They’re very firm in their choice to do so, and I’m equally firm in my habits, so we’re parting ways in about a month, which is irksome. Definitely a bit of a speedbump on my way to real pro-blogging.

Anyone recommend a good network to look for work at? :)

Speaking of software, that’s the first thing that popped to mind when Darren launched this subject. A tremendous opportunity out there for those developers just wishing they could sink their teeth into something …. instead of “yet another WordPress theme/plug-in” what about a blog manager that (just one vision) takes a desktop blog publisher like Windows Live Writer (recommended), Ecto or any flavor you like and gives you continual statistics on posts published, posts “pre-published”, posts “in work”, posts needed, etc. Something to guide production towards an even work flow and to call attention to things that didn’t get completed.
Sounds a worthy project to me…..

I upgraded in stages – first I pinched an old 17″ CRT monitor and used it for extra screen ‘real estate’ on the PB, but I still found that the PB was being overworked being on for 10-12+ hours per day and doing intensive stuff, and I was getting bogged down.

So last month I invested in a new 17″ iMac and a 19″ LCD monitor, so now I have 2880×900 screen resolution, more desk space (CRT took up SO much room), a much faster, quieter, cooler computer, and (generally) a much more efficient workflow.

I have moved to Opera for doing a lot of my tabbed browsing – mainly because if ever the browser goes down or I close a tab or a whole window by accident, it will open up exactly as it was last left – this is a godsend and I wish Safari and the others did it (have you ever clicked the red close button on a Safari window when you meant to click the back arrow and lost a large number of tabs? It’s VERY annoying). I still use Safari for composing blog entries, and doing general surfing. I found Firefox became really unstable after a while and kept crashing for no reason – I couldn’t rely on it.

I still use my PB if I want to work away from the office, need to commute, am doing any live blogging away from home, or just as an extra machine if I want even more screen and processing! My office now has 4 computers in it but only 2 get used regularly, the others are my wife’s PC which is v unreliable and is just a backup, and my very old G4 Mac that is used for backup.

I must admit to sometimes using one of the screens to watch full-screen TV whilst I’m working – good if I’m on something that doesn’t need too much concentration and when there’s something I want to watch on TV :)

The timestamping / pre-posting of articles and entries in advance has helped me a lot in managing my own blogs and keeping up. It’s nice to be able to set a little time each day for productive blogging, but for those of us who do NOT work full time and / or are NOT earning enough to quit our day jobs .. it’s also nice to line up a series of posts that will post automatically when scheduled. On one of my blogs I have posts coming every 4-6 hours, most others are 1-2 per day and a couple 1-2 once or twice a week. Then if I do manage to make time and do extra ‘live’ blogging .. it seems like I’m doing more than I really am.

I guess it sounds a little dissapointing that blogs end up taking so much work. You’d think it would be ‘free’ money once they get established. I guess nothing in life is “free”

- Bryan
http://www.BryanCFleming.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_boxing
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2004/10/timeboxing/

Basically, just plan out your day by allocating a certain amount of time to various tasks. One hour for research, one hour for writing new posts, half an hour for random surfing, one hour for answering email, etc. Stick to the time limits, and if anything isn’t finished just leave off where you are and pick it up again later.

The underlying theory is that it’s better to make some progress in every area, than to spend all your time in one or two areas and completely ignore others.

This can really help you to not get sucked into those endless rathole tasks. For example, you could lose days on “blog promotion”, surfing around related blogs, leaving comments, emailing people, setting up link swaps, participating in discussion forums, etc. If you set a hard limit on the time you’ll spend doing this, you’ll still get some benefit but you won’t neglect your other areas of focus. There’s no point promoting a blog that hasn’t had a fresh post for a month!

Also, allocate some time to improving your processes. For example, if you’re finding that you never seem to get all your emails from readers answered in the time you allow, and many of the emails are fairly similar, set up a FAQ with detailed answers that you can point people to. Or get some macro expansion software like TypeItForMe (Mac), which lets you send canned responses in seconds. Or start sending shorter responses, but write a full answer as a blog post (which falls under a different timebox, and also fulfills your goal of adding new posts regularly).

Spend some time each week looking at what you do and how you do it, see what can be made more efficient, and see if there are things you can do that fulfill multiple goals at once. Another example of this is to take all the comments you leave on other peoples’ blogs, and rewrite them slightly as posts on your own blog. Some might just need a little tweak, while others merely form the skeleton for a longer article. But it’s leveraging time spent in one area (blog promotion) to reduce work in another (blog posting). Contributing to blog carnivals (or Darren’s group writing projects!) achieves this as well.

I find iCal really handy for timeboxing. It lets you easily add boxes, move them around, rearrange things if something unexpected comes up, and it just looks sexy. It can also pop up reminders so you know to start wrapping up what you’re doing when there’s only 5 minutes left.

Hope this helps.

I’m a fairly frugal guy. I don’t believe in constantly upgrading computers. Just the same, I am currently saving all my blog revenue to go toward the purchase of a 17″ MacBook Pro, not because I need the power, but because I need the wide screen. I believe that a bigger workspace will allow me to keep a web browser and text editor open side-by-side. This will help a great deal.

Also, in theory, I’ll be able to set up the new computer for the express purpose of blogging. My file structure will reflect this purpose, as will the software I have on the machine. (In other words — no large iTunes libraries.)

I’ve saved $1200 toward the $3100 purchase price. My goal is to have it by March.

You’re welcome Khurrum.

Currently, I could only describe my work style as MESSY. I work on a 12″ Powebook. I perpetually have two browsers open, each with two or three windows filled with tabs. My ftp client is open. My text editor (BBedit) is open, and it has anywhere from ten to fifty in-progress entries. I’m serious. About half of these are saved; the other half are doomed if I have any sort of system crash. (These are rare, but do happen, even on OS X.) I don’t keep Photoshop open, but launch it as needed. I don’t open my RSS reader except on rare occasions. I don’t need it. I’ve got too much going on without looking to it for ideas.

I wish I had some sort of project management software that would quickly and *easily* manage my in-progress entries. I have a “wishlist” of entries in a separate file. I open it every couple weeks to get ideas. I also have a designated inbox filled with reader suggestions. I get two or three reader suggestions everyday. I could basically just devote a weblog to those alone. But because I’m trying to keep Get Rich Slowly down to one or two entries every day (along with a links-post every night), there’s not room for everything. And I don’t know how to prioritize.

Fortunately, I’m fairly good at staying on-task. I’ve been weblogging for five years now, which has been great preparation for actually having a successful topical blog in that regard. I just don’t know how to juggle all my content, though.

I can’t stand Bloglines; in fact, I’ve never really been able to get used to web-based feed readers. I use Liferea, because it has a nice “Unread” feature which mixes in all entries from all feeds in chronological order, something I haven’t seen from any other desktop feed reader (but web-based Gregarius does it).

But the main thing absolutely is time management. You have to be able to stay on task, even when you have all sorts of distractions. And even without a wife and child at home, with the Internet at your fingertips, there are bound to be distractions.