Hobby Blogging and Using Monthly Planners for Planning Blog Content

I’m celebrating an anniversary! I am actually shocked that it has been a little over a year since I decided to add my voice and experience to the web via this little blog.  

My first post went live on September 2, 2019. It was Labor Day (in the U.S.), and I had the day off. I thought it would be a good time to launch my blog because 1) I had time to work on it, 2) the school year was starting, which went with the school-based theme of my first article, and 3) as a total novice, I had no idea when might be a strategically good time to launch a blog.

The day of my blog launch, I had the website set up and the article ready to go. After all the time and effort I put into getting the site up and crafting my first blog post, I started the day by a hike around a nearby lake with my kids.

The rest of the day was pretty routine for a Labor Day holiday. Except for launching the blog before we went to my folks’ house for a cookout, we had a typical day, complete with preparing for school the next day.

Before I launched the blog, I had taken a friend’s recommendation and read Jen Sincero’s, “You are a Badass.” Basically, it’s a self-help book that explores how to change your mindset and attract success. Ironically, it also talks about how your desire to achieve something may be tested.

For anyone who’s curious, here is the book that pretty much predicted my garage accident–

Interestingly (or perhaps prophetically?), just a few hours after sharing my first article on social media (just Facebook back then), my neighbor was towing his broken down car, it got loose and it hit my house. I went from the joy of having launched my own website to feeling like the Universe was testing my resolve.

But, stressful as it was, I kept going. And, it has been a really rewarding experience.

In this post, I’m going to share for all who may be interested, what a hobby blog is and how I use a monthly planner to keep up with my blog and plan content. I hope it provides some insight into blogging as a hobby and some ideas for how to stay organized when creating online content.

What is Hobby Blogging?

When it comes to blogging, there seems to be two-different ways to go about it. The majority of information out there is on business blogging or blogging for profit. But, hobby blogging is another option.

While a hobby blog can turn a profit or morph into a business later, hobby blogging is exactly what it sounds like- blogging for a hobby. When you are blogging for a hobby, you are basically blogging for yourself.

There are no rules for a hobby blog. You can choose whatever topic you want, regardless of trends or the marketability of your niche. Heck, you don’t need to stick with a niche.

This is a great way to share your ideas, learn about things you’re passionate about, and engage with the online world without the pressure of having to sell anything or keep up your profits.

While a hobby blog can be about any type of topic that interests you, the most important part is to make sure you’re enjoying the process. If writing and editing content before posting it to an online platform doesn’t appeal to you, blogging may not be the best hobby for you.

However, if you enjoy the writing process and are interested in exploring creative ways of sharing your ideas through a website that is yours to fashion as you like, hobby blogging may be a great way to spend your free time.

Why I Started a Hobby Blog

So, a little bit about me (in case you don’t know me or haven’t read the “About Me” section of this blog). I live in North Carolina and wear a fair number of hats in my current season of life.

This blog is a hobby for a number of reasons. I am a wife and mother. I have a full-time job as a research attorney for a federal public defender office that takes up well more than 40 hours a week. In the spring, I also have a part-time job as an adjunct professor with a law school.

In addition to my own family and legal jobs, I am also pretty involved in my church– a small Presbyterian Church 10 minutes from my house- where my kids and I are active in worship, christian education and fellowship activities. I also have extended family that lives in town, in state, and out of state.

I will be the first to agree, I’m pretty busy. I do a lot of reading and writing for my job, and lot of running around for everything else.

The question is, why would someone who is busy decided to start a blog? It’s a good question, and one that I considered carefully before jumping into blogging.

So, as with any big decision, there was more than one reason that I wanted to try out blogging:

