The Art of Blogging

Last Sunday over at Out of My Hat, John wrote a short post about the "Blogging Habit" that got me to thinking about how I've ended up adjusting my routine to accommodate my own blogging habit.

I started this blog back in March of 2006 without much thought about what was involved and where I wanted to go with it. At the time, I looked at the blog as an occasional way to share my endless ruminations with a few local friends, get things off my chest, and generally satisfy my urge to write. Since then, this blog and the blogs I've found that I enjoy reading have expanded to take up a goodly chunk of my early morning.

As you may recall from earlier posts, I'm a morning person. I get up early most days and enjoy having the uninterrupted hour between about 4:30 and 5:30 as my quiet time to get things done: pay bills, read, listen to the radio, pack my lunch, iron my shirt for work, read the newspaper, etc, etc. Lately, at least half of that quiet hour has been eaten up by posting my own blog and reading many others. Not that I'm complaining, of course - the blogs I read, I read because I enjoy them and think the time invested is worth the return in pleasure and knowledge. But it does tend to crunch my mornings a bit, especially since we've been taking care of our granddog while our daughter's new (almost six weeks old now, ack!!) baby is getting settled at home. My quiet hour goes down to about 45 minutes when I factor in the time needed to take Punky for her morning constitutional, and 45 minutes isn't much time to do everything else.

One of the things I used to enjoy about having my own radio show was that it taught me to do a lot of things at the same time, and to develop a feel for how long it takes to do things (you need to play a song at least four minutes long if you need to make an average bathroom visit, for instance). Posting my blog usually takes anywhere from fifteen minutes to half an hour, depending on whether or not I've thought my idea through completely before I start to write. It usually takes longer if I try to add a photo from my vast, unorganized collection of pictures, or if I need to add links out to other sites, so I figure the average post takes about 30 minutes. Add that to the 15 minutes for Punky's walk, and that leaves only about 15 minutes to do everything else.

No wonder I look forward to those naps at the office.

I admit it - I'm addicted to blogging - my own and others. The task now at hand is to try to maximize that early morning hour. I wonder if Hermione from the Harry Potter series would be willing to lend me her Time Turner...

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

P.S. - Here are a few more blogs I'm tagging with the "I'm Fabulous Award."

Serina Hope has a fun blog that documents her adventures with her family and friends. How can you not like someone who calls her son "Super Z" and her daughter "Princess H"?

A Little Night Music is a great blog from The Mistress of the Dark. Whatever other reasons there are to like this blog (and there are lots), I feel a cosmic connection to a fellow Pittsburgher!

And finally, for today, Cognitive Blindspot offers interesting views of the world that are always entertaining.

Visit these blogs today. I think you'll enjoy them as much as I do, and they're all worthy of this award.

B.