Every Single Day

Recently, I read a fantastic post about doing things everyday.  Lately, I've struggled with feeling productive.  As I look over my day, it's easy to notice all the things I didn't get done, even when there's a lot I did get done.

Photo credit: wmich.edu

To be sure, I waste time.  Some of it is good waste, like that impromptu visit with a friend I didn't know would stop by.  Even though "visit for an hour with a friend" wasn't on my to do list--oddly, it rarely is--I felt happy, understood and comforted when she left and, even though my living room is STILL a mess, I feel like it was time well spent.

There's other time wasters that are really that.  Facebook is an incredible time suck.  With my new job, I spend a ton more time on FB as well as time researching best practices, third party software and info for blog posts.  I want to do a good job, but I can spend all day doing it, which isn't really the goal and my paycheck won't reflect it.

Then there are those things I *should* be doing everyday that fall by the wayside.  When I opened my journal last, it had been three weeks.  It had probably been a week or more since I'd spent time on my own scripture study.

Whenever I open my scriptures or my journal, it seems the devil is there saying, "What about dishes?  Or the laundry?  It will only take a second to throw in a load.  Do that first.  Wait.  Isn't there an email you've been waiting for?  Why don't you check?"

So I find myself doing one thing after another and never getting to the scriptures.  Meanwhile, when I'm on the computer, I swear the devil is saying, "This will only take a minute.  Ooooh.  Let's go here and read this."

I digress.  The point is, that I like Gretchen Rubin's idea of doing certain things every single day no matter what.  Then you can't say, is this the day or can it wait for tomorrow? and so on with all of the different possible procrastination tactics.

Therefore, I have put scripture study, where it belongs, on the everyday list.

In more food for thought, and we'll just have to see how I do, Gretchen Rubin (you know Happiness Project fame) says that she blogs 6 days a week.  After getting a great start on my work blog, I found it a struggle to get posts up and I've lagged blogging here notably.  So, I was thinking of copying Gretchen and trying to blog daily.  I need to blog biweekly for Honda of Orem, but I could blog here the rest of the time!

So, I'm wondering, what does everybody else have on their must-do-everyday list?

Why Would You Use WordPress, When You Can Use Blogger?

My new job has me on the hunt.  Not only am I blogging (and learning more about the auto industry than I even thought I wanted to know), but I am also managing my client's Facebook page.

I have to admit, that I've been slow to get to the FB party, only joining in 2009 because there was no other way to learn about my 15 year high school reunion.  And, for whatever reason, I'm one of those people who LOVES high school reunions.

In the last 3+ years, I certain feel like I've mastered FB for my personal use.  But being assigned to run a business FB page was new territory.  So I spend 30 minutes to 2 hours, almost daily, searching out any and all information I can find on how to best run business FB pages, including how to promote, advertise, and engage fans as well as what FB can really accomplish and to whom you should spend your time gearing promotions.

In tonight's research, I found a link to an old article (Nov 2009) spouting the benefits in a Blogger verses WordPress face off.  This was particularly interesting to me, because I had just gone to lengths to persuade my client to use Blogger instead of WordPress.  And in speaking to an author at my HTML class, I was trying to persuade her to ditch her WordPress account and come over to Blogger.  So, why, I wondered, did this author think WordPress was so much better?

His complaints include trackbacks, subscribe by email and adding a poll--all of which are standard options in the current version of Blogger.  He also complains of RSS feeds, now nearly obsolete and SEO, which is every bit as easy to use in Blogger as it is WordPress and Blogger has more versions of Label Clouds, a feature that makes searching within a blog both fun and aesthetically pleasing.

So, three years later, here are the reason's I recommend Blogger over WordPress.

Share functions.  On the free layouts on WordPress, there are no viewable share buttons (like to Facebook, twitter, etc) unless you specifically click on the article in order to comment.  But if you arrive on the blog instead, you can scroll up and down and never see a share button anywhere.

Free layouts, video, etc.  Bloggers services are extensive and free.  WordPress nickels and dimes you for every little thing.  Want this layout instead of that?  That'll cost you $55 - $75.  Want to be able to change your background color?  Upgrade to the "Pro Bundle" for a mere $99.  The "Pro Bundle" can also get you video or you can pay around $50 to upgrade to a service with more storage.  Every feature listed here is completely free on Blogger.  Why would you pay $50-$100 for something you can do on Blogger for no cost?

It's easier to use.  Even in the webbiquity article I'm quoting, the author notes that it's easier to use Blogger.  It was created more intuitively.  It was easier to use 3 years ago, it's still easier to use today.

To get a domain. Through WordPress you'll pay $18 a year.  Through Blogger?  $10.

I've been with Blogger since 2006.  If it fell behind WordPress for a time, so be it.  It's not behind now. In fact, if money matters to you, Blogger's way ahead.

Am I a Writer Now?

I started blogging, more than six years ago, in June 2006.  At the time, I'd just shut down a failed small business and I had a 3-month-old baby girl.  I don't know that I really began blogging with any specific expectation other than to connect--to not feel alone.

There were times I thought that, maybe, I could make it big time.  You know become a well read blogger, like her or her or her.  Ultimately, I realized that it wasn't to be.  And that was OK, too.

But today, I am proud to announce that I am officially a paid blogger!  (See that exclamation point?  I'm really excited!) Of course, I'm not getting paid to write this blog, though it's earned me a product every now and then.  Nevertheless, all of my working and striving and practicing have amounted to something.

A business, Ken Garff Honda of Orem (where my husband happens to be the internet manager), has hired me to write their blog and manage their Facebook page.

A friend teased me that she knows how I got the job.  *Smirk*  While those rumors are true, I believe I was hired on my merits as a writer.  I put together a few blog posts, test drove a sweet car and let my husband's bosses see what they thought of my work.

They loved it.  Right off the bat.  It took very little discussion to offer to pay me for what I do best.  And, as all bloggers know, I get to do it from the comfort of my own home.

So, from now on when someone asks me what I do for a living, I'm going to say that, in addition to being an A+ stay-at-home mom, that I am also a writer.  And I'm terribly excited to see where I might be able to go with it.

Thanks so much to Carlos, Tyler and especially my husband, Wendell, for giving me this amazing opportunity.