blogging: plan or publish?

aren't these gorgeous? it's from this etsy shop!

Blogging is a tricky business when it comes to posting, timing, and reaching your peak audience. I find that lately I have been planning posts and scheduling ahead of time, but back in the day when I first started blogging in 2010 I never used to do that, and I had much more readership. So, I want to open up this platform to your thoughts/opinions on this!

I sometimes feel that "life and style" blogs are so ubiquitous nowadays and it is hard to come up with original content. When I do post something that I feel is quality (usually on the photography end), I tend to save it for the perfect moment.  I love scheduling posts for this reason. I can take my time on writing, actually stay focused in the process, and have a result that I feel prouder about. I don't necessarily plan my posts by the month or write it down in a planner (above), but I know of some bloggers that do and they have reached a lot of success that way. Because blogging is not my full time job, or my 'job' at all, I am much more casual and laid back with what I post and when I post. However, scheduling can so often produce the opposite effect.

Planned posts can sometimes be very easy to distinguish rather than spontaneous - if you plan too ahead of time, your post may clearly sound like it has been written in the past. It can sound boring, monotonous, and more importantly, it can lack that 'bite' of fresh new content. While spontaneous posts seem to be more genuine, they are also shorter, more photo-oriented, and prone to being scatterbrained!! 

This is how I roll: I usually bring my camera with me, whether or not I plan to take photos. Recently we did an outfit shoot and a day trip to New Hope so I brought my camera, and got two posts out of it: here (style post) and here (scenes from my weekend).

I dug through the archives for some recent examples.

Scheduled Posts: 1. coffee diaries | the source cafe

                              2. golden light (style post)

                              3. hermosa: fog, shrimp, and fajitas

Spontaneous Posts: 1. white slush

                                  2. when it doubt, look up.

                                  3. blurry scenes from a winter drive

Tell me, what are your thoughts on publishing a post spontaneously vs. planning ahead? What works with your schedule and life?

ciao! xo

*ps. this is a planned post :)