Scheduling July

With July 1 coming tomorrow, I thought I would share how I organize my blog and how I organize my reading. I am, of necessity, a very organized person. I find comfort in knowing what is coming up and knowing when I need to do things. Spontaneity makes me sort of uncomfortable. At the start of each year, I make calendars for each of my blogs. I use Microsoft Publisher to just print out blank, page-sized calendars of each month. Here is my July calendar. You can click on it to enlarge it and see the details.

My first step is slotting in the memes I plan to do each month. On this blog I do Stacking the Shelves, Book Blogger Confessions (which is the only personal meme I do), Teaser Tuesday and Book Beginnings and Friday 56. I like each of them because they are designed to spotlight books. Teaser Tuesday and the Friday memes give me a second chance to highlight the books I will be reviewing. These memes all help build community and are almost directly responsible for my massive TBR mountain.

Next I slot in the books I have for review. Getting more than 10 books a month for review - even divided between two blogs - means it would be too easy to forget something if I didn't write it down. During the school year I try to have reviews on Thursdays and Saturdays. (That's 4 reviews a week between my two blogs.) In the summer I have more reading time and can fit in reviews on some Mondays and most Wednesdays too. 

I am lucky enough to be almost 2 weeks ahead of schedule right now. You can see on my calendar that some of the posts are underlined. Those are the ones that are written and scheduled for posting. Being ahead takes lots of pressure off and lets me enjoy what I am reading much more than if I had to rush my reading to make a deadline. 

I love the gaps too...which allow me to dig into the massive TBR mountain and choose something to read "just for fun." Not that I don't really enjoy most of the review books I have because I do. This month I have five more slots for those gap books and I can't wait to dig into my basket for treasures. Maybe this is the month that I will finally get to read Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races or Forever. Or maybe I'll be able to read Andrea Cremer's Bloodrose. 

You know how authors seem to divide into two groups - plotters and pantsers. Even though I am not an author, I am clearly aligned with those plotters. What about you? Do you organize your reading or are you an impulse reader?