Many people have asked me how I manage to blog Project Life 365. Well, if you follow this blog on a daily basis, you’ll know that the truth is that I don’t blog every day. Yes, it is nearly every day, but NOT every day. I have a life. I didn’t have time to sit down every day. I was already cheating the “rules” a bit anyway as I didn’t take a picture every day. The important part to this amazing project is that you have to find what works FOR YOU. Over the course of 2011, I watched my Project Life 365 morph and change. In the beginning, I wasn’t a scrapbooker and didn’t have the “eye” that comes with it. I took your “normal” pictures and not pictures that scrapbookers take. Believe me, there *is* a difference. I also started too big. About mid-February 2011, I had to force myself to keep going. I was writing longer stories and sometimes with multiple pictures. I think I was making it too difficult. As you can tell, I did keep going and I have no regrets. I simply love this project now. If you are thinking of blogging your own Project Life 365, I have a few tips that might make it easier on you.
- Start small. Go with short stories. Use the little things that strike you. Take a picture of “Laundry Day” or something funny you saw. Use the title as your only comment on a picture or write one line. Starting big with long stories can make this project feel like a chore.
- Find time to post. If you have five minutes at 11:55 pm, take that five minutes. If you have five minutes while waiting for breakfast to cook, post then. Just post. That is the important thing.
- Don’t be afraid to cheat. Don’t have time during a very busy day? Can’t find the five minutes? Don’t sweat it. You can change the publication days and times. I use that feature. ALL. THE. TIME. Post when you can. Cheat. It’s all the same result in the end.
- Take lots of pictures of various things on the *same* day. When I first began Project Life 365, I had to think every day about what I wanted to post. After about three weeks, I went around my house one day and took all kinds of random pictures. For the next couple of months, I used some of those pictures. It made the whole project easier. The only person who knows that you didn’t take a picture on that particular day is you. Who really cares anyway? It’s *your* project.
- Don’t use a picture some days – blog your thoughts. Some days, I had no picture to take or it wasn’t a picture that was the important part of the day. I often posted the goofy things the kids said or I posted what I was thinking. Again, it’s *your* project. Do what works for you.
- Use an old picture now and then. Towards the end of January 2011, John stopped using his pacifier (pluggie). This was a major event in our household. Of course, I couldn’t give him his pluggie back to get a picture of him with it, so I used an old picture. Other times, I was looking through old pictures and I wanted to share my current thoughts about that old picture.
- Have too many pictures from a day? Post them all. It’s a blog. You have the space. Don’t be afraid to use it.
- Most importantly, GIVE YOURSELF A PASS now and then. I went through a short period in September 2011 where I didn’t post for five days. I had just been told I was losing my job and I didn’t care about Project Life 365 or really much of anything. It’s fine. Skip a day or two if you need to. I kept taking pictures, but I didn’t post. I didn’t have it in me. I woke up one morning, plopped my butt at my computer, and caught up. Shit happens. A few days off isn’t killing anyone.
These are just the things that nearly tripped me up on this long, but somehow surprisingly short, journey. It wasn’t long before I was noticing all the little things that occur every day. The memories on this blog are priceless and I have no regrets. Good luck to you in your adventure! If I can help you, let me know. I could talk all day long about this project. 🙂