Scheduling Posts

I feel like I have been living under a rock and just stepped out to an incredible invention I had no idea existed before. What is it I have found, you ask?

Scheduled posts.

I have heard several bloggers I follow mention them, but had no idea that I could write a post Friday evening (like this one!) and then tell Blogger when I want it to show up in my feed.

I feel pretty certain I am not the only one who didn't know this, [if I am, please don't tell me, let me live in that fantasy for a while :-)] so I thought I would share with you how easy it is.

First, write your post, then on the right hand side click on 'Schedule'.

It will open and look like this:













When you click on the 'Set date and time bullet' it will open to this:
















Set your date and time and click 'Done'. I normally proof read my blog and preview it here. When I am happy with it, I click 'Save'. You are now one step away from your post being scheduled. Just click 'Publish' (up by the title bar  of the post)

And now your post will appear on the date and time you set. (A little heads up-- the calender runs Monday-Sunday, not the way I am used to seeing it, so be careful when you set your dates! I almost missed my Memorial Day one, as I had it set to go on Tuesday instead of Monday.)

If you go into Dashboard and look at your posts, you will see the scheduled post in the list, like this:

 

I have found this feature to be quite helpful. Do you have any tricks or tips to share?  I'd love to hear them

Memorial Day

Today is the day we honor those who have given their lives in service to our country. To all who have lost loved ones in service to our country, I thank you for their sacrifice.

When I was younger, I remember watching a Peanuts episode about Memorial Day, called What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown. I only saw it once, but the scene that stuck with me was Linus  reciting the poem "In Flanders Field". In all honesty, the first sentence is all I can ever remember, but it has stuck with me for over twenty years. In honor of our fallen veterans, I share it here with you today.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

By Lt. Col. John McCrae

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend.  The weather here was wonderful, and we spent a great deal of it outside.

I had the privilege to meet up with Nicole and her family for lunch on Saturday. We had a blast. It was awesome to meet one of my CP's in person, and to learn that we really have a lot in common!

Have you ever met one of your CP's in person after exchanging work through cyber-space? How did it go?

TGIF!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Goals

Thank you all for your suggestions Monday. They were quite helpful in helping me determine how to set some goals for myself.

In order to be kept honest, I am sharing my goals here, and will report back in periodically on how I am doing with meeting them.

On the exercise front, a co-worker and I made goals with each other (mine is to walk on the treadmill 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes). We will begin next week. For each week we do not meet our goal, we will put $1 in a jar for a charity yet to be determined. We are still working out our reward for meeting the goal.

On the writing front, I am setting this goal: I will write daily for at least 30 minutes. I will not surf the web (unless fact checking or researching something) during this time, nor will I have my chat box open. After my 30 minutes have been achieved, I will allow myself to play on-line (if I am not swept away in my writing!)

In the last few days I realized I was avoiding writing as I had a problem in the story I was working on, and my subconscious wouldn't let me go forward until I faced it and fixed it. With the help from some CP's (and some good question and answers) I realized where my problem was and am moving forward again. So if you are like me, and have been procrastinating on the writing, are you truly procrastinating or are you working out something in your mind?

Have you set any goals for yourself that you need help in keeping? Share below, I'd love to hear about them.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Treading Water

The last few weeks I have made little progress with my WIP and with the exercise I want (need) to be doing. The exercise I brush off with as a lack of time (read into this-- I don't want to get up early because the bed is so comfy!) The writing, well, time certainly is a factor there, too, but so is procrastination. I know where I want to go, have some of it written out, but given the choice between sitting down and writing or watching TV, I find myself choosing TV.

So, I have decided I need to set some goals for myself. Ones that have a reward for achieving and a penalty for blowing it off.  My questions to you are these:

1) What kind of writing goals do you set? Daily word count? Daily time amount?
2) What kind of rewards do you allow yourself?
3) What kind of penalty do you enforce?

Looking forward to hearing what all of you have to say. I will share my goals and all on Thursday, so you can help me be accountable.

Hope you all have a great Monday!

Congratulations and News

Congratulations to Susan Oloier on her release of Fracture (and to make her release really special, it was on her birthday!) and to Michelle Davidson Argyle on her release of The Breakaway. I know there were several releases this week, so if you have one you want to give a shout out to, share below.

In other news, one of my wonderful CP's has opened an editing business. If you are in need of assistance with your MS, check out Nicole Zoltack's site. All the details are at this link.

Hope you all have a great weekend!