{"id":3687,"date":"2007-05-03T01:09:54","date_gmt":"2007-05-02T15:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/problogger.com\/write-a-better-blog-series-in-one-sitting\/"},"modified":"2016-08-19T12:12:23","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T02:12:23","slug":"write-a-better-blog-series-in-one-sitting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/problogger.com\/write-a-better-blog-series-in-one-sitting\/","title":{"rendered":"Write a Better Blog Series In One Sitting"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Glen Stansberry of LifeDev<\/a> (feed<\/a>). Check out LifeDev for tips to increase creativity and productivity in your writing.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you’re wanting to generate a little bit of buzz around your blog, you might think about writing a blog series. I’ve found that they usually generate a fair amount of link love, and if anything it gives your regular readers something to look forward to. <\/p>\n

However, writing a blog series isn’t always the easiest thing to do. It can be a daunting task, and the potential to stop halfway is very high.<\/p>\n

I just wrote a blog series on digital vs. paper productivity tools<\/span>, and while writing stumbled on a great little tip. I found that the best way to write a blog series is to write it all before you hit publish. Just by writing them all up, and use the advanced posting feature<\/a> to automate the process over a few days (or however long your blog series is), you can kick back and watch your series take care of itself throughout the week. It’s a beautiful thing.<\/p>\n

I know writing an entire series ahead of time sounds scary and daunting, but it’s really not that bad and it will pay off. Here’s why.<\/p>\n

1. Failure of completion is impossible<\/strong>. If you’ve ever written a blog series, you know it can be a little draining, and you might get bored with it after a while. By writing it all in advance, you take away the temptation of stopping halfway through (and hoping that your readers don’t notice).<\/p>\n

2. Continuous thought.<\/strong> If you decide to sit down and power through the series in one sitting, you’ll find that it helps you keep the series as a cohesive unit in your mind. One way to think of it is like an over-sized post. If you can break the big post down into many smaller posts, you’ll keep the continuity and the writing will go quicker. I even use multiple windows to write in as many as 4 different posts at a time.<\/p>\n

Previously, I’d find myself rereading my previous posts again and again, trying to remember what the devil I was talking about a few days before. The one-sitting approach takes care of that problem in a hurry. Even if you can’t get all of the posts completed, outlining all of them works great too.<\/p>\n

3. Keeping the idea alive.<\/strong> This one’s fairly easy. Usually I think of post series’ on a whim. So if I write the entire series while the idea is still fresh, I’ve got great potential of staying excited with the idea, thus ensuring I’ll complete it.<\/p>\n

4. No procrastination. <\/strong> This leads into the previous point. If you can have the self-control to wait to publish the series as a whole, you totally eliminate the inevitable procrastination that comes with writing a blog series.<\/p>\n

Sadly, there is at least one series that I’ve stopped half way through. Pretty pathetic for a guy who spends a good portion of his time writing about Getting Things Done<\/a>, eh? The main reason why I didn’t finish is because I lost motivation. The posts in the series were pretty time consuming, and I completely underestimated the undertaking.<\/p>\n

So there you have it. I’d encourage every blogger to at least try writing a post series if you haven’t already. It’s lots of fun, and it’s a great way to write a week’s worth of posts in one sitting.<\/p>\n

PS from Darren: If you want to learn more about writing a blog series you might like to read a mini-series of posts that I wrote on the topic:<\/p>\n