Balancing College Life and Blogging | Newbie Blogger Spotlight
Balancing College Life and Blogging | Newbie Blogger Spotlight
Hey friends! It’s that time of the week again, Newbie Blogger Spotlight time! If you want to know what it’s all about, click here, and if you want to see past posts in this spotlight where I’ve featured some amazing newbies, check out here!
Today I have Shelby from Graced with Books here to share with us how she balances her college life and reading! She’s American, so I’ll leave in her Americanisms (like the z’s everywhere!). I hope you enjoy!
Balancing College Life and Blogging
Hello!
My name is Shelby, and I own the Gracedwithbooks blog! I love to read, write, review, and photograph books and I am so happy to be featured here on Jenn’s blog! I started my blog because I wanted a place to channel my creative energy and love of books, so I came up with Graced with Books! I love the blogging community and am so happy I get to share my thoughts with you.
I am a second-semester freshman in College, and it was definitely an adjustment going from my structured High School schedule to a more free college schedule. Suddenly, I had all this unstructured time, and instead of being more productive, I tended to procrastinate a lot. It wasn’t until halfway through the semester that I realized I needed to be more productive with my time. So this is how I worked to balance my college life and blogging.
1. Devote one hour to reading a day
I love to read, and at the beginning, I didn’t devote a lot of time to it. Sometimes college life can consume you, with work, hanging out with friends, and sleep. So I made sure every day to devote at least one hour to sit down whether in my room or in the student center and just read for fun.
2. Plan blogs ahead of time
Before, I used to write a post a week and post it then, but that doesn’t really work well in college. After talking to a few fellow bloggers, I realized it would be more beneficial to write a bunch of posts at once, then schedule them out over time. This became a huge time saver because now I didn’t need to worry about rushing to write a post to get it out on time.
3. Bullet Journal to Organize.
At the beginning of 2018, I began to use a Bullet Journal to help me organize my life. It helped me a lot, so I bought a second one recently to help me keep track of my blog. There I can keep track of new post ideas, books on my TBR, and blog statistics. Whenever I update my daily life BUJO, I make sure to check my blogging one as well.
Going into the second semester, I feel more confident about how I schedule my time to make sure I am getting the most out of my college and blogging experience. Be sure to check out Graced with Books every Sunday and Thursday for new posts! Thank you so much!
XOXO Shelby Grace
Thanks for an amazing post Shelby! I think these are great tips. Make sure to check out Shelby’s blog and Twitter!
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7 Comments
Just lovely! It’s so nice that you help spread some blogger love 🙂
Thank you so much for the spotlight!
Since going back to college, I’ve really struggled with finding the time to read. I love the idea of dedicating at least an hour a day to reading and it’s definitely something that I’m gonna try and do from now on.
Great post – I love that you’re showcasing newer bloggers for us to discover!
These are some great tips! As a recent college graduate, I know I wouldn’t have been able to balance school and blogging without my bullet journal and careful planning ahead 😊 and I made a point to set aside an hour for reading (almost) every night. It really adds up!
the transition from high school to college is definitely a big one – I’m a second-semester sophomore and I’m still figuring it out! it’s definitely really helpful to prewrite and schedule posts, and my bujo doubles as a creative outlet when I need to do something low-pressure while feeling somewhat productive 📓 that said, I’m a huge fan of seizing spare moments to read: on the bus, waiting for class to start, eating lunch or dinner alone, early/late in the day if I have some extra time. great post!
Ah the old balancing act! It’s a tricky thing to do and sometimes even with best laid plans life sneaks in and gets it way! Loving the tips and I try and achieve those things to (to varying degrees of success) 😛
This is a great post! I’m currently on a gap year and have a lot of free time – I’m definitely guilty of not being very productive at certain times. XD Scheduling posts and having a set time to read every day is such a help!