Hey, everybody! :)
It's been a while since I did a Book Talk 101 post, but I was inspired recently by one of my biggest dilemmas as a blogger, and I thought the best way to rant about it while not feeling like I'm ranting is to post it as a discussion! ;) So today's topic is...
Do you plan your posts ahead of time?
Mimi's answer: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha you're funny! :')
No, I don't plan my posts ahead of time! I almost always write up my reviews and such the night before I post them. I know it's probably so much better to plan ahead (like maybe create a calendar where I can plan which review will be posted when or etcetera), but I never manage to know WHAT I want to post more than twenty-four hours before it goes live.
PROS of the Mimi Procrastination Method: It makes me feel very spontaneous! And I find that my mind usually works so much better when I don't have time to second guess myself. I just write up my review, proofread it a bit, then usually post it up at midnight before I go to sleep. (In the morning before work/school, I reply to all comments then do the same thing randomly after.)
CONS of the Mimi Procrastination Method: It makes me feel very unorganized! If I'm ever out late the night before, I often don't have enough time to write up a post for the next day and it could go blank. Also, what if I don't have any inspiration to write a post in that short amount of time? It's always be a problem when I can't get my feelings into words! (That happens A LOT when I really love a book/really hate a book/just can't agree with my brain at the moment!)
But the thing is, this night-before-planning-and-spontaneous-ideas-thing really works for me! I'm almost always able to prepare a post daily (except random days in between when I KNOW I'm going to be gone all day, or Saturdays a.k.a. Family Days). And I find I write a whole lot more efficiently when I don't have a chance to second guess myself.
Don't listen to me though! I might be the only person who does things this way — and some people may be shaking their heads at me now, wondering, "How do you MANAGE, Mimi?!" :') And that's okay because everyone blogs differently, and it's only a matter of finding out what works best for YOU. ♥
Soooooo....
How do you plan your posts? Are you as disorganized, spontaneous, and last minute as I am? Or do you write up your posts beforehand and have them ready to go way before? (I ADMIRE YOU PEOPLE.) Maybe you have another method? Which do you think is best and which method do you prefer? :)
-Mimi
Posts
I have a calendar and I schedule posts when thoughts enter my head or I just have something I want to share. eventually, they accumulate and next thing you know, I have a week full of scheduled post.
ReplyDeleteThe only posts I plan ahead of time are Waiting on Wednesdays. When I write a rebiew, I publish it as soon as I finish writing it. Not planning ahead always seems to work for me.
ReplyDeleteI have this phobia of commitment, so, yeah, I don't plan my posts. The only exception are the ARCs I get more than a month before their release date, I write the review and then schedule it for the appropriate date.
ReplyDeleteI'm generally one week ahead with my reviews :)
ReplyDeleteI USED to write them the night before, but it was driving me NUTS. So now I write it, schedule the post, and it means that if something should go wrong, and I can't finish a book, I have a bit of a buffer, you know?
My Blogspiration posts are generally last minute 'EEP! CRAP! I HAVE NOTHING TO POST!' affairs :D
Oh Mimi. I LOVE you!!! You're so adorable. :) Lol. I totally feel you on the procrastination. I'm very hit or miss when it comes to scheduling posts. Sometimes...I'm three or four posts ahead, but other times...well...I look at the blog and go CRAP I HAVEN'T POSTED IN AWHILE and go write a review. Lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm like you. I never schedule my posts earlier. I usually do it one day before. I tried organizing my posts on a calender once, but then it got a little frustrating because it felt like I was reading for a class assignment. However, I usually post blog tour posts a little early in case I forget or something.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post, Mimi ! :)
Great discussion post! I'm definitely a planner-I used to be a month or more ahead but now it's usually about a week and sometimes I frantically write up my review the night before to be posted at 12:01 AM so I do have the procrastination element. I find that it works best for me if I write my review right away after finishing because otherwise all my thoughts flood away. I also love looking at my iCal and moving things around, trying to make everything the best it can be! I used to post as I finished a book but the control freak in me couldn't handle that for long :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post, Mimi-doll! I often worry and stress about this. Some bloggers are, like, so unbelievably organized and have calendars for their posts and stuff, and I just am in total awe of them (I guess that makes two of us!)! LOL. But, this spontaneous thing works really well for me too, so I guess it doesn't really matter that much to me. But if I'm involved in a blog tour, etc., then I usually try to write the date down somewhere. :P Lovely post, Mimi! You always know exactly what to say!! I'm so glad I'm not the only one who worries about planning and all. :') You rock!! Umm...this is totally random, but when's your bday?? XD
ReplyDeleteI wish I was more of a planer... However, since I am not alone reviewing on my blog, we do have a calendar where we schedule things. Right now, we are booked until September -crazy hu? But, this doesn't mean that I write the posts this far ahead.. Although I wished this were the case. I normally write my posts the night before.. I try to write my reviews when I finished the book and then save it somewhere, because I realized my reviews are really bad when I just write them the day before...
