Catharsis of the Bogue

Oddities, Profundities, Profanities and Dad Stuff

Tag: write

Should I sleep or Write more?!?!

May 27, 2014 / / 6 Comments

The time for bed approaches and I am trying to decide if I should give up and go to bed or keep writing posts! My body says tired, my mind says tired, the energy drink I had a while ago says Write you lazy bastard!  So I write.

Lately I have been working on organizing my day to get everything done that I need to.  I have discovered that I can’t just go all out and hope to get my blog maintained, posts written, house cleaned, family taken care of, and the “other” stuff done.

I found myself glued to the computer, reading blogs, trying to figure out where I am going to be able to open my rss reader, and all of a sudden it was time to get the kids from school and get dinner started.  Oh crap the laundry hasn’t made it downstairs yet.  Oh crappier, the dishes still have to be done…so that was the smell…did we eat lunch?

Yea, it was getting to be a mess.  I am working through some sort of “getting to writing procrastination” garbage that is not helping.  I am still getting my stuff done, just not how I want to.  I started to divide up the day and use the timer method that many others use.

I even got a special timer to help with this, I will have a review of that later this week.  It’s called the Gymboss, it’s beauty.  Anyway, it seems that the timer method is very much going to help get me organized.  I am splitting time into 2 hour blocks and devoting 30 minutes to each task.  At the end of the 30 mins, I have been just stopping and going to the next task.  It has been great to actually get some things done around the house.

Now I have to get time figured out to add in outdoor stuff.  Spring is coming to Utah and my yard needs some help.  If you know how to get rid of freaking grape hyacinth, let me know.

I think I am getting a good balance figured out.  Writing, emails, reading, commenting, maintenance, housework, outdoor work, writing, and blog posts.  A good way to fill a day.  I also realized that I have got to crank out some more fiction for my Saturday Series.  I have used the only 2 complete short stories that make any sense already.  Time to get writing some new stuff!

So now you all must be asking yourselves, how can I help.  Ok most of you are probably not asking yourself anything but when this post is going to end.  Soon I promise.  Here is how you can help.  Keep reading my humble blog, recommend it to your friends, your enemies, and that guy down the street who may have a use for it.

I am going to be running a poll this week about future posts that you may like to see.  I hope to get some great feedback from that.  I have decided to place the mailing list on pause for a bit, I will still make myself put out the newsletter every month but that will be about it.  Please sign up if you are so inclined, I will start putting up exclusive to the newsletter stuff starting in May.

Now for the big one, Please leave comments with how you organize your time so that you can get everything done that you need to do.  What things do you slack off on?  What do you give up on altogether?  I hope to get some great comments and be able to do a followup with lots of backlinks and credits.  Maybe a prize for the 17th commenter…

Of course if you feel so inclined as to write a ton of stuff and want it included, I am open for guest posts!  All you have to do is email me.

If you are reading this, you are fabulous!

-Justin

PS.  If you are reading this, you are incredibly patient.

PPS. If you are reading this, you are finally at the end!  Go comment and get on with your life!

How to write a killer fast blog post.

March 24, 2014 / / 6 Comments

Hey There!  Today i am actually going to give some instructions!  I know, but don’t unsubscribe yet.

Have you ever needed to crank out a blog post in record time?  I know I have.  The best solution for this situation is to Pre-Write a bunch of posts and keep them in Queue. Read this page for more.

I have squandered my 2 weeks worth of posts so I really need to re-write the pre-write.  But say you don’t have a post to get out, and you really want to.  Here is what I do.

Shut down everything on your browser except for your wordpress editor.  If you use something else like Word or the like just have that open.  Sit down and clear your mind.  What is the first thing that pops into your head?  Really, the first thing no matter how obscure.

My first thought?  Boondoggle.  Very obscure.  So now you have a topic be it boondoggle, purple unicorns, or wordpress plugin updates.  That is what you will roll with.

Don’t even write a title to this right now.  Go to the body of the post and start to write.  You only need to write 100 words or so in this stage.  If this were an infomercial I would say “In only 100 words you too can have a killer fast blog post!  Send 19.95 now for an amazing offer!  But wait there’s more!  Order now and have your order doubled only fo rthe price of shipping and processing!”

See what a good deal you are getting just for reading today?  Anyway, start with a short, modest goal.  You will be surprised at how quickly a post can bloom from 100 words to 5 or 600 or more!

