sit down and try every day.
It gets easier when you develop a readership and people send in questions. Half this post was already written in the form of my replies. Make sure you get permission to publish parts of the conversation though. Some people don’t like seeing their words out in public unexpectedly.
Editing can come later
If you’re not sure of a post’s quality, let it sit for a day and see if it still seems useful. It’s better to get it out in public and see what happens than to spend a week picking at it.
And remember: nobody’s on a panel judging you for a PHd here, so you shouldn’t worry too much if your first thousand posts don’t work out. Mine sure didn’t.
This question also coincided with me reading another post on prolific writers at Write to Done which has some interesting quotes from famous authors known for publishing a lot of books.
