Austerity – definition: the quality or state of being stern or strict
Today is my 500th post…whoop!
When I committed to posting once a day for 2013, I had no real idea if I would be able to maintain it. Close friends thought I was either barking mad or extremely brave to even attempt it. I have been strict with myself about posting daily but have also found that by drafting posts ahead of time has helped enormously. This ‘trick’, which I’m sure lots of you know already was particularly useful when there were days I have not wanted to post, especially when I vacationed in England with my family after five years away. We fell into our relationships so easily and I did not want to miss moments with them all. So all I had to do was click and submit. The hardest time was when sadly, my Mother passed away in September and I had to travel to England from Canada to be with my siblings. She had been fascinated but puzzled with this ‘blog’ thing but did see how important it was to me and reminded me to pop up to my brother’s place to click and submit every evening. There was one evening when my brother was not at home so my Mother took me to one of her friends houses especially, so I did not ‘fail’. Her encouragement for me to try new things throughout my life has been an inspiration, one I have passed on to my children. Her legacy lives on.
This year has given me an increased word knowledge from the desk diary I use as inspiration each day as well as wonderful connections with authors around the world. As the last month arrives on this personal challenge I feel a sense of community and fellowship and thank you all for visiting and commenting. I have no idea what my 2014 schedule will be so any suggestions are welcome although once a day is probably not on the cards!
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Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers 
December 2, 2013 at 6:43 pm
Mandy: Congratulations on 500 posts as well as your commitment to writing one post a day. Surely a feat that is an inspiration to everyone writing a blog. Keep up the good work. Cheers. Alex
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December 2, 2013 at 8:53 pm
Thank you Alex. A post per day was my 2013 New Year’s resolution. I will have to think what I am going to do for 2014 shortly.
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December 2, 2013 at 1:11 am
Well done, Mandy! What an achievement and dedication.I sure there will be many more posts:)
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December 2, 2013 at 6:17 am
Thanks Emy, I set out to post once per day for 2013 and I’m now on the home stretch. It feels good.
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December 1, 2013 at 9:04 pm
Magnificent! 500 posts! Well done, Mandy! Here’s a nifty trick I just learned: when you have a finished draft or several, you can schedule each to post on a different day, thus making it easier when out of town…or sleeping in, or, letting your hair down.
On our “new” post, as we’re drafting them, off to the right side are the buttons, under the “Publish Section”: Save Draft, Preview, Status, Visibility, Publish Immediately (Edit), Publish
When you have finished your draft and saved it, of course!, go over to the Publish Immediately (Edit) area, click on (Edit). A calendar pops up, fill in the date and time, click ok, and now the Publish button has changed to Schedule, click schedule.
And you are all set! Tried it out last night for 00:45 (well, okay for today… ~ it’s a 2400 clock) – worked like a charm! Sweet!
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December 2, 2013 at 6:19 am
Now if only I’d known that!!! Thanks for the tip. I am pondering what schedule I will be doing for 2014 and this trick will sure come in handy.
Thanks for popping by.
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December 2, 2013 at 10:16 pm
Well, you were the second person I wrote who has a busy schedule, so I decided to do a post on it. Thank you!
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December 3, 2013 at 8:07 am
Excellent
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December 1, 2013 at 1:08 pm
I’m having a little trouble with getting into the habit of posting regularly on my blog. I keep making deals with myself to write something every day. After being in the habit for a few days something always ends up getting in the way, a test I have to study really hard for for example, and then I’m out of the habit again. Do you have any tips on how to make sure you really write something every day?
And congratz on your 500th post, that’s awesome!
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December 1, 2013 at 2:51 pm
Hi, trying to post every day is a large commitment and is probably not required for the most part. I found that utilizing my desk diary word each day gave me a starting point for my post. I would create a post for each day with the word as a title then if an idea came to me, I put it underneath that. Once the week’s draft posts were saved I would go back to any that had sparked an idea and write it out and insert pictures. Maybe think about a regular post day or days and create the posts ahead of time then they are ready on your designated days. I hope this helps a little
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December 1, 2013 at 10:32 am
Congratulations on your 500th post and on posting every day for so long! It definitely takes persistence and creativity. Maybe you could post prompts or writing exercises in 2014. Whatever you post, I’ll be sure to stop by and say hello here and there. 🙂
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December 1, 2013 at 11:00 am
Thanks Christi, another idea to ponder.
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December 1, 2013 at 10:12 am
Congratulations! 🙂 I enjoy the vocabulary lessons and variety. I hope there won’t be a quiz, though… (actually, if you did have a word list at the end of the year, it would be kind of fun to see how many I’ve forgotten…)
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December 1, 2013 at 10:13 am
That’s a cool idea Chris…maybe I’ll do that.
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