5 Writing Tips for Bloggers in a Time Crunch

Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content and has gained 600K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.

I find it easy to share writing tips for bloggers about getting started with blogging … types of blog posts to create … blog post length. 

But blogging week after week can take its toll when a writing deadline looms or a vacation is just around the corner or the kids are going to be home for a break.

I detest time pressure. I want to keep my commitment to my readers by being consistent in posting and delivering value with each post. 

That’s why I came up with some writing tips for bloggers who are in a time crunch. Confession: these tips are mostly for me, even though many of you have shared similar struggles.

When I get panicked and pressed for time to finish blog posts and get them on the schedule, I get anxious. The temptation is to not write, not post, not mail. You, too? Try these writing tips for bloggers to keep posting quality content when time is tight.

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5 Writing Tips for Bloggers in a Time Crunch

Tip 1: Count the Posts

Sit down with your calendar. Look ahead to when you’ll be in a time crunch. If you follow your normal schedule, how many posts will you need create to get through the deadline or the vacation or the holidays? Count them. Now you have a clear idea of your writing load. Tip: include one week beyond the end of your deadline or vacation to give you some wiggle room when you get back on your regular schedule. 

Tip 2: Create a Back Off Schedule

Fundraisers, magazine publishers, and direct mail project managers use a helpful tool called a “back off schedule.”

They start with the day they’d like a mailing to “drop” – that is, go to the post office or get on the social media schedule. From that date they work backwards: on what date must the mailing be at the printer? On what date must the content be with the designer? On what date must the content be submitted to the editor? The back off process helps them create a due date schedule for the creative team.

Take a page out their book and create your own back off schedule. Let’s say you have three posts to create and schedule before you go on your vacation. Work backwards. Give yourself due dates for writing the drafts, editing the posts, creating images, posting the content, and scheduling the mailings. 

Tip 3: Choose Easy Topics

With your schedule in hand, it’s clear that you have less time than usual to complete your posts. It’s perfectly okay to find ways to condense the process during a time crunch. Some blog posts take longer to write than others. Now is the time to pump out those quicker posts.  Study your idea files and choose:

• Half-completed posts you can finish
• Topics that are simple or easy for you to write about (so you can produce them in a shorter amount of time)
• Older posts that you’d like to update with fresh content
• Ideas for list posts
• Posts that have content that you can repurpose in a different format

Tip 4: Work in Batches

Once you have your post content ready to go, then complete the additional tasks in batches. For instance, I create my graphics in PicMonkey. I find I save time when I create images for two or three different posts in one sitting. (Here's a helpful resource that shows you how to build your blog just 20 minutes at a time.)

Tip 5: Schedule Time Off

Look at the calendar and decide which day or days you will not post or mail. Then announce your hiatus to your readers. Say, “I’ll be taking a break from Mama’s Basketball Blog during the week of December 25 to spend time with my family. See you back here in January!”

Your readers will understand. You’ll have kept your commitment to them. And you’ll have extra time to devote to the remaining posts on your schedule so they’re high-quality and deliver value to your readers.

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