Welcome to day 6 of the massive Bookending Spring event! The prompt for the day is all about helpful spreadsheets we use in our blogging Remember to check out Sam's I Give a Sheet post. The prompt, as already mentioned in the previous two days, was originally created by AJ @ For The Love of Diversity in Books. Let's get started!
I Give A Sheet
I don't use any other spreadsheet except for Kal's, because it is amazing, so I'm going to tweak this theme and talk about the most helpful tools I use in my blogging. So without further ado, let's get started!
Kal, the queen behind Reader Voracious, released her ultimate book blogger spreadsheet last year and it is amazing! I use this not only to track the books I read, but also for scheduling and ARC self-shaming purposes. Having a giant schedule in front of me whenever I open the spreadsheet helps me know what I need to post and when, while ARC self-shaming is just that: a way to keep myself in check and not over-request, while also reading and being on track with the books I read (still a work in progress, guys!). I really love using this spreadsheet and I can only hope she'll make another one for next year.
2. Bullet Journal
I've always thought Bullet Journals, or bujos, are for artsy people. If I were to show you guys my drawings, you'd be horrified, and because of the community that has developed around bujos I honestly thought I'd have to be an art graduate in order to have one. Then Clo, my dear dear Clo @ Book Dragons, gave me a new perspective on the entire practice. I started using a bullet journal last month and in those days and weeks I used it I realized a few things. One, it's a nice way of guilting yourself into doing those activities you've been putting off. For me, that's exercising. Second, it makes things more organized. In the weeks since I started using it I've felt like my life is less of a hot pile of crap and more like an organized hot mess. I may do an end-of-the-month type of post this April if all goes well.
Another benefit of using a bullet journal is that I have a quick way to put down any and all blogging ideas I have. I am working on something super exciting (and super secret too) right now and it all happened because I put it down on that "blogging ideas" spread. So Clo, thank you for hitting me upside the head with some truths!
3. Google Docs
Something that I often do when I'm not really sure about how a discussion post will turn out is I write it in Google Docs. Usually I check the drafts in my blog pretty often, and I tend to know when I'm not inspired by some of those topics and end up deleting them and never giving them a chance. By using Google Docs, I know I'll eventually get to those rough, rough outlines and make something out of them.
I tend to write down all ideas that come to my head, but sometimes not all of them pass the outline stage immediately, so having them separate from my other drafts is helpful because maybe down the line I'll have more ideas to connect that first one to and make it into a proper post.
What about you guys? Which tools do you use in your blogging?
