My blogging rationale

Well readers, it has been almost a year since I started die hard blogging.   I am not a daily blogger.  I have tried to post something twice a week but sometimes, I get too busy.  Sometimes, I need to take a few weeks of a mental break to experiment with sites.  I think that is the key to my success doing this;  The key to my continual dedication to this.
I don't have a large following, but I do have several people who stop in and see what I am sharing.   I think the reason I keep doing this is because people do care what I talk about. People are learning new things and utilizing the things I share in their lives.  That makes me feel good.
It's hard to keep up with it sometimes.  My key to success is organization.  I spend a lot of time investigating and planning my posts.  I have decided that I am going to share some of my strategies because if I can be a blogger, anyone can be a blogger.  Here is the secret of my success:

1. Calendar:  I keep a small calendar in my purse where I organize all of my posts.  I spent a day over the summer deciding three months (that's two a week for three months) worth of posts and I found that when I had them in front of me, I actually got them done and thinking about them a little in advance made me actually try the tool a little but.   I kept at that idea with the next three months and keep at it.  I think I am going to expand it to using google calendar/ tasks where I can get rid of my second step as well as the calendar in my purse. 
2. Small notebook: When I attend a conference, do a PD or even when I am working on something and something strikes my fancy, I take some notes.  I write the name of the tool, jot down some things I can see myself do with it and other things I may need to refer to.   I always carry this with me in my purse.  It has loads of little tidbits of information.
3. People to test stuff:  I come in to class sometimes with all of these brilliant ideas and I sometimes ask my students to help my test a tool.  I always make sure it is relevent to what we are doing.  I ask them for a quick feel of the tool.  Did you like this one?  Why? What else can you see us do with it? I get a lot of positive feedback from my students.  Sometimes I get negative.  I take that experience and share it with my readers.
4. A curation site:  I curate a lot of web 2.0 tools.  I use pocket and scoop.it the most because they both have a little button to add to chrome that I can click while I am on a site.  I also have pocket added on my phone so as I pin or read or tweet, I add the sites of interest to pocket and voila, I don't forget it. 
5. A little bit of time and quiet:  I often spend time writing my posts on the weekend while kids are at friend's houses or while I am alone in the library,  Occasionally, I have a day where I get to school early or have to stay late and I can actually blog then.  Sometimes the library has a dry spell and I can blog.  It doesn't take me hours to create a post; my organizing tools have helped me be more effecient.
6. A willingness to attend conferences, edcamps, etc: I attend and participate in a lot of things related to tech.  I think on average, I attend one webinar a week.  (Most are 30 minutes but that amount of time can provide a plethora of information).  I also do as many virtual conferences, archives, blog readings as I can.  I am a swim mom.  My kids are at the pool for one and a half hour a night.  The pool is wireless.  I do things while they practice.  I realize many don't have a situation such as mine, but, even finding 30 minutes a week to do archives of webinars will teach you something.  I also try to go to local conferences and edcamps.  A lot of schools in Indiana are starting to do 1:1 programs and they are always having one day programs to share with others what they are doing.  I have gotten a lot of good ideas from those too. 

I am not sure if blogging is for you.  I have found that it gives me an outlet to share things I know and do with others. It is a way I can feel accomplished.  Remember, if I can do it, anyone can.