Making Sense of Scheduling

As you all know I have been struggling with keeping to my blog schedule –I’ve changed it a few times; but it’s not turned out quite to how I’ve envisioned it to be.  External factors (laptop problems & internet connection issues) and internal factors (my anxiety & bouts of low moods) have stepped in and hindered me somewhat –it’s been pretty depleting and has made me feel like quite a failure (which I know I am not) –therefore, I REALLY hate it.  For this reason I’ve come up with a cunning plan which will hopefully allow me to breathe and have fun with creating fun, thought-provoking and creative articles again –all with an element of surprise.  I’m DITCHING the pace of the schedule, what this essentially means is I will post articles when they are ready and not to a predefined schedule.  I am hoping this will help with lessening the anxiety I put on myself as I normally focus on trying to finish an article on time and then post it when I feel it’s not ready and needs more work.  By taking out the time-constraints I hope to not feel pressurised and in turn be more forthcoming with my article.  The only aspect of the schedule I will be keeping to is the themes.  This means when an article is ready for posting I will schedule it to be published on the relevant themed day. –so when you see a post on a Monday you will know is a Meandering Muse, Tuesdays will be challenge orientated and Flash Fictions, etc…I’m sure you get the idea.

Another reason I am taking this approach is –I’ve noticed that every time I sit down to write, I end writing an article for the blog rather than my novel (mainly because I know the schedule expects a blog post); this takes up most of my day as I like to do extensive research’ for my articles, find appropriate images and ensure the layout is perfect before hitting the publish button (I know I am a bit too OCD about it all).  So, thus I find myself feeling swamped under the debris of the blog schedule and my enjoyment of writing is being diced up slowly –dragged across in my mind bit by bit; tortured with unfounded anxiety and hence left to rot away in a cell somewhere within me.  Maybe that’s a rather morbid conclusion; but that’s how it feels, this is why I have taken to photography and using imagery as a creative avenue –just so I can survive through the level of panic that surfaces within me when I think ‘uh-oh, another article needs to be written’.  So here I am, at a crossroads of some sort, trying to decipher what’s the best route to take and how can I continue to write and enjoy what I am doing; along this journey I have come to realise that I put on unnecessary pressure on myself.  We are our worst enemies at times.  I find this realisation is great and quite liberating –it’s like I can throw off a load of crippling pile of unused metal and continue on my path refreshed and rejuvenated.  I do not know what the unscheduled blog will bring me in the long run; but for now I am hoping for some serenity which will ease my overactive stress-levels and bring me back to the equilibrium that I enjoy –the one that helps me to enjoy my passions; writing & creativity of various forms.  How do you maintain your sanity when writing & blogging?  What works for you when it gets just too much?  Do you have any tips, awareness’s, light bulb moments you’d like to share with us?

I will be back, as and when I’m ready to do so, keep an eye out for me. In the meantime, I will be updating the tags & categories on the blog; when doing this (I’ve done so in the past) I have been informed that WordPress will send out the old posts I’ve updated (I apologise from now if that is the case).  Those of you who are subscribed through Feedburner should not receive these updated posts as I will turn off the subscriptions whilst I am doing the updates; however, I am unable to do this for WordPress subscribers (please let me know if this becomes a problem for you).

Things to look forward to:  I have various ideas for the blog, once I get back into a comfortable routine I hope you will enjoy the articles I post.  Currently I am working on completing the following:

• Fun Game – In Your Head (two more articles to be written)
• Savvy Salutations – the guest bloggers series (got some great writers/bloggers lined up –just need to sort out the layouts, add my bits and hit publish).
• The Paper Anniversary of yikici –it was March 15^th 2012 (I’ve missed celebrating it with you; but I hope an article I’ll write soon will make it that much special).  If you have not seen what’s been written so far, please follow this link.  I want to thank CMBrown, Lara & Deniz for participating -THANK YOU!
• I fell off the ROW80 wagon because of the above mentioned reasons; therefore, I will at one point bring a conclusion to that and see what’s outstanding (goal wise) –if any.
• There will be random imagery posted –I may take on AprilPhotoADay challenge or not, I’m undecided, what would you like me to do?

NOTE:  If there is anything you’d like me to take on –or look into, let me know and I will do the required research and share my findings with you.

Final Question:  I’m looking for information on the theory of evolution (its research for my novel); if you have an interest in this please contact me; I’d love to pick your brain. 

*NOTE TO ALL SUBSCRIBERS:  It has come to my attention that images that I attach as featured or a Tumblog image do show up on the posts emailed to you via the newsletter; in order to view the image you will need to visit the blog.  Apologies for any inconveniences cause, this is a standard setting which I am unable to override.

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Copyright © Ozlem Yikici 2011 – 2012. All Rights Reserved (in conjunction with the Creative Commons License).

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As you already know, thoughts and comments are encouraged as always -even if it is just a word -as ‘all good discussions start with just one word‘.

Want to be a Savvy Sunday guest?  Then please leave a suggestion in the comment box below or for those of you who are a wee bit shy drop me a line via my contact page or email me at admin[at]yikici[dot]co[dot]uk

Important Note:  Please leave a link to your website when commenting as I’m currently having problems following back to your blogs (I hope to have this rectified soon).  In the meantime just share some blog-love.

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About the author: Creative from the word go, an artist at heart – writer, poet, photographer, blogger... I am currently working on my first novel Becoming – Mystical Realisations and I have also started some research for my novella (currently does not have a title). Read more from this author

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