I’ve been writing Tea Party With Alice for almost five years – something that surprises me every time I think about it as I don’t think I’ve ever consistently stuck to doing something for so long (other than breathing). Over the last year or so however, my blog has definitely taken more of a back seat than it used to. Such a cliché, but life really does have a habit of getting in the way, and this is particularly true when you move your life across the world. I admire the dedication my old self had in blogging every two days, never daring to miss a post.
Whilst my approach nowadays is definitely more relaxed, blogging has always been something I’ve loved doing. I find writing therapeutic, love being creative with photography and feel pride when I publish a new post. Over the last few months, I’ve finally managed to find some consistency in my posting schedule – I wouldn’t say I’m regular, but I’ve made a lot more effort in trying to plan, write and publish posts more often. Plus if you hadn’t already noticed, things are look pretty fancy around these parts now as I have a new blog design and have finally made the move to WordPress. Blogger has been so good to me, but I couldn’t deny the advantages and opportunities using WordPress gives you, so decided to make that transition – and I love it! With my new design, I also have some exciting plans for content so I really hope to take my little space to the next level in 2018, and get back to what I love doing so much.
Whilst the ideas seemed to flow from my brain more easily when I first started, I now find that I need to take the time to think of ideas and plan content in advance to have any chance of them coming to fruition. I have a day job in Digital Media so time is often against me.
Online
Whilst I still use a mix of online and offline to plan my content, one of my favourite online tools is Trello. Trello is a free web-based project management application which I first discovered in one of my old jobs, and it’s something I now find invaluable when it comes to planning and executing content. It allows me to create different cards i.e. ‘Ideas’, ‘December Schedule’, add labels, due dates and colour code according to whatever system works best for me.
Offline
I try and use online apps more often as they are accessible no matter where I am, but I still use a weekly desk planner and diary at home to jot down notes, to-do lists and updates of where I’m at with a post. It’s not rocket science, but breaking down a post into words, photos, social media (etc) and creating check lists is a really handy way to track your progress with a post and make sure you’re exposing your published content as much as possible – something I’ve been slack with over the years.
Twitter
Leading on from my last point, I’m trying to get back in with Twitter. It’s something I used to use religiously, but now I find that I’m just sharing my latest blog posts, occasionally sharing a random tweet (/complaint!) and that’s about it. I can imagine someone engaging with my page would find me very boring, so my plan for 2018 is definitely to get back into it – have more conversations and get involved more – I used to love it! Drop me a tweet @tpartywithalice and say hey.
Ultimately, blogging is still a part-time thing for me, so whilst I hope I continue to get my mojo back, I’ll never hold myself to a strict schedule – if I need a break, I’ll damn well take one. I know a lot of bloggers nowadays are already hyper organised, but any long-timers like me that just need a bit of a kick to re-energise their motivation, I’d highly recommend taking the time to do some planning and get yourself organised – it makes the world of difference.
What are your tips to stay organised?
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