If you don’t have an editorial calendar you may find that your posting is sporadic, you may become stressed keeping up with posting, or you may get blogger burn out. Today let’s talk about how to avoid all three of these by setting up an amazing editorial calendar.

You will find two benefits from a great editorial calendar.

1. When you sit down to blog you have your idea already sitting in front of you. You don’t waste time trying to decide what  to write about.
2. You can schedule your posts so if something unexpected happens you have posts that will already be coming up on your blog.

The Tools

First let’s get the tools you will be needing to set up a calendar. My two favorite WordPress plugins to help me with my calendar are:

• Future Posts Calendar - This is a great tool to see when you have scheduled your posts on your dashboard and from you post. Plus when you are ready to schedule a post just click the date and it will automatically change your publish date.
• Editorial Calendar - This will give you a calendar to add ideas as post drafts, see where you have posts scheduled, and quickly drag and drop to change posting dates for your posts.

Weekly Schedule?

Now is a good time to decide if you want to  have a weekly posting schedule or just post as you go.

What is a weekly schedule? Many bloggers decide on daily themes for their blog. I use this here on Pepper Scraps (though I’m a good example of not having it set in stone).

• Mondays you will find my Project 52 posts.
• Tuesdays I’ve been doing a series on Android Apps.
• Wednesdays are my Weigh In Wednesdays
• Thursday I’m doing a series on Bloggers You Should Follow.
• Fridays is All About Blogging
• Saturday is a Craft a Day

To create this schedule just think about 3-6 subjects you write about on your blog. Now designate one subject for a day of the week. What is nice about this system is if you are stuck about what to write about one day you have at least narrowed down the subject to talk about. This will also give your readers a since of what to expect when.

Don’t feel like you are always stuck posting to your weekly schedule. If you have some exciting news that you want to share right away, feel free and break the routine. Also take some time and review your schedule every few months to make sure you don’t need to rearrange or update your weekly schedule.

Collect your Ideas

Now it’s time to start brainstorming. It is always a good idea to always have a running list of blogging ideas. Keep a notebook (or use your phone or tablet) in your purse to always have available for ideas.

One of my favorite ideas for brainstorming is magazine covers. I find mine at the doctor’s office.

Today take some time and make a list of 30 ideas, this will help you on the next step in creating your awesome editorial calendar. If you created a weekly posting schedule create an even number of post for each category. Example: if you have 5 subject per week you schedule you will want to come up with 6 post ideas for each category.

Enter your Ideas into your Calendar

Open up your calendar either your Google Calendar or  Editorial Calendar or even a written calendar if you prefer pencil.

First enter all your time sensitive posts (holiday posts, sponsored posts, etc) into your calendar.

Now divide your ideas into your categories if you are posting on a weekly schedule.

Look through your ideas. Are you really inspired by an idea or do you have a post already all planned in the back of your head? Post these next in the upcoming week or the first week of the month.

Now start entering your post ideas. Don’t worry about what date you have them once you have your posts in the calendar you can rearrange them by drag and drop (or eraser). Just make sure they are  in the slots for your weekly schedule.

You now have an amazing editorial calendar now what?

Try to stay ahead of the game. Sit down and try to write 2 posts a day for a week, then after that you should be able to write one week ahead. Or spend a day to go through your month and create the outline for each post.

Do you currently have an editorial calendar for your blog? If yes, what is your tip today? If no, I’d love to hear why not?

I’m in a constant battle with organization. The harder I try the more disorganized I become. Or at least that’s the way I feel. I’m sure that at times you feel the same way. I will be sharing some of my favorite organizational apps that have helped me on my Android Iconia Tablet and my Android phone.

Action Method

Action Method is a project management tool I found to use for my business, but I’ve also quickly found I love using it for my other to do lists. I think I like it because you can view your tasks in so many different ways. You can view your tasks by project, by when they are due, or by color.

I think I also enjoy Action Method because it is very visually appealing and to me that helps with the overwhelmed factor I get as I stare at my to do lists as they grow. The app also auto syncs to your phone, your desktop application, the online version and your tablet with no worries.

I’ve used Remember the Milk in the past and enjoyed it, but I just didn’t really feel like it was worth the yearly fee to use it on my phone. With Remember the Milk I would still run into the issue of feeling overwhelmed with how much there was to do. Plus you can’t really try out the app without paying the fee as far as I’m aware.

After using the free version of Action Method for my business on my phone, tab and computer I chose to buy the yearly subscription. I had used it for 3-6 months before buying it and I was a heavy user since it was used for my business projects. I think a casual user may not even have to buy the subscription.

Another feature that I haven’t used is task sharing. You can easily share tasks with people and keep on top of what they are working on and what you need from them.

ColorNote

ColorNote has been one of my all time favorite apps. I use it for organizing everything in my life. I can do anything from make quick to do lists to keep track of prayer requests. I use it for blogging a lot, but I will be talking more about that in my blogging app post.

When you make a ColorNote you can choose to either make a text note or a checklist. You can then write your note and choose a color for it. I have been known to color code my notes for different things like blogging = blue, family= orange, church = purple, urgent = red, and so on. You have 8 colors to choose from. The best part is you can stick your notes on your home screen as an instant reminder or for instant access!