ReplyDeleteSo, yes I do plan - but I wish I could plan more. Like having the weeks post done so that I don't have to post something during the week and just go and read Blogs!
I schedule meme's but that's really all I schedule. Apart from when I go away to work during the summer, I'm gone for two weeks at a time... So instead of posting a review when I finish the book/day after, I save two - one for each week I'm gone... I don't like the fact that some weeks my blog is ALL meme's... I try to make sure there's at least one review a week. I'm not always good at that though, but I try! :)
ReplyDeleteI write my reviews the night I write them down... but because of that, I often leave a lot of typos... or sometimes I just don't like what I wrote down. That feeling that goes "OHEMGEE WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING?!"... But then, when I do this, I don't have to worry about posting the next day...
ReplyDeleteSo in short, I just wing it ;D
Whoopeee, another Book Talk 101 - how I adore this feature <3 I am a BIG procrastinator, I always seem to find an excuse to put off writing a review or a post. I can't really plan ahead or create a schedule because it usually depends on how long it takes me to read a book so I work around that instead. I sometimes schedule memes if I know I'm going to have a busy week which means at least my blog has some content for people to read :D The only preparation I do is I write the post - usually late at night - and then schedule it for say, the next morning. Sometimes I'm spontaneous and completely disorganized but I'm not a very good planner so I guess it works for me!
ReplyDeleteFab discussion point, Mimi-kins <3 (Can I call you that? >.<)
I'm very quite organized when it comes to my posts. Every Monday, Thursday, and Sunday I post a review, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have Top Ten Tuesday and Waiting on Wednesday, on Friday I have a fun post/discussion post/interview, and Saturdays are for Stacking the Shelves.
ReplyDeleteI usually plan out a week or two of posts ahead of time, but I don't actually WRITE each post, until about 4/5 days ahead of time. This helps me, because then I don't have to rush to get one done the night before!
I'm so not a planner! Though I do plan to plan if that makes any sense. I always want to put myself on a blogging schedule but like you I end up just winging it at the last minute. It does make me stress a bit when I hear other bloggers talk about planned posts that they have coming up but at the end of the day we have to do what works for us! Your posts are brilliant as they are Mimi. Don't feel like you have to change!
ReplyDeleteI am trying SO hard to be organised... I love the IDEA of being organised, but it's actually doing it that I struggle with. I've created a schedule on my blog, so I know [and anybody who reads the blog will know] when I'm meant to post. I find it keeps me in order, though I've missed a few planned posts... But I actually only write the posts right before I post them, I don't have any saved posts. That's something I want to do, though. Like, draft a few posts so if I'm lost for inspiration, I can just post one of them.
ReplyDeleteLol, YES, I admire the people who can have all their posts ready to go much before hand! But, as you said, sometimes it makes them less-spontaneous.
