Building upon the Clouds

 

With NaNoWriMo over and December flying past quicker than I’d like, I’ve made a decision to get more organised. When NaNo was happening all around me, and with me not finding enough time to write for it, I found myself feeling guilty if my pen hit the paper for anything other than my Work in Progress; Remembrance in Blood. This, prefixed with me taking some time off from my blog in October to sort my house move, meant we’ve stumbled on the path a little. Not to worry though! I’m taking a more active approach to further build on the foundation that is Clockwork Clouds.

You see, I really want to make my blog ‘work’. It’s important that I don’t mean in a cash-creating, fan-favouriting, kind of way. Just in a, “well that looks professional and well maintained” kind of way. One reoccurring theme of my 2016 has been about taking my future, and with it my writing, seriously and a step in that direction is making my blog a serious factor too. So, for starters, I’m going to try and increase my pictures on here; it seems my posts would do well to feature a bit of eye candy as, most times, they’re painfully monochrome. Secondly, I’m going to start keeping to a schedule like I used to.

Admittedly, December is probably the worst month to do this update; my social plans have practically tripled just because we’re in the run up to Christmas, whilst January looks decidedly empty. Still, they say if you need something doing ask someone who’s busy, and if I can prove to myself I can get organised in December then I have no excuse for carrying it over into the new year.

I’ve decided the best way for me to be organised it so to have goals and targets, deadlines and accountability. If I could employ someone to just push me for deadlines I’d get so much more done; sadly I rely on myself and, as a boss, I’m fairly lenient. This is where you come in – The Readers. By telling you my *NEW* Blog Schedule I’m making myself accountable.

Here’s how Clockwork Clouds is going to work!

Monday – Monday Blog (#MondayBlog)

Every Monday I’m going to have a Monday Blog; the nature of which is just a standard blog post. It’s whatever’s on my mind when I’m writing, it’s something that’s appropriate to me, to my blog, and hopefully something you find interesting. Often it will be about writing, or about something else that is important to my life. Monday Blogs are the posts I advertise the most. Armed with pre-made hashtags, I share them on twitter and I get the most retweets for them (thanks to the wonderful twitter-people who follow the #MondayBlogs – without them I’d be nowhere). I also have the most time to work on them, I have ALL Saturday and ALL Sunday… plenty of time to come up with something good, right? So Monday is for more serious posts, like todays where you’re getting an update on the state of Clockwork Clouds!

Tuesday – Free

Tuesday is a free slot I’m giving myself, partly because I need a day to take part in writing prompts around the blogsphere, partly because I don’t have some alliteration or hashtag to use on a Tuesday. You can expect to either see some short stories, some flash fiction, or nothing at all. Wont that be a nice surprise? You’ll have to tune in and find out!

Wednesday – Work in Progress Wednesdays (#WiPW)

You may already be aware but I try to promote Work in Progress Wednesdays (#WiPW); it’s a slot on my blog each Wednesday where I aim to update you on the progress of some Work in Progress in my life, and where I invite you to take part (either by tagging a post with WiPW or by actually having a guest post here on Clockwork Clouds!). The way I see it, there are plenty of blogs you can visit to see reviews or interviews surrounding finished products. That’s not what I’m here for. I’m helping you to tell the world about something you’re currently doing. It’s about sharing inspiration, powering through a writer’s block, or even just venting off frustration. It’s a means of support, basically, for anyone and everyone that wants it. Every other Wednesday I also take part in Wordless Wednesdays over at Level Up Photography; so that’s always worth checking out!

Thursday – Thursday Thoughts (#ThursdayThoughts)

Introspection. Thursday will be a day that I share something I’ve been pondering; be it about life, about writing, or about both! I first started blogging to get these thoughts out on paper, I never intended them to be read but was open to sharing them. Since then, I’ve taken my blog more seriously, but this practice remains the same. Writing my inner thoughts helps me, it’s a conversation I have with myself and it’s often how I gain clarity or voice my concerns. Thursday posts, a bit like Tuesdays, aren’t a guarantee (I simply might not have any pressing issues on my mind!) but if I do, I’ll schedule them for here. Hopefully my ramblings can help someone else make sense of their minds!

Friday – Friday Feelings (#FridayFeelings)

Not too dissimilar from Thursday, I want to discuss Feelings on Friday; namely the positive ones. To finish off the week it seems important to reflect back… so, I’d like to take Fridays to share with your something good that’s happened during my week. In everything I’ve read around positivity and happiness, gratitude plays a huge and important role. When I wrote my 5 Things to Be Thankful For, it really did fill me with positivity for the rest of the day. I originally thought to do this on a Thursday as Thursday Thanks (and I still might!) but I think Friday is a nice day to round of the week by sharing something that’s given me a warm fuzzy feeling. With the run up to Christmas, I should hopefully have tons of content vying for this slot.

Sat & Sun – None Blogging Days

Saturday and Sunday are going to partly be from taking a break from posting, though I’ll hopefully still be around the blogosphere reading and commenting! What else will I do in this time? Well, I’ll relax, see friends/family, and hopefully create some new content to talk about in the week to come!

So there we have it, a schedule of sorts and something to hold myself to! Mondays and Fridays posts are practically gaurenteed. I always want a Monday Blog up, and I always want to reflect back and be grateful for the week I’ve had. WIPW is also pretty much a given, it’s a practice I’m promoting and that’s keeping me on the path to my book. The other two I’ll be a little more lenient with; Tuesday being an optional day and Thursday being reliant on where my mind is that week.

This is a trial run and if it works, it works! If not, then we’ll just have to mix it up again wont we?

What do you think? Will you be tuning in to see more content from Clockwork Clouds? Do you have a schedule you follow for your blog? I’d love to hear about the things you’re all up to!