Take your topic, (boondoggle) and write what you know about it.  Don’t research or even look at anything yet, just use your brain.  I could write,

Does anybody remember boondoggle? That wonderfully cheesy plastic cord that the camp counselors showed you how to weave into great keychains? How you just wanted more of the stuff to make more and more intricate keychains without caring what the ultimate point was? It was a lot of fun when I was younger and I rediscovered some of that when my daughter was getting her kidney transplant.

All of that in only 67 words. The most amazing part, I jut got boondoggle in my head, started writing about something simple from camp and ended up circling back around to my daughters transplant.  There is more to be written about that and in the end will probably have nothing to do with boondoggle.

Come up with the first title that hits your mind, the more snarky the better, like “Boondoggle and Transplants: Summer camp to lifesaving days”  Ok that is not very snarky but should bring a viewer or two.

So here is a quick blog post that I started on a whim and now it is topping 500 words.  It isn’t hard to start and get something going without a lost of work.

Of course, you can make it a detailed post and search the net for history of boondoggle and include patterns and theories and funny anecdotes from retired camp counselors about how boondoggle saved the camp when they wove fishing nets so they didn’t starve in the summer of ’87 or how they used that same net in ’88 to hold the dam back and save the camp from flooding.

But that is too much work.  Keep it simple.

Tomorrow is fiction Saturday!  The Man in the Hazy Suit continues!

Have a great weekend

-Justin

I Need A Blog Like I Need A Hole In The Head!

September 26, 2013 / / 15 Comments

I need a blog like I need a hole in the head.  As long as that hole is a mouth we will be ok.  Sure my blog may not be oxygen or food but it is still important to my well being and therefore important.

I want to write.  I need to write.  My whole website is taking far too much time… as a hobby, but just enough as a business.  And a business is what I am running.  This discipline of writing every day is starting to take hold and become a habit.  The online friends that I am making are resources that give me support and inspiration.  Most people here in Blogistan will give that support freely and quickly, as long as there is reciprocation somewhere along the line.

There is a list of people that I now think of as friends on this whole internet thing.  I like to read what they have to say, I like to interact with them and I hope they like to read what I have to say and not just think I am an annoying little insect that can just be brushed aside.  I will not be brushed aside!  I will come over to your house and….  wait that was a dream.

I am finally starting to figure out my life and my blog.  It is not finished, there are always little tweaks to the site or things to add or make more ascetically pleasing.  There are new and exciting things to read and get involved in.  There is lots of writing to be done.  There are stories to format and tweak into e-books that will start making me money.  There are newsletters to format even though there are no subscribers (sign up here or I will come over to your…:))

This post is short, there will be longer ones.  Most of them lately have been longer.  And longer fiction on Saturday.  And e-books that are not just reprints of blog posts but actually thought out, well formatted pieces that people will actually read and not stick in an obscure downloads folder on their computer.

I need a blog like I need a hole in the head.  A funny expression, but now it feels like I need my blog or there is a hole somewhere in the core of me.

Until Later Loyal Citizens of Blogistan,

Justin

Can You Catch Up or Just Get Ahead?

September 26, 2013 / / 0 Comments
Folk tale depiction of Father Christmas riding...

Image via Wikipedia

We all have dealt with the futility of trying to catch up.  Whether it is on TV shows, with sleep or on blog posts.  It always seems like there is something more that I can’t get done.  There are times when I say, “Ok I am just going to stop and start fresh right now.”  You all know this, I have said it enough on here.  But when is that just a cop out?  most of the time I guess.  I don’t think catch up will ever happen.

Right now, I have 13 more posts in queue that are all just snippets of ideas.  They all ave less than 25 words in them and are just ready to be fleshed out into wonderful and exciting posts.  some of them have been around a long time.  This one has a date of May 17, 2011, that would have been the date I wrote the title.

As you can tell, I am a little behind.  Or am I?  So again, I have to say, “This week is new.  My blog lives again.”   I am turning off the life support and beating it into submission.  The new host is almost ready to rock and I am going to head into year three screaming and on fire.  I know I can’t catch up.  I just have to move ahead.

I would ask how you feel but it seems my comment section is broken, or  you don’t like disqus.  If that is the case, shoot me an email with that nifty contact form over there and say so.  I would like to know my stuff is being read by more than my buddies Ralph and Bob and the Google crawlers.

Today we are heading to “Santa’s Workshop” via the Polar Express with the Make-A-Wish foundation.  I will be writing about that on Amelia’s site tomorrow.

Have a great Wednesday

-Justin

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