I'm a big procrastinator, which is something I need to fix... Wonderful feature, Mimi! It's obvious that your method really does work for you, as you always deliver brilliant posts.<£
Oh my. Mimi, thank you so much for posting this! x) Like you, I ADMIRE people who organize their posts! It's just super amazing and maybe unreachable for me LOL! :P I'm such a last minute girl, and sometimes it did put me on trouble. But well... I never learn. :P
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I heard some blogger do organize their posts one week or two weeks ahead. That's AWESOME. But me? I love your good points, Mimi! Let's be spontaneous, okay? ;)
Totally fabulous discussion post, Mimi!! <3 Have I told you how much I love your Book 101? Hilda ADORES IT (and YOU, of course!)! x)
I have to write a book review as soon as I finish a book otherwise I forget everything. LOL I have such a bad memory. So whenever I finish a book, I start on the review which unfortunately can take me hours to write. THEN I can move on to another book.
ReplyDeleteSince I am such a slow reader compared to most, I can only post 2 reviews a week because I can usually only read 2 books a week. I do have a couple planned ahead if I end up with an ARC way ahead of time, but it is rare. Otherwise, the review goes up within the week I read it!
I like how you do it. Sometimes an almost 'under pressure' feeling can get things written up better. And it seems to work well for you because I love your reviews! :)
I used to do it the night before like you, or the hour before, whatever... But now that I am so busy with the kids, I schedule posts out. Right now I have weekdays scheduled until 1st week of august.
ReplyDeleteI do it that way or I'd have a bunch all together and then nothing for a while.
Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog
I am just the same! :D I just write my review and I post it. Luckily, I have some reviews waiting, because I read and wrote like a maniak :p
ReplyDeleteI have a calendar I use to schedule out my posts/reviews. It keeps my blog with consistent content, evenly distributed. Otherwise, I'd post a bunch of stuff over the course of 3 days, then nothing for 4, lol. It gives me time to write out exactly what I'm thinking. There are some days I'm just not quite in the mood to write a review. So, it keeps me from freaking out because I have a deadline. :P
ReplyDeleteI'm almost like you, except that I have three or four reviews written and unpublished at any given time. I finish a book and write something down while it's still fresh, and then I just go ahead and publish when I feel like it. But there isn't a plan or, heaven forbid, a schedule. That would make me feel too much like a little soldier and this blogging thing might start to seem too demanding. I just go with it and so far, it's worked great for me. Great post, Mimi, I'm always curious to find out how other bloggers manage.
ReplyDeleteI don't plan my posts either but you just seem so much more organized than me, Mimi! I have no idea how you manage to make the time to write reviews almost everyday. How long does it usually take you to write one?
ReplyDeleteWe are exact opposites Mimi! I'm plan so ridiculously far in advance it's absurd. I'm posted up through the first of September. What? Who does that? This girl. Mostly I started doing it this way because my job is highly seasonal, so I'm swamped from about April to October and then I taper off, so in my slower months I read and review like a crazy person so when I get busy and don't have time to read as much, I still have reviews to put up:) Also, I'm a nerd. Just saying:)
ReplyDeleteHuge kudos to you for flying by the seat of your pants, just thinking about doing that is giving me a nervous tick!
Oh, I LOVE this post! Like you, I don't plan ahead and basically write my review and hit publish. With school coming back up though, I think I will need to start scheduling posts otherwise my blog will look very barren. I really admire people who are organised, I know of some bloggers scheduled throughout September. Amazing!
ReplyDeleteIn a way. I kinda plan and in a way I don't. Like, there are certain memes that take place on a certain day and for those I do plan ahead a bit. But for the rest of the posts I do and for reviews. I do not plan those ahead too much. I don't want to stress myself out and kinda lose my enthusiasm to blog, so I kinda try to be relaxed about posts, as much as I can, haha!
ReplyDeleteAwesome discussion, Mimi :)
Oh gosh, I always have to have two scheduled posts ahead, because otherwise I completely FLOP. Totally agree with you– I always procrastinate till the point where I actually have to TYPE a post up, but now I've hopefully managed to keep my system going by posting ahead of time :) and yeah, I have to write (...or rather type :P) on my calender WHEN the book releases, day for blog tours and stuff like that. I think without a system I would break down. Anyway, love the post Mimi! :D
ReplyDeleteI used to be spontaneous. Now I schedule at least a week in advance, sometimes longer. Its easier that way - especially if I'm really busy! But there are times when I realize I have nothing to go up that day and I jump on the computer. I guess I'm both? Haha.
