courtesy of samluce.com

Today I thought I would share the lessons I've learned (and there are many) since I started my blogging journey a couple of months ago. I'm going to limit this post to three for now :)

Lesson 1: choose your topics...carefully 

I had the hardest time, and still do, pinning down the topics I want to blog about. There are so many things I'm into and want to talk about. But I'm learning that I can't just write what I want to. I need to be consistent.

Lesson 2: choose your platform...consider all options

I chose Blogger at first because I already had a Gmail account and several other bloggers I follow use it too. However, my blog, and the other projects I want to do, are quickly outgrowing the Blogger platform.

I just recently hired a designer to design a WordPress site so that I can move my content over to a self-hosted website. It will give me more of a chance to own my content and keep track of it.

Lesson 3: set up a schedule (otherwise known as an editorial calendar)

It took me multiple tries to get my blogging schedule down. This is where you need to know what topics you want to blog about because you need to be able to fit them into a schedule. I had too many topics at first and had to whittle them down.

Whether you blog three days a week or five, be consistent in your schedule. It will help you accomplish your goals for your blog in small steps.

As always, thank you for reading :)

Melissa

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Courtesy of ewritersjourney

In this post, I thought I'd share the tools that I use for being productive in my creative projects. Every artist has their own tools, right?

My Planner

Yes, I definitely still use an actual planner. I have yet to find a digital equivalent that can replace the experience. Mine is Kimberly Wilson's Tranquility du Jour Daybook. I love this daybook because it separates your projects from your to-dos. Highly, highly recommend!

Evernote

I use Evernote to collect information on the web. I love dividing all of my projects into notebooks. The free version is awesome and there's always the option to go pro. Check out Michael Hyatt's series of post on using Evernote. I'll be coming out with my own tutorial soon!

Trello 

Oh Trello, how I love thee. This online platform allows you to organize your projects into boards, which you can further break down into cards. I put absolutely all of my projects on Trello, even if they are just ideas. I can then put what my progress is for each project.

My Project Board 

See my post from Monday. You may be asking, what is the point of having a physical project board when you already use Trello to organize your projects? I like having the physical aspect of my project board, where I can see what I'm doing in a month and how many projects I have going on at once. I use my project board solely for concrete projects that I know for sure I'm doing. For any ideas I'm just brainstorming, I put them in Trello.

And those are my four tools I use to be productive in my creative projects. Thank you for reading, and as always, until next time :)

Melissa

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Looking at the title of this blog, the word that will probably stick out the most is "librarian". Yes, I am a librarian and I deal with information constantly. It's my job and I absolutely love it. And I want to share my love for information.

Why did I start this blog? 

Because I have some topics that I'm really passionate about. My blog looks how to explore information at the crossover of five main things: personal information management, lifestyle design, technology, creativity, and nerdy stuff. I want to help you find the right information and resources for these topics. I also want to talk about my passion for manga, anime, and science-fiction (just to spice things up).

Join me on my journey!

I have been in school for the past 20 years of my life (and I'm only 25). This blog will chronicle my adventures as I begin to develop my life after not having much of one :). I'm going to explore personal information management, lifestyle design, technology, creativity, and all things nerdy.

I hope my information will be useful to you and please connect with me!

Welcome to Nerdy Mindful Librarian!

Topics on my blog include:

Personal Information Management

Lifestyle Design

• Wellness 
• Career/Entrepreneurship 
• Blog of the Week 
• Mindfulness
• Minimalism 

Technology

• Tutorials 

Creativity

• Writing 
• Blogging 

Nerdy Stuff

• Manga 
• Anime
• Science-Fiction and Fantasy 
• Book Reviews

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