1. Sharing my experience with others. I have been through a lot over the last 10 years. From health issues to my child’s rare disease diagnosis, I have been on a journey of self-discovery and self-care. I’ve been reading a lot of books, seeing a therapist, and learning from others who have overcome similar challenges. I figured I didn’t go through all this just to overcome pain and suffering- I could use what I learned and help others. Moreover, I have been learning more about planners and planning, and how these can be used to manage some of those issues. I also help others at my day job with time management and planner suggestions, and figured blogging would be a great way to share this information more broadly.
2. I love writing. Now, I also love reading, which is one reason I went to law school. I think language is a powerful tool that can be used to change situations and improve our lives. But, I also need variety in my life. I discovered this in law school. As much as I enjoyed reading about different areas of the law (no, really- I like learning new things, which is why being a lawyer can be so interesting), I also needed to make sure to read things that would balance out the serious and complicated legal texts I was assigned each day. Knowing that, it shouldn’t be any surprise that law school is when I started reading a lot of fiction. From Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings to the Enders Game series, I had so much fun using those books to take a break. Now that I write for a living, I found myself feeling the same way about writing. I began with journaling, which I do daily (usually twice a day), but I wanted a more creative outlet. Blogging has become that creative writing outlet I’ve being looking for.
3. I wanted accountability. When I was at the height of my problems, it was a perfect storm of stress from work, family, and personal issues that resulted in actual body pain. My old outlet- running- became off-limits, as I had developed a severe case of plantar fasciitis that I have battled since 2015 and still struggle with today. I eventually learned that self-care was the only way to start healing myself. My self-care journey has been a mix of mental health counseling, physical therapy, and ways of figuring out how to nourish my spirit. But, as with any program that works, we can become lazy and inconsistent about it when we start to feel better. I wanted to keep trying new things and keeping a record of was and was not working, and this blog has provided me the accountability I need to keep striving toward better and more meaningful self-care routines and practices.
4. I thought it would be fun. I like a challenge and am always looking to experience new things. I’m definitely not the most tech-savvy person, so I knew that starting a blog would be a way to try something new and develop some skill-sets I have never had. While my son has a channel on YouTube, and he encouraged me to try that platform, I figured I would go with what I know to be a strength- my ability to write. Getting to write in a more creative way has definitely been a fun and rewarding experience.
5. I wanted to create in-depth, written planner reviews. I am a huge fan of watching YouTube planner reviews. I tend to watch them when I’m on the stationary bike or doing one of the workouts my physical therapist prescribed. The only drawback to watching planner review videos is that when I want to remember something, I have to pause the video or try to scroll through it to find what I need. Even with videos that have time stamps listed in the description, I still end up hunting for information I feel I need. And, as much as I take notes during meetings and webinars, I’m just not in the mood to do that for a YouTube video. I know there are plenty of websites with planner reviews out there, but I found that they don’t have as many specs listed, and a lot of them are comparison articles where they list the best planners on the market for a particular group of people. When I review planners in my blog, I try to give the same level of detail you would find on a YouTube video but in a readable format that you can easily search.

These are my reasons for starting a hobby blog. I hope that sharing them will give you some insight into the intent behind my website and inspire you to consider blogging if those reasons resonate with you!

Using a Monthly Planner for Creating Content

Why use a planner for blogging?

When I first decided to start a blog, I used a sweet, little Vera Bradley notebook I found on sale at my local Hallmark store. I brainstormed domain names, jotted down research about blogging, listed passwords and affiliate links, and created a sizable list of potential blog topics.

Being a planner geek, before I committed to starting a blog, I spent a lot of time brainstorming article topics. I had read you need to post at least once a week to maintain an audience as a blogger, and I didn’t want to get into this unless I had enough ideas to write about over at least a few months (yes, that’s how far ahead I planned).

However, after posting my first blog entry, I knew I needed a better way to stay organized and on top of my blogging. And, I found that organizing my thoughts was only part of running a blog- I soon learned that there were certain days and times of day that I should be sharing my blog content on social media. With all the unwritten rules on that, I had to find a way to stay organized.

After learning more about how social media sharing works, I knew I would need a place to write down all the deadlines for posting and sharing my blog. Those include the day I post the article, and the various days I would share the blog on different social media sites.

Also, I knew I would need a lot of note pages. Although I draft all of my articles in a Word document, I prefer paper for brainstorming topics and outlining my articles.

On top of that, whatever I used would need to include a place for keeping up with passwords and affiliate links. My weekly planner didn’t have room for all this, and that little Vera Bradley notebook just wasn’t big enough to contain all that I needed to store and work on for my weekly articles, let alone being set up to keep track of deadlines.

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Using monthly planners for content planning

There are a number of blog planners on the market right now. There are also planners that focus exclusively on planning online content or social media posts.

While these planners may be great for folks who have monetized blogs as their business, I found that the additional features just didn’t suit my needs. This is what led me to look for a simpler planner for my hobby blog. And that led me to the monthly planner.

First, although I use my planner for planning out my blog content, I think monthly planners could work for any online content planning, whether that be for a blog, podcast, or video content such as what’s posted on IGTV or YouTube. But, since my experience is limited to blogging, that is how I’m going to be featuring these planners in this article.

After learning about different planning layouts (covered in my first article about decoding planner terms), I figured that a monthly planner would have everything I need for the perfect blog content planner, and my instincts were right!

Although the most common planner layouts are weekly or daily editions, monthly planners are a great option when you have a specific purpose for your planning. I’ve seen folks online use them for everything from keeping up with household tasks to budgeting, and even wedding planning!

That said, keep in mind that not all monthly planners have the same features. Some monthly planners are very simple and are created to serve as a portable calendar. Here is one example that has two years’ worth of calendars in one place, with no other pages except the monthly layouts:

While these planners are great for being able to look at a few monthly appointments, it simply won’t work for content planning, since they usually don’t have enough notes pages. Luckily, several companies do have monthly planners with the option of lots of notes pages and other features that work for blog planning.

The first ones I purchased for blog planning were the Monthly Deluxe planners from Erin Condren. I have been pleased with the quality of the planners, but feel like they lack customizability (if that’s even a word?). There are only a few options for the start month, and you can only add note pages at the end of the planner. (Also, given the latest controversy with the brand, I’ve been trying to think outside the box with this, as I noted here.)

