Sometimes writing drafts can backfire

[ses5909]

Michael mentioned (http://www.theblogexperiment.com/blog-forum/showthread.php?p=5682) how he had writtena post and it hadn't been published yet to when he saw a related topic, he couldn't comment.

This has been happening to me so often lately! I have several drafts waiting in the wings on some of my blogs, but I try to space them out. But it drives me insane when I see a post or a question that is related to mine and I can't comment because, well, it's not scheduled to go live until Nov 12 at 13:45.

Sometimes people will beat you to the punch and that sucks.

[fatnewt]

...don't stick to an arbitrary release schedule?

[SarahG]

Unless it's a weekend and I'm suddenly having a posting frenzy I tend to just post immediately after writing. I've suffered the same where I once posted a day or two in advance and then wished the post was live as I think it's a good one!

[Michael Martin]

That is a constant worry for me too. There are 2 or 3 good post ideas I have at the minute, that I've been working at for a while now. They'll be great posts when I release them, but I'm constantly expecting someone else to cover the topic in the meantime! xD

A similar event happened to me earlier on. I wrote a post on using images in posts (http://www.problogdesign.com/general-tips/do-images-in-posts-encourage-reading/), and had an idea in mind to write a follow-up post at some point about choosing images. I didn't count on my readers being ahead of me though!

One of the commenters asked me the very question of where I find my images, which I was of course happy to answer. It's just a shame that the post idea is gone now though... xD

[Simon]

I actually think it's a good idea to keep a few posts in the locker. I wrote a post a while ago http://www.oakinnovations.co.uk/blog/2007/08/24/strike-while-the-irons-hot/) suggesting why this is a good idea, and it really works. I would put a caveat on that however, I would say that it's important to make sure those posts are farily generic and not time sensitive. If the content is strong enough, it will hold up against any other blog posts covering similar ground.

[Kirk M]

The only posts I have on the back burner as drafts are the ones where I ran out of steam in the middle of writing and am waiting for that "piece to fall into place". If I had more time to blog I'm sure I'd have a whole draft of drafts waiting backstage. :)

[goldfries]

My site is like an online magazine already, so I really have to stick to my 1 post per 3 - 4 days plan.

releasing articles all at once would mean i have to churn out more. :)

[rodaniel]

I usually have a few ideas germinating over in Google Notebook but recently I had a little dry spell and plundered most of them. I've got a multi-post series brewing now but it's not set for a specific publish date...

[deronsizemore]

One of the commenters asked me the very question of where I find my images, which I was of course happy to answer. It's just a shame that the post idea is gone now though... xD

I don't think the post idea would be gone. But, maybe look at it as on opportunity to make a post. Make a post about where you get your images and reference that someone had asked the question in the form of a comment on your other article. You could spread the link love to the commentator that asked the question, make it known where you get your images to other readers who may not have read that article's comments, and plus you'll get to include a link to that particular article where you talk about images in your posts.

Just an idea.

[ses5909]

Good point Deron. Plus only so many people will follow the conversation in the comments. Comments can be a great place to fin inspiration for your posts!

[Golgotha]

I know how you feel Sara. But, the reality is it really doesn't matter. The web is a very big place and chances are that the other persons blog doesn't carry the exact same readers. In addition, it's not like buying cereal - that if you buy Lucky Charms you filled your cereal vode and will move on. On the web people can read your blog and a dozen others.

I know to us, the writers, it may seem like a big deal, but I think stats wise - there really is no significance. Infact, one of the most popular articles on Search-This is 'CSS Liquid Round Corners'. Do you realize how many other blogs have this same topic? But, because Paul did such a great job explaining how to do it he has put all other articles to shame. Another extremely popular article on ST is 'CSS Rollover Buttons'. It ranks 2nd in Goolge for 'CSS Rollover Buttons' - a very popular topic. There's nothing SO outstanding about the article, but it still does a ton of traffic.

I would never not cover an article just because someone else did. Infact, I would cover an article just because it's a popular topic.

[Golgotha]

Just read Brian's new article (http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-write-remarkably-creative-content/) and think it's worth mentioning.