Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Writer's Block

Now Blogger Lets You Take Sweet Revenge

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON


Sitting at the computer and your thought process has deserted you? Totally deserted you? I often see posts by bloggers who write that they are feeling the pressure of writing to a deadline, simply to post something for the day. But Blogger has a feature that is going to make your life a lot easier.

You can write a post in advance and just use a simple option to pre-set it to post at any time, on any day. Yep, that's right. It'll post automatically.

Just go to Blogger's Scheduled Posts, where you can read the details and see the simple graphic pointer. Going to Draft Blogger will take you through your normal steps, through logging in and through the dashboard.

Write your post and when you click on Post Options, simply set the date and time that you want it to publish. You'll then get this message (see below) confirming that your post will be published at the date and time you have chosen.

Voila! It's so simple. But every time you want to pre-schedule a post, you need to go to Draft Blogger instead of Blogger.

(And if you accidentally publish a post instead of pre-scheduling it, simply use the Save As Draft option to remove it from your blog and place it back on your dashboard, to be published later.)

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a pretty cool feature.

Merisi said...

Really neat, David, thank you for pointing it out! All I need to do now is wait for the day that inspiration hits. ;-)

CamiKaos said...

David thanks so much for the heads up. I have really been hoping they would come out with this feature as I typically write my posts a day ahead of time!

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

That is brilliant David! Thanks for the tip!

Mom Knows Everything said...

That's pretty neat, but I think I would rather have a piece of that chocolate bar.

Jo Beaufoix said...

I'm not bragging or anything I promise, but wordpress already has this built in. You can just edit the timestamp. It's really good for if you're going away. I love it.

Dave Coulter said...

This will come in handy!

Sandee said...

I love this feature David. I just started using it and it's working out fine. I post about 1am my time. I guess I get up too late for a fresh post first thing in the morning. Have a great day. :)

Cath said...

Thanks David. I usually use Dashboard, but haven't used the scheduled thingy. I'm not sure I'm that organised... lol

Rose said...

David,

That is great information! I needed it. I've been so busy lately; my thoughts have been disjointed and I only get small windows to write with everything coming out at once. Then I break them into more than one post and they get forever lost in post-draftland! I'm going to take a look at that tonight!

Thanks again.

dot said...

I sure didn't know that! Thanks!

Misty DawnS said...

So far when I have pre-dated something, it has shown up as a sticky post and remains at the top of my blog until the date and time I pre-dated. I will have to check this out now and see if they have changed the feature. It sounds very handy!

By the way David, I made my 500th post on My Dogs Keep Me Sane today, and you're in it. I hope I adequately express what I wanted to say to you.

Oh, and I'm with Tammy - pass me some of that chocolate!

Tom said...

Sweet as a nut...
This sound very good David... I will have to look at this.

Unknown said...

David,

Thanks for pointing this out. I just tried it and have a post schedule to post before I even wake up tomorrow. Pretty cool.

holly said...

oh my bob i'm now going to make all my posts up until well into the summer! it was getting really difficult to keep remembering all the stuff i want to say, but now i can just say it, and current-time be damned! i'ma goin' on vacation!!!!

okay, i really got nothing. i walk out the door in the morning saying 'please bob, give me something funny today'.

Jan said...

Wonderful tip David. That would save alot of time and worry for sure. Your so with it.

If you have writers block
And the clock is going tock
Then draft your post ahead
And you can sleep instead

I tried David. I tried.

VP said...

David - I found a bug in it yesterday. DO NOT hit the refresh key when you go back into your blog. It whips the post out from being scheduled to being there ahead of schedule - albeit showing the date and time it was scheduled for. Have a look at the first post of 7th April to see what I mean. I've reported it to Blogger. The second post was also scheduled - but this time I kept my finger off the refresh key ;)

fuzzbert_1999@yahoo.com said...

That sounds very useful David. I'll have to check it out, especially for The Silverbacks! Lately I've been posting three a day...this way I could spread them out.

I wish there was something to help you come up with ideas! I posted another "deer" piece today and I have one more in the hopper. After that, I'm lost.

Guess I'll have to start posting answers to your questions then!

Kat said...

Ugh. That pic makes me want chocolate now. :(

Thanks for the info. That will definitely come in handy!

Unknown said...

This is really interesting, David. I didn't know there was an option like this. I sometimes write a post and save it as a draft, but then if I want to post it later, I have to copy it and paste it into a new blog post. I'll have to check this out!

kimmy said...

I love that BLogger feature David! Thanks for sharing!

Is that chocolate I see? I just had myself a piece of dark chocolate! I love it!!!!

Kimmy

Katney said...

I was alerted to this a few weeks back and have been using it particularly for my Odd Shots posts. (I will not get ahead of you, but my shot will post at midnight on the correct day and I don't have to stay up late to do it.)

I have a problem, though with whether midnight is A.M. or P.M., so I schedule for 12:01. You do have to check your date and time carefully, as I woke up one day to find my post not there. I had neglected to change P.M. to A.M.

SandyCarlson said...

Thanks for explaining that, David. I've been curious but unable to track it down! You're a pal.

Moosekahl said...

I could hardly read about the update on the blogger feature...I was too distracted by the chocolate! man, that looks yummy!

Sam Fox said...

I've learnt something new! Thanks David! Guess that makes me the Daft Bugger who didn't know about Draft Blogger....

BTW - that's my kind of writer's block there...

jillie said...

I've been saving posts to my drafts but now that they have scheduling? That has made my life even easier! Thanks for the heads up. That chocolate would look good to me if I just didn't get eating dinner...ugh!

;o)

Jules~ said...

That is a great feature and idea. Sometimes I get the urge to write 5 different things in a day adn then I have nothing for a while. Using the delayed posting is a great way to space things out.

And I love the giant chocolate bar!

Anonymous said...

malvikajain.com

mrsnesbitt said...

Sounds good to me! Will have to give it a try!

Sorted for Wednesday?
I am! LOL!
Just you wait and see!

Shrinky said...

Yeah, but where is the button you press to get it to WRITE the post for you?

Unknown said...

I've been using this for a few months now, I posted about it here. :) It's been really handy, especially for the "special" days like Wordless Wednesday and Sky Watch Friday, where the posts really have to be to a deadline. Even though my writing schedule is a lot slower than most people's this feature has saved me countless worries already. I was waiting for this, and about to move to Wordpress actually, when they announced it.

@MistyDawn: They haven't "officially" changed this feature yet - you have to visit draft.blogger.com for it to work.

Cheers,

David Webb: Pictures of Nature

Craver Vii said...

Thanks for the info. I expect this could come in handy for me; I can't wait to try it!

I had hoped for such a thing, but I just didn't know...

Charles Gramlich said...

Yes, that is a nice feature. Thanks for pointing it out. I've been considering doing this actually. Right now I'm far behind in posts, or so it sems to me.

Kim said...

Great tip. I never knew this feature existed. Thanks :)

Unknown said...

Oh thanks! Since I have a day job and am NOT an early riser, this is good to know. Sometimes I guest blog and either post late the night before my scheduled day or try to post on the sly at work.

Craver Vii said...

I did it! It worked!!

Is there any more chocolate?