I’ll try not to dwell too frequently on the fact that hundreds of my blog posts were lost to the internet ether, but it was Kinda A Big Deal (for me) and I suspect I’ll reference it periodically in the coming weeks and months as the dust continues to settle.
In the wake of my experience, many other bloggers scrambled to make sure their own sites were adequately backed up. Hooray – this is a silver lining.
Which leads me to share a rather ironic picture. When I think of topics for future blog fodder, I write them in a section of blank pages at the back of my planner. And here was one topic I planned to broach on my (old) blog:
In case you can’t read my writing, it says:
Should I drop these tasks?
- family update e-mail
- exporting blog posts
Spoiler alert: I did stop writing and sending family update e-mails. And I have no regrets about taking a break from this monthly practice. It was starting to feel stale and a bit overwhelming to condense our monthly activities into a giant e-mail to send to family. I know people (especially grandparents) loved receiving these updates, but I had to give myself permission to let it go.
The second question pertained to exporting blog posts. I have a series of monthly tasks to tackle on a recurrent basis; one of these was exporting the previous month’s blog posts. It didn’t take very long, but I was debating letting go of this practice as well. It felt redundant and…what could possibly happen to jeopardize my blog?
Ha.
Thankfully, I had decided to keep exporting…so while I lost the formatting and digital content from my old site, I had the text portion of every single blog post saved.
And now comes the plugin recommendation: Print My Blog. It’s available for WordPress users and the free features were more than sufficient for what I needed; I exported text monthly, but you can cover any range of time on your blog and there are all sorts of different settings and capabilities (for example, you can export the pictures with the text).
And if you’re curious if I will persist with using Print My Blog monthly, the answer is a resounding Yes.
Your turn. Have you ever been tempted to drop a specific habit or routine and been grateful you didn’t? If you blog, how do you keep track of potential topics for discussion?
Engie
On my phone, I have a page in my Notes app with blog ideas. If I’m out in the world and something comes up, I just open it up and add it to my Notes app. I used to tell myself that I would write them down when I got home, but I would always remember that I *had* an idea, but I could never actually remember the *idea* itself, so that system didn’t work for me. I guess if I always had my paper planner with me, it would work, but I get most of my ideas while walking the dog and the only thing I have with me then is my phone!
Yes! I saved a file with my blog. I guess? The question is how often I would be able to make myself continue doing this. Hm….
Elisabeth
Smart! I sometimes send myself an e-mail if I’m out and about and don’t have my planner handy – but then I always write it down on paper after. I am SUCH a paper person!
Daria
I, too, feel like I saved *some* of my blog entries. But it’s the discipline that I need. .. Or a reminder.
Nicole MacPherson
I have often thought I should print out my blog. But…it’s such an overwhelmingly huge task, especially for someone who NEEDS TO DEAL WITH HER PHOTOS THAT SHE HASN’T PRINTED OFF SINCE NOVEMBER 2022. Thank goodness you were able to save so much!
Elisabeth
So I didn’t actually “print” it on paper. But I exported all the text and put it into Google Drive documents (one for each year of blogging, so I was on Year #3 when The Big Catastrophe happened).
I finally got mostly caught up on my pictures, but the thought of doing a photobook in a few months is definitely feeling daunting!
Katie
I’m so happy you are back to blogging! I was so sad to hear about your blog being deleted. Cheering you on from Indiana!
Elisabeth
Aww. Thanks, Katie. I’ve missed being “here” and it’s great to be back <3
Jenny
I have a notebook for blog ideas, and if I don’t have it with me I’ll put it in my notes app. I’m actually pretty good about remembering ideas though- once I have an idea I tend to start ruminating on it right away!
Elisabeth
I ruminate on things too and start to mentally plan out posts (often when I’m exercising)…but “little” ideas seem to flit in and out of my head alarmingly quickly.
San
ELISABETH!!! (Sorry, I am yelling but I am so, so excited that your new blog is up and running.) I missed your online space… and your new blog layout looks wonderful! I also love the new name 🙂
I’ve been “backing up” my blog for a long time (I don’t do it monthly, but I remember it “regularly” enough to not worry too much… it’s basically the WordPress backup file, so I can’t really go and just read my old posts, but it gives me a good feeling to know that I could “restore” my blog in its entirety if I had to.
I am so glad you at least saved all your writing regularly. I think at the bare minimum that was a very smart idea. And I love the idea of reposting old blog posts on this new blog here.
I have a running draft document in Google Docs that I can access from my computer and phone – it’s where I write blog ideas (bullet points) or start drafts whenever I think of something or have time to jot down some thoughts. It works for me.
Elisabeth
Yell all you want! I am so excited to be back.
I am going to do both coded backups AND the text moving forward.
I used to have a Google Drive doc for blog ideas, but I am such a sucker for pen and paper. I find it so calming and love that it also allows me to sketch out ideas off a screen.
