Wriging

I have a schedule for most posts and pre-publish things in advance when I can. As you say, it frees up time for other things, like sleep, or more writing. Some of my post series can be scheduled for months in advance, like my Caption Contests, currently sorted until June. Aside from pre-publishing, I also follow a schedule during race weekends (my site is F1-related) so my readers and myself know what to expect.

I post whenever I have a post ready. Once in a while I actually have a few posts ready to go and then I'll schedule them, but that's only happened twice. :)

I'm definitely a whenever-the-hell-the-mood-strikes kind of guy. I'm not running a newspaper or any other sort of periodical so I guess I have the luxury of writing only when I'm struck by something I want to talk about.

@ robwilkerson

I was the same way for a long time. Eventually, I found myself digging for any idea I could just so that I had something to post about. Do you ever find yourself doing the same?

I prefer to be a "when I have something to say" poster - I find forcing a post out daily (or whatever the schedule) makes it into a chore and no longer enjoyable. The tone of what I write tends to be upbeat and slightly off the wall. It's really hard to strike the right zany note when I'm not having fun with the writing. It definitely shows.

That being said, I do make sure that I write a Sunday Roast each week. If nothing else, my readers know they will at least have that to keep them going whilst I go live my life so I have fun things to write about!

I've a hectic offline schedule, so I post in bursts. These bursts span months, sometimes, other times mere days. I can't possibly keep up a posting schedule, so what happens is that when I do have free time (school hols, for instance), I write like crazy and then pre-post them over a spread of a few weeks.

Good idea. That way things continue at a constant rate instead of having gaps in your archives.

I usually have a post ready for monday and then post again by the weekend. If something interesting crops up during the week I post then as well. It all depends what you write about. I write about web design so there is always something coming from me on a regular basis. But I think at least once or twice a week is a good minimal target for blogging unless you have oodles of stuff to write about.

I have a hard time conjuring up inspiration so whenever it strikes me is when I will post. As a general rule though I try and post twice a week. Sometimes it dwindles down to once per week but in general I don't have a posting schedule even though the frequency is pretty constant. I know that certain days (as with all blogs) people are checking my blog more than others and even despite that I need to post whenever the inspiration strikes me (or not post when it doesn't) so I feel satisfied with the content that comes out rather than adhering to a schedule.

@ Estarla - Yes thats a good point. There is no point in sitting down and thinking "I need to write something". By doing so the writing becomes laboured and it's hard work then. What I usually do is if I see something interesting on the web, I book mark it and pop it into a folder for later or make notes about things which enter my head ready to integrate into a future post.

To write at least not never. But seriously, I tend to write only on weekdays, and only when I have time. Some of the things I write take a lot of time (at least for me) to formulate. I care more about quality than quantity, so that sometimes means I don't write regularly or as often as some do, or would like for me to, but it means when I do, it's better.

These are all great points (good note, themikehaynes), but I think a lot of the time a "posting schedule" depends on the type of site you run. For instance, my personal site gets updated when I want it to be. If I feel like writing, I write. And if I'm happy with it I'll hit the publish button. It is very much written for me and I couldn't give a damn about traffic or comments (although the latter are always appreciated).

But my F1 site does have a schedule, simply because its topic does as well. I wouldn't be foolish to not post on a grand prix weekend, but the post-worthy information that comes out at that time, combined with obvious interest in the sport at that time, leads me to write.

The great thing about having a schedule at BF1 is that I know when I'm going to have free time to write my good stuff. For sure, a post about a race published immediately after the race gains a shed-load of traffic. But the posts I write in between about whatever nuance of the sport I feel inspired to write about draws a shed-load of comments.

To me, that says a combination of both schedule and inspiration works. Schedule to draw interest, inspiration to draw community.

I do agree though, what you write needs to come from within. There's no point posting just because you feel the need to. The lack of passion will be evident to readers if not yourself.

shadowsun7's idea is great as well, although the fear with me is that when the post eventually goes live I've become bored with it, or it doesn't feel like its worthy anymore because it's 'not in the moment'. I guess that's called discipline. The post hasn't changed and what I feel is completely different to a reader.

I seriously try to publish one post every day...but even that is hard sometimes as I find myself working a lot and I'm on the internet all day for work so I sometimes just need to step away. The last few months have been extremely busy so my blog has suffered a little but I'm trying to get that schedule back.

I based my entire site on a posting schedule :)

I try to post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then I fill in the gaps with my link logs and Twitter updates.

@ dbme:

I read somewhere that Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are the busiest days of the week for visitor traffic so, if that's true, you're catching people at the perfect time with a schedule like that.

I need to start developing one. Thinking about setting up a system where I chart out the entries and can see what is planned for whatever day. Just winging it doesn't always seem to cut it for me.