Happy New Year!
Now that this blog has been around for more than six years and over 1,000 posts, it might be time to start taking it seriously.
For the last couple of years, I’ve tried and failed to update the blog on a regular basis. I would tell myself, “You just have to write every day. It’s not that hard.”
But, let me tell you, friends. It is that hard. It’s, like, really hard.
So for a few days, maybe even a few weeks, I’d pull it off. Then, reality would hit and I’d die a horrible, tragic blog death. I’d ghost away from the internet and leave everyone asking, “Didn’t there used to be a dude?”
Yeah, there was a dude. I was that dude. I’ll be that dude again.
I don’t know if I’m just getting older and more mature (not likely) or if I’m just learning a bit more about project management (It’s this one. Definitely. I’m not mature. Trust me. I’m wearing Harry Potter socks right now.), but I’m starting to understand the importance of planning.
I’m a “work in intense, unhealthy bursts” kind of guy. I like to spend a good 10-15 hours working my butt off in one sitting.
It’s the way I roll.
It might not be the healthiest way to work, but it is my way. Unfortunately, it also means not being particularly consistent in my content creation. Which sucks. It sucks for me. It sucks for my readers.
It sucks for everyone, everywhere.
And I apologize for that. However, I think I’ve learned how to work around that. I just need to schedule things waaaaaaaay in advance.
Writing a single blog post can take me anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours. It just depends on what I’m writing and what I’m feeling. That makes it hard to sit down every night and work on a blog post and then sit down after that and work on a story.
Instead, I have to batch things together. I know what type of blog post I can write in 20 minutes. I know that if I have an hour. I can do 2 of them. (There has to be a palate cleansing time between them or things get wonky.)
I also know how long it takes me to draw a doodle, and that means I can make ART HAPPEN!
I figured out I can put together a few easy days each week and batch a bunch of those together on a Sunday afternoon. (I already have, for the record.)
I can get a month or so worth of easy blog posts out of the way in one weekend. Then, I can spend a week writing the longer, more thoughtful posts to fill in the rest of the schedule. As long as I start writing a couple of months out, like, for example, writing a New Year’s Day post in early November, I should be able to keep up the pace.
We’ll see at least. That’s the theory.
So, for now, I’ve put together a bit of a schedule for the type of content you can expect to see from me on a weekly basis. Yes. I have an editorial calendar now.
Music Monday: At least for a little while, I’m going to write about music on Mondays. Nope, not my own music. I have not talent or drive for that. I’m going to write about other people’s music. Music I like. Music I don’t like. And, if I’m lucky *tightens bow tie and adjusts suspenders*, music you’ve never heard of.
Topical Tuesdays: I’m pretty much done hiding from the fact that I have opinions. So, from now on, I’m going to shove them down the internet’s throat on Tuesdays. Warning: These posts will run a huge gamut, but they will often include controversial topics like “politics” and “collectibles.”
What Matt’s Working On Wednesday: Wednesdays are the day I’m going to dive into things related to my art, like my previous Urban Fantasy Examined series or perhaps a doodle or two. If you’ve come to this blog because you read one of my books, this is probably the day you care most about. Also, thank you for reading my books.
Thursday Top 9: A couple of years ago, I put together some “Top 9” posts. I had fun. People seemed to like them. I’m going to do them again.
Fat Guy Friday: Fridays are headed back to my blogging roots. I’m going to talk about food, depression, emotional baggage, fashion and how they all connect. Basically, things important to a fat guy. You’re going to like it. Plus, I might give you pictures of things you’ll want to cook. They are tasty.
Weekend Bonuses: Weekends are reserved for when I have something important to share or if I want to put out a story or something along those lines. Don’t expect a post every weekend, but when I do them, they’ll be special.
The schedule starts on Monday, January 3 and this first week is going to be dedicated to why I’ve picked the topics I did and what they mean to me.
I’m pre-writing content out a ways, but the goal is to follow this schedule at least through the first quarter of 2017. After that, it might be time to take a look at what is and isn’t working and maybe throw some new flavors on the grill.