Melissa
I just installed the plugin and printed my whole blog. I recently installed an IFTTT applet that posts my blog posts to my Day One journal so at least I have a record of recent posts. Today it is turned off because I was experimenting with another applet that I don’t want anymore but it just keeps posting even though I removed the other side of the service so now I’ve removed Day One from my services to see if that fixes it. I’m hoping it does and I can reconnect the WordPress to Day One connection. Technology is great but sometimes is very frustrating. I still need to do something about my old blogger blog.
For post ideas, I keep a list in ROAM which is where I put everything, but if I don’t want to be on my computer/phone etc I do sometimes jot down the idea in my notebook. Everything in the notebook that I want to keep generally goes across to ROAM at the end of the day/week. I need to write a bit more frequently because I currently have a list of seventeen ideas.
Elisabeth
Hooray! I’m so glad! If one person now has all their text because of my mishap, I’m glad my misfortune could serve as the impetus for someone else’s action.
Seventeen ideas – I’m looking forward to reading about all of them!
Lisa's Yarns
I need to export my blog, although I think Blogger is backed by google so a bit less prone to something awful happening? My challenge is figuring out where to save what I export. I mostly blog on my phone. The only time I’m at a PC is when I’m at work and I obv can’t export my blog content to my work PC. 😉 Phil has a surface laptop so I should probably just save it on his computer but I need to make sure it wouldn’t cause issues in terms of the amount of space it would take up. Gah.
All that said, I am so very very glad you are back!!!
Elisabeth
Thanks for all your encouragement.
I’m not sure how Blogger works, but for WP, Print My Blog has been great for me! I still wish my blog hadn’t been deleted, but having all the text is a huge relief.
Ally Bean
Have you ever been tempted to drop a specific habit or routine and been grateful you didn’t? Well I was going to stop blogging in March 2020, but didn’t because of Covid stay-at-home restrictions. Blogging was something to do.
If you blog, how do you keep track of potential topics for discussion? I start a blog post about whatever I might want to write about, give it a fast title, then keep it in drafts until I write it or delete it.
Elisabeth
I’m so glad you kept blogging!!!
Daria
So happy to see your new blog, Elizabeth! It looks wonderful, I adore the lighthouse and the new name.
I do exactly what Ally does: start a draft and then when I get to it, I get to it, if I don’t-I don’t! Do I back up my blog? Nope. I don;t have a lot (March 2023) but I will definitely do the plug in. Looking forward to digging in!
Elisabeth
Thanks, Daria!
Yes! Please back up your blog! The sooner, the better. It’s so easy to assume it will always be there, so I’m very, very glad I at least had a text backup.
Thanks for the kind words about my new blogging home <3
Stephany
I believe my hosting company does frequent backups of my blog, but I need to make sure that is so! I also love the idea of backing it up myself in Drive to just have it there with all of my pictures, formatting, etc. Great idea!
I just keep my blog ideas in my Notes app. It’s the easiest place for me to jot down ideas as they come to me. I also keep a editorial calendar and try to be one month ahead in my topic ideas, so I always know what I’m blogging about each week (and sometimes, I’ll shift the idea to something else, but at least I have a loose plan!)
Elisabeth
I used to be a lot more organized than I am now. I jot down ideas but have started writing and posting things on the SAME DAY which even a few months ago would have felt so odd to me. I like it this way, for now at least, because I was starting to feel like I HAD TO POST on my “M-Fri” schedule. This feels more organic, at least in the middle of a pretty hectic life season.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I was going to ask how you exported your text from the blog and then there is the plugin recommendation. I am wondering if I should do this. I mean I do have ten years of posts up at my space… I may check it out. But then I do daily back-ups of my blog so if something. happens I should be covered, right.
Not sure if I deliberately dropped a habit. At least I can’t name one right now.
I have two ways to note blog ideas.
First one:
I start drafts and save them directly online. Mainly those are just the headlines. And maybe some sort of bullet points I jot down.
Second one:
I have a Evernote list for NaBloPoMo were I write all ideas down. They are categorized in topics like DIY, Lists, Lifestyle stuff etc. Here I note ideas of things I crafted and took pictures of, thing. feel like talking about if I find time to write it out but also I write down post ideas from other bloggers and add a link for reference.
It’s a whole system. I have so many ideas Ii could probably fill the next ten years of NaBloPo and often enough I take this ideas throughout the year.
I tried doing in Trello or on paper but for some reason it is not working for me.
Elisabeth
Wow! Sounds like you have A LOT of blogging ideas. That’s awesome!
Michelle
Wow! Thank you for this awesome plug in recommendation!
Elisabeth
I am just SO relieved I had this plugin; at least all my text is safe and secure and I will definitely be doing the same with this blog.