How to use the monthly planner features

• The monthly layout. I list out my tasks on the monthly calendar page on the days I need them done. These include settling on a blog topic, brainstorming the topic, outlining the article, posting it, and sharing it to various sites on social media.
• The dashboard/goal-setting pages. This two-page section found in many planners is located just before or after the monthly calendar page and has a blank page on one side and a place for important events, goals and other types of planning on the other. I use mine to jot down content ideas (I’ll plan ahead a few months- and this is where I’ll begin to note ideas), inspiration for the month (which can be seasonal), and my goals for that month (like learning something knew about blogging.
• The yearly overview. I will note when certain planner launches are scheduled and other seasonal inspirational ideas.
• Notes pages at the back of the planner. I create a table of contents on the very first notes page and number every page to the end. I’ll reserve a few pages for brainstorming, passwords, affiliate links, and other information about the blog throughout, making sure to note the pages in my table of contents.
• Front cover dashboard. My current planners have laminated covers with a “dashboard” on the inside cover. In the front one, I use a wet erase marker to write out my intentions for the blog. It’s like a mission statement, and reminds me about why I started blogging.
• Back cover dashboard. On the inside of the back cover, I have a current list of best dates and times to share content on various social media sites. I also wrote these out with wet erase markers.

For laminated covers and dashboards, I recommend using wet erase markers, as they don’t flake off on the page or rub off as easily as dry erase do. The Staedtler pen company makes this lovely, fine-tipped set:

Accessories for a blog planner

Of course, you have to make your planner work for you. And, since no planner comes with every feature you could possibly want, I tend to purchase a few accessories to personalize my planning experience. Here are the ones I use for my blog planner:

• Page markers. I have added bookmarks and planner clips so I can easily find the month I’m on, the monthly notes page I’m using to plan that week’s entry, and my brainstorming section in the back of the planner.

Magnetic page markers easily help you find the pages in any type of planner-

Decorative binder clips make it easy to section off parts of your planner (such as prior dates) and find a spot in your planner. And this collection has a couple of different sizes.

• Planning bookmark. I have a large, clip-in, laminated bookmark where I brainstorm my ideas for photos to upload to the post. You can also use a laminated dashboard for this.

• Stickers. I don’t do a lot of decorating in my blog planner, but I do add a few stickers with inspirational quotes to the main calendar, just to keep me focused on the big picture. I also use stickers to cover up some of the suggested wording in the monthly dashboard page and will write over it to include how I plan to use those sections.

Inspirational quotes always brighten up my planners, making them more fun to use.

Monthly planner options

I have been searching far and wide for good quality monthly planners on the market, and these are the best ones I have found:

• Plum Paper Planner. This company’s monthly planner is the closest I have found to the one I’m currently using. They offer a single-coil binding, with a very strong coil, Mohawk, paper, and the planner is far more customizable. There is a  dashboard and notes page before each month (see above for how I use the dashboard pages in my current planner). It also comes with several features (the contacts and passwords pages) I think are helpful for blog planning. You can choose whether your planner is bound (you can choose to bind it yourself), the start month (choose any month), the number of months spanned (between 12 to 18 months) and add up to 6 pages between the monthly spreads as well as up to 70 pages at the back of the planner. If you blog for a business, there are separate blog planning pages you can add to your planner.
• Inkwell Press. As I noted in last week’s article, disc-bound planning systems are some of the most flexible around. Inkwell press sells their systems a la carte, so you can either get the paper to place in a disc-bound system you already own or buy theirs to go with it. They have a monthly layout option and note paper that you can add to it. The one drawback is that they are released each year in only two time-spans: academic and calendar year. So, you cannot choose your start month for these.
• Cloth and Paper. Another great option is to buy planner inserts. Cloth and Paper sells monthly inserts that fit disc-bound and 6-ring binder planners in a wide variety of different sizes. The design is minimal but the lettering is sleek and sophisticated. You can add as many note pages for content planning as you wish. The only drawback is that the inserts are dated (there is no undated monthly option), and you cannot choose your start month. I listed this company in my roundup of black-owned planner shops and am blown away by the gorgeous binders they sell!
• Golden Coil. If you look up customizable planners on Google, Golden Coil will show up near the top of your search results. This company is known for making very customizable planners. There are multiple weekly and vertical layouts, and you can add an assortment of different planning pages, including ones for blogging. The only drawback is that they do not sell a dated monthly planner. However, you can choose to make a notebook with undated monthly calendar layouts and add note paper to create your own monthly planner.
• She Plans. If you want to print out your own monthly planner and bind it yourself (you can choose to use a three-hole punched binder or add discs to make your own disc-bound planner), this printable planner is an affordable option. It also means you can add as many notes pages as you like and customize it as you see fit.
• FiloFax. If you are a minimalist and don’t think you’ll need a lot of note pages for content planning, you may like the lined monthly layouts and 40 pages of removable note paper that comes with this planner. There are very few bells and whistles with this planner, and you will not be able to choose your start month.

I have found hobby blogging to be a great way to spend my time, and I’ve renewed my blog for another year. As a long as it continues to serve my needs, I think I will keep it up! And, as long as I’m blogging, I’ll be tweaking how I plan my content and keep up with my planning.

Do you use a monthly planner in any way? If you create content what’s your method for planning? Leave a comment below!

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**Image credits-woman typing, BLOG letter tiles, and computer with coffee cup and notebook found on Pixabay.