ReplyDeleteI schedule posts, but I don't have a calendar that I stick to. I just try to have a week's worth of posts ready-to-go, so if something comes up and I can't be near my computer, I don't need to panic!
ReplyDeleteI still end up flying by the seat of my pants some weeks, but I've found scheduling ahead of time gives me more time to work on those posts I'm not 100% confident in yet (usually my discussion pieces).
Plan my posts? Ha! I never have anything scheduled before time unless it is a blog tour post or something I have promised someone else. The reviews and everything in between just sort of happen as I go along. :P I do always think about what days to post what etc. so they're are reasonably spread out over the week, but I don't prepare a whole months worth of posts and then schedule them (which is what I know a few people do!) Sometimes, I review faster than I update the blog so there are always a small handful of reviews waiting to be posted and that always means I have something to put up. This is as far as my organisation goes though. :P
ReplyDeleteWhen I started blogging, I didn't even know you COULD schedule posts. Once I realized that, I slowly started to schedule a few ahead of time, but I was still like you, just writing them up the day before. Scheduling posts has saved me SO MANY times, especially the more ARCs I receive, tours I'm on, and such. By the end of this next week, I hope to be scheduled through most of August, and that is a HUGE relief - that way, I know when a post is going live, I'm posting at least 4-5 days a week, AND I have more time to visit blogs. :)
ReplyDeleteBut if it works for you, I say dooooo it, Mimi! You're too sweet and cute. :)
Molli | Once Upon a Prologue
:) I'm a procrastinator too when it comes to finishing posts. I usually write brainstorms after i finish a book then never get to writing the review in complete sentences till the night before I schedule publish a review. I missed these book talk posts, i love them. especially this one!
ReplyDeleteI don't use a calendar for my personal book blog but I do prep my posts. Like now I have about two weeks worth ready. The first week is ready to auto post but the second weeks worth aren't actually scheduled because some are back up posts and some need to be edited, etc. I also prep posts for things I'm signed up for like tours and stuff. They are often just titled and then I post the date so I know when it needs to go up and I finish prepping it when I have the content.
ReplyDeleteI usually have more posts sitting there actually so that's not that many. I would TOTALLY stress waiting like you do though. But you're right, we're all different. And its not like its the end of the world if you don't post one day.
Depending on my mood, sometimes I publish my reviews ASAP after I finish typing them but when I don't feel like publishing them ASAP, I don't.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm one of the most disorganized person on the blogosphere. If you ever see all my posts including the drafts and the scheduled ones, you'd totally shake your head in dismay. I have some reviews that are scheduled on December 2012 - some are finished and some are not. I tend to schedule my unfinished reviews waaay ahead of time to remind myself that I have posts to finish since they'd be first on my post list. My draft is also full of unfinished posts from months ago that I no longer plan on posting just because. Most of them are reviews of books I disliked. ;p
Mimi! I LOVE your Book Talk 101 posts :D they are so much fun! I'm just like you!! Extremely disorg- I mean spontaneous =p I never seem to be able to schedule posts ahead of time. I write my review as soon as I'm done reading the book or 2-3 days after and post it ASAP... Not even the day after. If I'm dissatisfied with it, I'll sleep on it, edit it in the morning and post it. I totally admire people who manage to schedule their posts though being spontaneous is fun too.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm not in the mood, I usually just put it off for the next day... unless it's a blog tour post in which case I give myself an hour's break. I cannot write when I don't have the mood. I guess I wouldn't be so irregular and erratic with my posting schedule if I pre-wrote posts and had them sit in my Drafts. Oh well :')
Oh Mimi! I'm so like you! I post my reviews the night after I finished writing it. And it's usually during the midnight too. Then check out the comments the next day and comment back to them. I tend to be lazy sometimes especially when writing reviews. I just want to read and read and read. LOL! I usually panic when it's already 3 days and still haven't come up with anything. I'm not a natural writer so I really need to be in the right mood to be able to write a decent one. Haha! And the right mood only comes when I'm already panicking. LOL! This is a great and fun post, Mimi! It's great to know how other bloggers work. :D
