I prefer to use a variety of posts, Feature, Utility and Pre-sell to keep my blog going with content, but without driving myself crazy. After all, I wanted to work on the Internet to get away from the daily grind… not create another nightmare.

Slow and steady is definitely the way to go.

Edward Lomax’s last blog post..Blog Mastermind Is Live… Become A High Paid Blogger

It may seem like I am on the opposite side of Nicolette in thinking easy posts are OK. But by easy I mean simply easy for me to produce, according to how I define easy. It still needs to be useful content for the audience!

I applaud you and feel vindicated for my own similar conclusions. What’s the point of going into business for yourself otherwise?

I am naturally a night person, especially when trying to fit stuff in around an FT job, but I really think that setting the priority of getting enough sleep, period, is making a difference in my health and productivity.

For me, the biggest challenge is finding the discipline to forgo that before-bed trip online, because it’s easy to get that second wind and keep at it till 2:00 AM. My “rule” is, everyone has my cellphone if they need it, and I try to limit my nighttime check-in to checking my calendar to see if it impacts my departure time in the morning.

As you may recall because we have interacted in the business realm, I work FT, in-house. A few years ago I did a nearly three-year stint as a freelancer and contractor, alternating between independent jobs and agency work (for the health insurance, of course). Once it became clear to the me that phone WOULD ring often enough not to lose the house, I found I could truly benefit from the periodic down time when I was not on an agency job. I did not spend 20 hours lining up the next job. I made a good breakfast and lunch. I took a daily walk with my husband (who as a teacher works a shifted schedule). I was able to drop him off while shopping at non-rush hours, avoiding crowds and giving him the gift of some time shaved off his commute. I gardened, painted and cleaned, a little bit every day. I learned opera singing. I put in 3-6 hours of intensive effort at my computer. I did not work at night, and it was easy not to.

When I came in-house, the dynamic changed in predictable ways and it took a long time, and some health issues, to reprioritize. I simply decided that insufficient sleep was likely to derail all other lifestyle efforts.

“Unfortunately” I do like to blog, and I like to blog well. I have experimented with several subjects for myself and gotten my husband blogging on the subject he teaches (classical music) — only to get sucked into that blog myself, too.

My solutions to the blogging-time-suck problem are:

1. Every post need not be worthy of our graduate credentials, etc. Easy posts are OK — things that don’t take research or writing but readers might enjoy anyway. For example, letting readers know they can vote on Chicago Opera Theater’s next production. This leaves more bandwidth for an in-depth discussion next time.

2. For my personal blogs I’m moving away from hot, timely topics to stuff that can wait. I have enjoyed political blogging, but have sworn off it because of the pressure to stay on top of the news. Classical music, on the other hand, doesn’t “change” very often by comparison. Occasionally, something huge happens, like the Soviet Union collapses, new records are made available, and everyone must rethink Shostakovich. But you aren’t going to miss something by going off line for a few days.

Paul

@Nicolette – glad to help out!

To me, blogging is a creative expression that combines my love of marketing and making a difference.

Whenever I feel the pressure to post, I take a step back and ask, Why blog, why now? If my writing isn’t entertaining, informative, inspiring or (when the stars are aligned)all three, then I postpone my post.

Seriously though, you really are great at managing your time with the blog. Something I need to take a queue from.

I have noticed that when I go more with the tortoise approach, I have more inspiration and better quality posts.

Karen