Writing Tip: Write Multiple Posts in One Sitting

When a blogger goes on extended breaks, like on vacations or working trips, one may sometimes publish scheduled posts. These are articles written in advance, but saved with a later timestamp. So you can basically leave your site running on auto-pilot, so to speak. The articles are published on the date and time specified.

This tip is useful, too, even if you don’t plan to be away from the computer for extended periods of time. Good writers know the value of writing many articles in one sitting, because writing inspiration usually comes in bursts. One day, you might be on a roll, and you’re able to write ten great articles. The next day, you might have writer’s block, and you can’t even start a coherent sentence, yet alone a paragraph.

Write many posts in one sitting, and future-post them

So the trick here is to write in succession. While you’re inspired to write, finish all the articles you can. Don’t publish them just yet, but instead post-date them, so they will be published one at a time, several days from now. The ideal rate here is about three to five posts per week. So if you can already write, say, five articles in one sitting, then you can publish one today, and save the other posts for tomorrow, the next day, and so forth. You can even keep the others for going live in the succeeding week.

Should you disclose?

Some bloggers are fond of replying to each and every comment that readers make, and this is definitely a good way to establish rapport with your audience. But for future-posted articles, sometimes you might miss comments, especially if you’re going offline. You may not necessarily tell your readers that these are scheduled posts, but it’s a good idea to disclose this fact, so users will not wonder why you’re not replying to comments.

Sometimes, the information on future-dated posts may already be superseded by more up-to-date news elsewhere. And so it’s a good idea to add just even a footnote that the post is future-dated, and that you are away for some time.

Writing can be a big effort, and it might require much time and energy to finish one good article alone. But while you’re at it, why not start writing more? That way, after you save a draft or future-publish a post, you can relax, and you can come up with great ideas for your next article.