ReplyDeleteLOL, okay, I have to admit that... I'm exactly like you. ;) It doesn't matter if it's school, the blog or anything else: I'm ALWAYS last minute! And it works for me too, because I always seem to work best under pressure and I get things done! I do feel real unorganized though and I SHOULD plan ahead and schedule, but... I can never keep it up. I do have a calendar for WHEN posts should go up, which makes me feel a little better, but even then I do the same things. Sadly, it can be ruined quite badly by evil internet crashes and similar things though I learned pretty badly lately :/
ReplyDeleteI have started preparing posts though! Such as adding the cover and information I need for reviews beforehand, so I can just focus on writing the review the day before. It's definitely nicer! I'm not working on scheduling posts more. ;)
Oh my gosh, Mimi! I'm exactly the same haha! Except that while you're disorganized yet still able to get a post up each day, I tend to get lazy and procrastinate heaps until I forget to post something :P So my aim? To become more like you! x) Though since school is starting like, tomorrow, I doubt I'll be successful. I've actually tried scheduling posts way ahead, but then, because I'm so lazy and all, I'd find myself catching up to the most recent post almost immediately without anything else to post after that! I even made a calendar three weeks ago telling me what to write each day and everything... yeah, it didn't really work LOL :S
ReplyDeleteAnyway, awesome discussion post, Mimi! <3 I love hearing how everyone else does this because it kind of helps motivate me to be more organized as well :3
LOL Procrastinators unite! I pretty much the same way in writing book reviews and any sort of school paper! (Very bad, I know! But I can't help it!!) I usually just sit down with my laptop and type a review a day or 2 after I finish the book, maybe proof read a bit, and then post it the next day or something.
ReplyDeleteI probably SHOULD plan though... especially when it comes to school papers! :/
Jasprit and I usually have a schedule going but that's a necessity with co-blogging. I usually know what I'm supposed to have posted days or even a few weeks in advance. That doesn't mean my reading or review is completed. Especially this last week when all I've been doing is catching up! I went on a vacation and figured I'd have loads of time to read (hahahaha!!!!the joke was totally on me!) and I didn't get to read except for on the plane. Needless to say I've had to spend late nights reading after work and then writing up the reviews! Most of the time this is not the case and I have things under control.
ReplyDeleteBtw, I love these Book Talk 101 posts! So much fun as we all can relate! :)
Awww Mimi, I LOVE THIS POST SO MUCH! I think I'm quite organized with writing my reviews since as soon as I finish a book, I try to review it directly so I won't forget what I thought about the book but when I participate in memes, I usually write them on the day when I post it on the blog :P
ReplyDeleteAnyway, awesome post, Mimi! ♥ Love the Book Talk 101 posts!
AHAHA. As much as I'd absolutely love to be one of those bloggers who has post lined up months in advance, I prefer to write my reviews/discussion posts/etc right before I post them. The only posts I do schedule are for blog tours when I have to have that particular post on that particular day.
ReplyDeleteThere are always exceptions though. Earlier this week I made a post that I had been planning for a while (though I didn't actually type anything until that morning).
I do half and half. Somehow I manage to plan, and yet remain spontaneous.
ReplyDeleteWhen I have a really big review-pile, I type it up all in one day, and then pick the days that I want to post each one up. (That's what I've been doing recently.) But, if I don't have a big pile, I just type it up and post it. (I'll probably return to the second method once school starts.)
As for non-review posts, I have some stuff that I already promised to post on a certain day/month, so I write that on my agenda. For the Quote of the Week, I used to make it ahead of time, but now I just make it at the last minute, along with IMM. Then, every once in a while, I post something at spontaneous because it just happens to come up :)
Great post, Mimi! I've already commented that I use the same method as you - not scheduling posts ahead of time. I just wanted to tell you that I nominated you for the Sisterhood award. The details are on my blog.
