No Post on Sundays

As of tomorrow, I will have posted on this blog every week for a whole year. Whoa! Part of me can’t believe that I’ve posted 52 times since last September. And it didn’t happen on purpose either. On the last day of September 2012, I posted about adult fiction authors who have recently ventured into YA. I posted the next Sunday, and the next. By NaNoWriMo time (November to all ye non-writers), I didn’t want to break the streak. Even though it was a tough month to keep it up, I’m glad I did, because now I’m celebrating this awesome anniversary!

 

Here’s how I did it:

Document Every Idea

I have a whole folder on my desktop dedicated to blog ideas. It’s full of half posts, post beginnings, headlines and general ideas, in dozens of different Word documents. Not all of these ideas are good. Actually, I would say that most of them are not good, but with some thought, work and writing, they could make worthy posts. Basically, I never want to be caught at the end of the week with an idea (or five), so I make sure I document every potential post idea.

Plan Ahead

I don’t sit down Sunday morning with a latte and start writing my post. Most Sundays I have something to do other than write, whether it’s working at the bookstore or spending time with my boyfriend. So I plan ahead to make sure I’m prepared to post on Sundays, by brainstorming and writing the post earlier in the week.  Plus, I like to have time to mull it over and edit as necessary, before letting it loose on the internet realm.

Also, I have an agenda dedicated to writing plans, where I mark if I’m planning a seasonal or annual post for a certain week, like last week’s Most Anticipated Teen Books: Fall 2013. And, if that isn’t enough, I have a reminders app that rings an alarm every Sunday at 10AM, just in case I forgot to post my blog.

No Excuses

There are very few exceptions to my “Post On Sundays” rule. It’s very possible that something unexpected might delay the post in the future. But so far work, boyfriend time, family time and even being away from home has not stopped me from posting on Sundays.

Why It’s Important

Because I’m developing my writing habit. Even if I don’t write anything else that week, I know that I’ve written at least 300 words on my blog and posted it to the world (or a couple dozen likable folks). In the past 52 posts, I’ve recognized growth in my writing, as well as my research techniques and selecting topics that are (hopefully) both relevant and interesting. Over the next year, I hope to keep up this weekly habit and continue to evolve as a blogger and writer.

As always, thanks for reading!