When to Blog: A Blogging Meet Up with Bill Belew

On my quest to share more tips on how to blog more frequently I went to Panera Bread two weeks ago.

Not for my usual reason to have a Cobblestone, cinnamon, pull-a-part, pastry.



OK, I did have one since I was there, and the Cobblestones were there too...

The Traffic Professior Bill Belew

The reason I went was because of a weekly bloggers get together called: "Shut up and blog" with problogger Bill Belew. He has a group on Meet Up, a website where like minded folks get together and "Meet Up" to spend time together for a multitude of different reasons. His group is called the Silicon Valley Bloggers and Writers. The description/invitation to this particular weekly event made me laugh:

Every Wednesday (almost) I (Bill Belew) am sitting at Panera Bread in Sunnyvale blogging.


I blog other days but on this day, I welcome other bloggers to come join me, sit, be quiet and blog.


The purpose - to hang out with other bloggers. Ask (quietly) "What do you blog about?" and create back links to one another's blog if/when a connection can be found. Or just write away at your own blog.


No frills, no lecturing, no going on and on by me. Just blogging and networking.


Come and go as you please. But as for me, I am usually here by 9am and will stay around till at least noon, usually longer.


Bring your laptop. Panera has free wi-fi.

One of my co-bloggers Christine, shared a link to her posts on Examiner.com.

For those unaccustomed to making the time to blog, a meet up is great a great idea. Every Wednesday from 9:00 AM to around 2:00 PM you will find Bill Belew and his quiet band of bloggers tucked away at Panera Bread sitting together and silently blogging. It isn't a traditional networking group, it's a blogging group where you go simply to make the time to blog. Around noon we took a break and chatted a bit. So we pushed all of our networking into one time slot.

Ready to publish: Recognizing Bloggable Moments

For bloggers struggling to make the time to blog, joining a blogging group might help keep you focused because it's sort of like joining a book club or having an exercise partner. Sometimes some things are just easier to do when you feel you have someone to lean on a bit and/or feel you're being held accountable to them because they're going to notice if you stop posting.

If you don't live near Sunnyvale, CA you can always start a blogging group of your own wherever you live! Just find a nice place to meet with free wifi, invite some fellow bloggers, grab a bite and get to typing.