ReplyDeleteLOOOOOOL, this is a fabulous choice of topic, Mimi! And I loved how you had both sides of viewing the habit of posting. I don't think there's a right or wrong, and I think you're going along absolutely fine with the MPM ^_^ I guess I'm like you in spontaneous posting, but not really in the writing part. Unlike most people, I don't type up my reviews (well, maybe I do to, like 1% of them.) but I write them down in my Book Reviews Notebook beforehand. Then, when I get the "Let's make a review post!"-feeling, I just type it XD
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm totally with you on that terrible feeling of not being able to express what you want in words sometimes D:< It's awful!!!
Vivian @ Vivaciously, Vivian
My planning is pretty non-existent as well, unless it's part of a blog tour and I HAVE to post on a certain day. I like to be a bit more open about things because sometimes I come up with post ideas last minute and I just go ahead and post it most of the time. However, if I'm really busy a certain week, then the blog can be kind of blank and planning ahead might have been better. LOL
ReplyDelete-Lauren
I actually do a bit of a mix. A lot of times some review memes, etc. are spontaneous posts that don't really require planning. But if I want to go ahead and get them out the way I will look at the topics and write them up.
ReplyDeleteMany of my reviews I write the night they will post but sometimes I do get ahead. Meaning I've read several books that all need reviews. Lately I've found it easier to hand write my reviews and them type them. So if I have some in que, then I go ahead and write them all up and schedule them to post.
Great discussion post Mimi!
If not, then it's a spontaneous thing.
Lol!! I'm such a procastinoator in general, but I'm actually pretty organized about my blog. Go figure. ;) Anyways, what I do is I use Google Calendar. I plan out what posts are going up when, and I also use it to keep track of what books are coming out when [although I use Goodreads for that too]. That helps me when I have ARCs and need to see when to post my review. And then I try to schedule posts a week in advance. I know people who schedule months and months ahead, but usually I can't even get stuff scheduled a week in advance, ha. ;)
ReplyDeleteFabulous discussion! I'll definitely be reading through the comments to see what everyone else has to say. =)
-Aneeqah @ My Not So Real Life
I. FEEL. YOU. on the writing the night before bit... that is EXACTLY what I do. I sort of have a review schedule where I post reviews on Tuesday and Friday every week, but nearly every single time those reviews are written the night before and then scheduled to go up in the morning. That works for me at times, but when I'm busy and just don't have the time to write a review or post, then I have nothing to fall back on because I have zero posts planned.
ReplyDeleteI like to have things up regularly each week, but in order to do that I think I'm going to need to start planning! Actually, better yet, I might just employ a blogger maid to write all my posts for me. HIIIIIIII MIMI, NEED A JOB?! :D
I'm mostly like you lol I don't plan too much. I only plan memes and blogs tours ahead of time. I sometimes plan reviews ahead of time but mostly I just go along reading and then when I have time to write up my thoughts I do it and post it that night or sometimes later that week. It works for me. I have seen some people with really fancy schedules but that just takes the fun out of it for me. I like to go with the flow. Sometimes I do end up going out late or hanging with friends and I used to freak that I had days where I didn't post but I just let it happen now. Everyday is a lot to keep up with and I know I don't always have time to visit blogs every day so I'm good with people that only post a few times a week so sometimes I do the same.
ReplyDeleteWell, since there are three reviewers on my blog we definitely schedule. We didn't before when it was just Meghan and I and we would double, triple and sometimes even quadruple post in a day, then have nothing for a week..lol
ReplyDeleteSo far, scheduling seems to really be helping. I actually use it to set goals for myself and work to get books read by a certain time. It's really been helping lately because I've been so busy so it's nice that I have postsready and don't have to stress so much about them.
It also allows for me to see where we are lacking for certain types of posts. So it's good in that aspect as well. We generally have two weeks in advanced scheduled and since we are all busy moms, it definitely works for us..lol
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ReplyDeletegood luck
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