When inspiration strikes me to write, I’m completely unstoppable. I’ll put all of my responsibilities for the day on the back burner if it means that I’ll be able to draw on my inspiration to write multiple posts in one day.

With so much to do, not enough hours in the day, and so little sleep I’ve never wanted blogging to be come something I “have” to do but rather something I want to do. And while I write for many reasons, one of my most favorite reasons to blog is simply because I enjoy writing.

To keep myself on a schedule that works for my time frame, I keep an extensive post arsenal. Something I first brought up to when I wrote my post, Make Blogger’s Block a Non-Issue. The concept isn’t for everyone but it’s a simple one: write timeless content on your own schedule to have ready to publish at a moment’s notice.

While it sounds simple in theory, it’s somewhat of a challenge to begin. You’ll need ideas for several posts, you’ll probably need to map out ideas on a piece of paper to keep your thoughts together and then finally, the time to sit down and actually begin to create the posts.

Here, I want to give you five reasons why you should keep a post arsenal and the benefits it’ll provide for you.

1. Post Schedule

Having an arsenal of posts ready to go will allow you to keep a schedule for your posts. This is something that I have seen great benefits from here on my blog. My daily traffic has more than doubled since I started posting daily, my subscriber count is way up, and I’ve got plenty of comments and EMails to keep up my inspiration to write.

There’s advice all over the web to have a posting schedule, having a post arsenal will help you keep a schedule without killing yourself to write killer content the day before it’s due to be published.

2. No Pressure

You can’t write today, no problem! By having a post ready to go at a moment’s notice, just one simple click of “publish” will get your content out there without you feeling the need to do anything really amazing for the day — something you’re not in the mood to do anyway.

Subscribers and the day’s visitors will be happy to see you active daily and you’ll feel rewarded that you were able to accomplish something on a day you didn’t want to. It is the best no pressure concept to blogging.

3. Emergencies

Something has come up at home, stuck at the office, spur of the moment trip out of town? No worries, put some posts from your arsenal to publish in your absence and you’ve kept up your own blogging standards without compromising any time to take care of “real life.”

We all have things come up but often for bloggers, our blog is an addiction that we need to fulfill. You won’t let your visitors or readers down when real life demands your attention if you just make yourself ready to post at a moment’s notice. Sure, you won’t be able to post those great dated content like you’re link round-ups, but you’ll still provide content!

4. More Time

Couldn’t we all use more time? By not spending an hour or more every single day writing a post, I’ve given myself an hour more to take care of something else. This allows me time, as a web designer, to handle both my clients and my blog without dropping the ball. And of course, I have time with my family, moments spent with my daughter while still able to pursue my own passion of writing for my readers.

Posts can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to create… maybe a few days. Having them ready to go ahead of time and working on those detailed posts a little at a time gives you more time back to work on other projects, pursue other interests, or maybe it’ll just let you kick off your shoes and relax.

5. Promotion

Oh, probably the best reason at all. If you have a collection of posts that are ready to be published, you can be quick on the draw to grab from your post arsenal to promote your blog. How, you ask? Well, by guest posting of course.

Don’t you read offers all over the blogosphere to guest post on another blog? If you’ve taken the time to write an awesome post, you can submit one of those posts to guest post on another blog. You will have had time to master the post to perfection, check your grammar, and send it off. Just add blogger’s biography!

You lost just one post for your blog with this concept but, so what? You’ve got more than just 1 post in your arsenal don’t you?

My System

Sure, my system won’t always work for you and yours won’t always work for me. But this is something has dramatically changed the way I blog and see my blog. It’s improved my attitude because I’m more confident in the posts I’ve written because I’ve never had to rush to write them.

Between a folder full of formatted posts ready to copy, paste, and publish and drafts sitting in my admin panel, I could probably walk away for months. Will I? No, in fact I’ll just continue to build on my post arsenal.

Some posts may never see the light of day, some posts might not be published for months, and others may never see the front page of I’m Blogging That. But, they’re there, should I need them. I never blog under pressure, I’m more confident with what I publish, and blogging in general has become significantly more fun and interesting.

Your Turn

Do you have a post arsenal? Have you put yourself in a position where you can walk away from your blog and still publish timeless content? What system works for you?