I also just found out they have a calendar feature that they just added which I’m so excited to try out!!

Evernote or Springpad

I was using Evernote, but I have found that with how disorganized I am this is only feeding the Disorganization Monster. I never got really good at using their notebook/tag setup so everything is just jumbled into one notebook. Most don’t have tags because it is hard to add those on the android app. They do have a great search on the web so that is what I mainly use.

It also drives me crazy that I have to login ever week on their website, log me in and keep me logged in!

Today I decided to try SpringPad. But because I haven’t had a real chance to use it (Zane just stole my tab), I wanted to mention both of these apps to you. I saw the video SpringPad has posted at the market and it looks like you can change the notebook and tags easily from the screen you are adding the note. Evernote you have to jump from the notes screen to a separate screen to add tags.

The thing that really sold me for SpringPad is it looks like it is incredibly easy to go from saving a link or note to sharing it on twitter or facebook (maybe G+ if I’m lucky). Right now with Evernote I’m saving it to Evernote then have to go into the online site, copy the link and then share it on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest. There may be an easier way to do this from the Evernote app, but I haven’t had the time to figure it out.

Pomodroido

This is not my favorite app, but it is the best Pomodoro Technique app that I’ve found that works on a tablet. I find the color scheme annoying as others have mentioned in reviews and it doesn’t fit perfectly on my tab screen, but it works.

If you haven’t tried Pomodoro Technique I highly recommend it. I have just started it, I’m not an expert, I haven’t even read the huge manual I found on it, but just jumping in and doing it so far has helped with my “to do list anxiety”.

The basic idea is that you take your to do list and you work on one activity for 25 minutes then take a break and repeat until you have your to do list handled.

I tend to try and multitask but usually find myself overwhelmed and feel like I haven’t gotten anything done. With Pomodoro I get more done, I feel more focused and seeing the tasks crossed off my list keeps me motivated.

Right now I’m using an awesome application on my computer called Pomodairo. I also love that this particular program lets me make a short to do list. I have been putting my Most Important Tasks here so that I know I at least get 3 of the basic tasks for the day done.

Jorte

I don’t use this app any longer on my tab or phone. But with my experience I know that some of the basic calendars on Android devices can be hard to use or just ugly. If you are looking for a good replacement of the calendar that came on your phone or tablet I would recommend Jorte. This app does take a little setup but it has lots of options and you can make it work with you and your style.

Any Suggestions?

I’m always looking for new and better ways to get organized do you have any app suggestions?

Here is a little freebie for you for the New Year

Feel free and print it for yourself.

Get full calendar here.

This may be cheating for My Place & Yours, because yes this technically is not a photo but a screen shot. But my secret weapon is my Google Calendar. I love my Google Calendar. No matter what system I try I always end up back at my Google Calendar.

Now the above image may look like a colorfully garbled image but there is a system to it. I can look at each calendar individually or I can have a few open to sync everyone in the household or I can have the whole thing open but that is a bit overwhelming.

But let’s dissect my Google Calendar I maybe you too will run out and get one.

Let’s start with a blank calendar:

This is what your calendar will look like with nothing on it. Okay, let’s start adding things. One nice thing about Google  Calendar is that you can sync to other calendars. Google offers multiple holiday calendars you can sync to your calendar. I can also sync Google Calendar with my favorite online to do list Remember the Milk.  (I have the phases of the moon on my calendar, though I can’t find how to add this option anymore.) Let’s add those options:

You will see a little blue check next to the date. If I click on that and it gives me a drop down of my  remember the milk to do list.

I also have a calendar for birthdays but I will not be showing that for privacy to others. I found that you can download your friend’s birthdays from Facebook and upload to your calendar. The application to do this is called Birthday iCal. Very nice feature.

I also have my church’s calendar synced to my calendar so when they have events I would like to attend I can just add it to my calendar.

Let’s add my personal calendar, which is purple because I like purple (you can choose the colors of your calendars from a list of colors). This calendar is where I put my appointments, my events I attend, or things we do as a family.

I keep my work schedule separate to make it easier to add my schedule to the calendar and to be able to find my shifts faster. You can add all day events which are the bold blocks of color or you can add time frames. One other nice feature is you can make things repeat. This month I am working every Monday 10-5:30 so I told the calendar to repeat this through the last Monday in the month.

I also keep my menu plan on my calendar. I love this, it makes it so much easier to plan meals, make a grocery list and link to recipes (in the notes). I learned to this from simplemom.

I also keep a calendar for my online work. Right now I have mainly just the meme’s I like to participate in, but hopefully that will change soon.

And now let’s add my boys calendars. I have a calendar for my husband and each of my boys. If your husband has his own Google Calendar you can just sync it to your calendar and that way you will know when he has plans with the guys or has to work.

My last calendar I have is our routine. I have set up one calendar so that it shows our daily routine so I can make quick reference to it to see what we are doing today.

And that brings us to my full schedule. Which isn’t actually complete for the month. I still need to add date night, family day and I want to add a cookie making party with my friends. But this will be easily scheduled now that I have my whole calendar in front of me. I hope that maybe you to will try out Google Calendar.

If you already use Google Calendar, are there any features that you love?