I’ve never written a blog before, so here’s my first attempt at it! The questions posed to me are: How realistic do you think it will be for you to adhere to a schedule in order to devote the time necessary to complete the required work in your online courses?  What measures will you take to ensure that this happens? 

In all honesty, I don’t think I will ever in my life have a consistent set schedule/ routine. My life changes so much week to week when it comes to school, work, and life responsibilities. However, I can definitely be cognizant of this reality and use time management skills to the best of my ability in order to maintain all of my commitments. I know I can devote the time necessary to my studies, but it won’t reflect a normal schedule- sometimes the best time for me to get work done will be after a night shift at 6:00 am, other times I might have to dedicate an entire day off of work to get ahead on my school work so I don’t subsequently fall behind. I think the most important way I can devote the necessary time to my online course work is by understanding the time commitment necessary for each assignment, and then subsequently dividing up that work to accommodate for my hectic work schedule. That being said, I should definitely try to prioritize completing my work earlier in the week far before deadlines to ensure that in the event I don’t complete the work in a timely manner, I can still adjust and complete all of the assignments before their due dates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.