Blog Ahead 2014 - Week One Update

My Blog Ahead Goals:

I can’t believe how quickly the first week of Blog Ahead has gone by! Right now I’m aiming for 15 extra posts, but I really hope I can manage a lot more. I don’t want to put too much pressure on my shoulders, and there is a little reason why I don’t think I’ll realistically be able to get all 30 extra posts done. As of starting the challenge, I only had one scheduled post for November. Technically, I’ll be writing up way more than 30 posts this month, but the majority won’t exactly be ‘advanced’ posts, unfortunately!

If I had to choose a main goal for the challenge, I’m aiming to get posts for the weekdays in December scheduled in advance, and then any other spare posts I can write up. My goal of 15 posts would equal three full weekday weeks taken care of, and I’ll be very happy with that result!

By the end of the month, I’d love to have the following completed:

- 6 Reviews (at least)

- 4 “other” posts, discussions etc.

- 8 Top Ten Tuesdays

- 4 Waiting on Wednesdays

Plan:

My plan of “attack,” so to speak, is to tackle this in two stages:

- The first two weeks of the challenge, my main focus will be on posts for November, and then

- The last two weeks should be free to concentrate on all my “extra posts” for Blog Ahead.

Naturally, this isn’t set in stone, and I’ll be writing posts as my mood dictates and when inspiration hits.

With reviews, I try and read two weeks in advance. Usually, the books I read in the first two weeks of a month will appear on the blog at the end of the current month. Then, the books I read in the last two weeks of a month will be on the blog the first two weeks of the next month. Currently, I have four books read that I haven’t reviewed, but these reviews will most likely be posted in November.

I’m debating whether to hold back on posting my usual two reviews a week and cut it down to one per week, just for this rest of the month. This would allow me to have more reading time, and hopefully as a result, a bigger bank of reviews I can save up for December/January. I haven’t made up my mind yet, but I might hold back a review here and there, and see what happens.

Getting away from reviews, I love all the upcoming Top Ten Tuesday topics, and I think now is the perfect time to start chipping away at them. I usually do TTT’s every other week, but I don’t usually write them this far in advance! I also have my eye on four 2015 release books that I want to use in Waiting on Wednesday’s, so I’d like to tackle them as well.

Week One Goals:

- As many November posts as I can get done.

- 2 Top Ten Tuesday Posts

- 2 WoW posts.

Progress:

I’m pretty happy with everything I got done this week. I have 5 posts completed in advance for November which is going to help so much as the challenge progresses. I roughly drafted two reviews, but I need to polish them up more before I begin formatting and scheduling them.

For Blog Ahead, I’ve completed the 2 WoW posts I wanted to, and they’re scheduled in advance. It’s such a weird feeling to have posts completed that far ahead! I’ve drafted up both Top Ten Tuesday posts I planned to work on. I have to put the finishing touches on one, but it’s 95% done. The other will take a little more work, adding links, images and what not, but they’re almost done.

Seven completed posts and four drafts in a week… I’m happy! Now, I just wish I could bottle the essence of this organised person I've become, and keep this motivation in reserve for future use!

My Week Two Goals:

- More November posts.

- 3 Top Ten Tuesday’s

- 2 WoW’s

- 1 “other” post.

Thanks for reading!