Today is
question day:
If you are a blogger, do you
type up posts that you hold in drafts?
When I
started blogging nearly 10 years ago, I would type up a new post each day. On
occasion I would save one in drafts, but most were written daily. Over the
years I have found that keeping ideas or even rough drafts in a Word document
helped greatly for the days I had limited time or writer’s block.
Now my
posts are pretty much 50/50 with half being pre-written and half being written
on the day of being posted. I have found that having posts that I do regularly
like Question Day, Art Gallery and Vintage Cards of the Month pre-written and
saved in drafts is a major time saver.
I've got lots of drafts. Some from years back that I'll never finish. Sometimes if I get a post idea, I'll make a new post and just put the title and maybe one sentence of the body and plan to work more on it later on. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to post this question I saw that I wrote this post in January 2019.
DeleteAll the time! I try to keep to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday posting schedule, and I'll use drafts to mark when I want to have something ready, even if its just a temporary placeholder. I find this allows me to have posts written and scheduled in advance, or on standby if I need a filler.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any drafts. I just write each post as a new post but being the meticulous guy I am, it takes a while just to write one post. I just recently got in the habit of scanning cards from trade packages (and labeling the folder with the sender's name) soon after receiving them so that I don't forget who sent them. I know Fuji has mentioned using drafts so now with you sharing how they help you, I'll be more drafts to save time. Perhaps it will help me to post more frequently.
ReplyDeleteI rarely keep drafts for more than a day or two. If it's a series I might write ahead a little bit. Otherwise I'll either complete the post in two days or decide that it's not worth completing and scrap it.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm unusually prolific with ideas, I might get two or three drafts ahead of the current post. That hasn't happened in a while. I try to keep a MWF schedule too, but have been missing a day here and there all year. I keep thinking I've had ideas for posts and series, but when I go back and look at old posts, all that's there are trade maildays and complaining about new releases and flippers.
ReplyDeleteI write "the day of" 98 percent of the time. I'm just used to writing on deadline and I feel things are fresher and more current -- even if the topic isn't current -- if I wrote it the same day it was published.
ReplyDeleteMy blogging comes in spurts anymore. I'll sometimes just sit down and write one, but usually I write three or four at once and have them publish throughout the upcoming week. I never have unfinished drafts in my queue... that just seems weird!
ReplyDeleteMost of my posts start as drafts... but maybe one out of four (like today's post) is written entirely on the day it's published. As for the ones sitting in my drafts... they can range from sitting there for years... up to ones I started the night before.
ReplyDeleteMost of mine are written long before they get posted. The most I've had in draft form at one time was about 40 posts. Remember the 30 Day Challenge? I wrote 29 of them in one day...and literally fell asleep at my computer working on the 30th. I tend to get hit with inspiration and write bunches at a time. The Uniform History series takes roughly 7 hours per post on average, which is why they are so rare... usually can't finish in one day. I'm going to publish one today I wrote on Sunday, a fairly quick turnaround. The key is the publish time. If it's published on the hour or minute it's been scheduled. if it's some random minute that means I published it live.
ReplyDeleteI think I've only had 2 drafts, and none ever made it to post. I admit its why my posting has been sporadic the last 2-3 years, but I also told myself long ago that if I was to prewrite everything then it was time to stop. Even doing 1-2 a month or less I feel they are more organic and current. I may leave the page open and take a break for a few hours in between but I still do it within one time frame.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading many blogs though when I'm in the mood and have no issues with people who doe prewrite. If I was busier I would probably be more open to doing it myself. I will admit though I have started writing a few posts in Word or Notepad first, but usually because it was a long form or I didn't find my scans and photos. I've only done that 2-3 times though and I think only one made it into a blog, my long form on the Joplin tornado.