I hesitate sharing this with you, since I suspect it permanently puts me so deep into the Hopeless Nerd category, that no matter what outfit from Ross I conjure up, I'll still never claw my way out. (And if Ross isn't overly cool, please don't tell me, at my age it's as good as I get, and it works with the budget. I'm all about skirts that cost $7.00)

I'm a notebook kind of girl. There are very few things in life that can't be managed by making a notebook. I have one for our budget, I made one for our cruise before we went, there's one for recipes to try, sorted by category. I have one of quilts sewn and patterns for future ones. I've started one to use when we begin looking for a retirement home (love how THAT sounds!) This stays on my desk, so I went for pretty.

When I started blogging, I had little slips of paper, then a file that I threw slips of paper into. Then piles on my desk. Eventually I realized blogging would work better for me if I made a notebook. With 8 tabbed sections. Here they are:

Addresses / URL's

Blog Tips

Blogger (a tab in itself)

Calendar - I keep one year of monthly sheets that have enough room to write in each day. Here's where I schedule specific posts, weekly memes to participate in (like this one), note people's birthdays or anniversarys to give them a cyberspace shout-out. If I didn't do this I wouldn't remember to ever post a recipe, or would only post recipes. This enhances variety in posting. It's the most helpful category for me.

Days of Week - this has information on weekly memes like WFMW, Thankful Thursday, Wordless Wednesday, etc. A sheet for each with the subject, the host's URL, participation specifics. It also works well for scheduling a meme you've been tagged for, or an upcoming big event like Tour of Homes or Dog Days of Summer Giveaway. Yes, I know the Tweety calendar is very mature.

Future Posts - sheets of lined paper where I jot notes when a posting idea comes to me, with room to develop it on paper. This is great for preventing "writer's block". If an idea comes to me I just jot it down, to come back to later.

HTML - notes on how to do strikeout, or blockquote, that sort of thing. I have a book on my shelf, but these few notes make posting faster.

Photos, videos - notes on istockphoto, photobucket, etc. including my passwords at those websites.

Then I put in a set of A-Z tabs, really helpful. Under "F" I have notes on doing a Flooble, which is not something I want to store in my brain, under "S" notes on Sitemeter, under "T" I printed out Boomama's post from way back when on how she created her own template, just in case I ever over-estimate my abilities and want to give it a whirl.

There are a few events in life that would not benefit from being managed by a notebook. Some things should be spontaneous, free-spirited, unplanned. In general, blogging works better for me when I plan most posts. For more WFMW go to Rocks in My Dryer.

Labels: Girl Talk