Nov 06 2006
Finding the time to blog
Everybody’s talking about PhilTube. If you haven’t watched Did You Say ‘Blogging’?, do. While you’re there, check out some of the other lonelygirl15 and YouTube send-ups.
Everyone to whom I’ve shown Did You Say ‘Blogging’? found it hilarious. More than one suggested that I might have rather more in common with Phil than I’d like to admit.
Amusing point, but it raises a serious question.
Writing a blog takes time. Our friend Phil knows this only too well - he’s been “blogging the !@$&*! out of my morning”, after all. But here in agency world time is a finite and costly resource. I doubt my clients would be at all impressed if I started charging them for my blogging time. So when, and how, do we find the space in our schedules to blog?
David blogs at all sorts of strange times of day, often in slightly off-the-wall circumstances. For Tim, it’s airport lounges (I know, I’ve seen him do it). Richard Edelman, if we believe the hype, blogs at 6am.
Right now it’s lunchtime, and I’m writing this as I eat - although I could equally have written it last night whilst watching Torchwood. Sometimes I sketch out an article in my head on the way to work.
More important than when you actually write, I think, is keeping hold of ideas as they occur. I have scraps of paper with blog ideas on them, preserved in scrawl before they’re forgotten. So that when I do find the time, I have something to start from.
What about you? When do you blog?
In ‘downtime’ - I type notes when I’m on the train, waiting somewhere, or ‘relaxing’ watching a TV programme my wife likes but I don’t. I do some as legitimate work, but only manage my frequent output by using the downtime.
To be honest with you I am either quite flippant, just sitting and writing in the evening, barely spell-checking. Other times (and this is less frequently) I will write something and then leave it for a quick scan before work and then post it.
I am still trying to make this work, and haven’t really found the work/blog balance yet, although I intend to very soon.
I tend to blog late at night for some reason - This is when my brain seems to be working overtime!
I too keep a scrap of paper with ideas on, I think that’s a good tip as it usually means you can always find something to write about!
I’ve started waking in the middle of the night, worried sick that I might forget the idea by the morning.
Can blogs become an obsession?
Well this has been easily my most popular post of the last couple of weeks - glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the contributions.
It’s a cheat perhaps, but I write a few at a time, when I’m feeling fired up and keep them as drafts to be released over the next couple of days. That also allows you to have second thoughts if you’re a little *too* fired-up.