Hey, SE Readers. Joan with you on this final day of September.
In August, I began a more robust blogging schedule. For much of the past year, I pretty much neglected my blog – posting only on rare occasions. I knew I needed to do something different, so I came up with an idea for a regular Monday post. One thing led to another and now I have categories for five days a week and so far have posted every weekday (save one) in August and September.
I have the bulk of October’s posts scheduled as well as a few for November. With a full-time job, keeping up with a blog in addition to writing fiction is time-consuming. Add to that, I like to read and visit other bloggers. Not only do I want to support fellow authors, it’s a great way to form new friendships.
With my increased online activity, I’ve been looking at ways to save time and simplify life in general. One thing is to cut down on the number of emails I receive. (Don’t laugh, I have three email addresses—personal, one for my website, and another for my job.)
Until recently, I preferred to receive email notices for blogs I follow. But often the posts would get lost in the shuffle. Some email I received during the day while at work, which made it impossible to visit the blog at that time.
I’m a bit OCD about having a clean inbox, so if I didn’t get around to reading within a day or two, I’d hit the delete button never to think about the post again. I missed a lot of good content that way.
The solution? The WordPress reader. However, scrolling through all the posts was sometimes hard. Some bloggers post numerous times a day, which is fine if that’s what anyone wants to do. However, these fill up the feed quickly. Not only that, WordPress takes it upon themselves to add a section for suggested posts. (Don’t you love it when a company “thinks” they know what you’d like?)
We Story Empire authors have an app where we communicate with one another about important events related to the blog. Other times, we just chat—even rant about some things at times. Several weeks ago, someone mentioned about creating lists within the reader. Another author pointed out that WordPress discontinued the feature. If someone had already created lists, they remained, but new lists couldn’t be created.
Why take away something helpful? Guess that’s another subject.
Anyhow, enter Craig. He posted a link to his reader, and made a suggestion on how it might work for us. We could not access his site, but were able to “hack” the URL and create our own lists.
Interested? I’ll tell you how. This is a link to one of my newly created lists:
https://wordpress.com/read/list/joan7177/must-reads
To make your own, copy the above link into your browser, backspace past joan7177 so that the link reads: https://wordpress.com/read/list. Enter your WordPress user name and a list name. (It’s helpful to open another window with the reader to see your followed sights.)
Then enter the URL of the blogs/sites you want to include. It’s that easy! Here is a screenshot from one of mine:
Of note, the list says it’s public, but no one can access it without your user ID and password. After you create a list, it will appear in your sidebar. Creating additional ones is easy. As you can see, I have several:
You can edit the name, enter a description, and add additional blogs as needed by clicking on the “manage” button. You can also add non WordPress sites. Some of my favorite writing tip blogs still use Blogger (can’t imagine why) and I’ve added them. The only issue I’ve had is with one site that uses Feedburner.
That’s it! You’re set to go. This is what your reader will look like:
Sound like a good time saver? Why not give it a try?
I want to extend a special thanks to Craig for graciously allowing me to take this topic.
Story Empire 
Pingback: Seven Links 10/5/19 Traci Kenworth – Where Genres Collide Traci Kenworth YA Author & Book Blogger
This looks interesting, but my little brain is struggling to understand it at the end of a work day 🧐
I’ll check this out on the weekend 🤗
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It took me a couple of days to process. 🙂
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Reblogged this on Where Genres Collide Traci Kenworth YA Author & Book Blogger.
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Thank you for sharing, Traci!
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You’re welcome, Joan!
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Excellent post, Joan! Like you, I was thrilled when Craig shared his back link, enabling us to create lists in Reader. I can’t stand a cluttered inbox and Reader was becoming hard to manage with all the blogs I follow, especially when you toss in reblogs. I now have three lists that break the blogs I follow into neat categories, and I plan on creating a few more. What a gold mine!
Fantastic share. I highly recommend this fabulous resource!
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I was so delighted to know it would work. I’ve created four lists (so far) and I’m sure others will follow.
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This is handy! I’ve been using Reader for awhile, but as you say, it can take a long time to read through the list.
Thank you!
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Glad you found this helpful, Jacquie!
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This might be a good option. I use email right now, but if I don’t check often it can get overwhelming!
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Email can easily get out of hand. This is working well for me, although there are some blogs that I still prefer to receive email notices.
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Thank you, Joan and Craig. I’m going to look into this possibility. It’s so easy to become overwhelmed by emails. All the best!
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Glad you found it useful, Gwen.
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Thanks, Craig and Joan. Gotta look this over.
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You are welcome, John.
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I too am VERY OCD about my Inbox, Joan. And I follow a lot of blogs as well. This is a GREAT idea and one I will implement. It will certainly help keep my Inbox cleaner and easier to manage. Thank you and Craig for this one!
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Jan, it’s been liberating for me.
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I do something similar but I use notifications to create that smaller list. If I have interaction with someone and they are kind enough to visit my posts/site a few times a month I have WordPress notify me on my app and can read the post from there. I don’t have any go to email, it’s just too much. I try to visit reader a few times a week and skim through there for posts that catch my eye. Great post! Good to know there are other options 🙂
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I also use the WordPress app on my phone. That enables me to respond to comments during the work day.
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Great post. That flood is why I went more for email. That way I didn’t miss the ones from my favorite blogs. Only being able to check in early morning and night makes the quick speed of many social media sites a problem. Twitter is probably the worst.
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Charles I still receive some emails from my fav blogs. Like you I’m pretty much limited to early morning and some time on the evening for comments, reading, and social media.
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So glad it worked for you. I find it extremely helpful.
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Me too, Craig. Thanks for giving us the hack!
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This is a great time-saving work around. I too need to look at ways of uncluttering my email inbox, and this might be just what Ineed. Thanks for sharing, Joan. Reblogged on: https://harmonykent.co.uk/wordpress-reader-lists/
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This worked really good for me. There’s also a WordPress app that I have on my phone. I can check blogs during the day and respond to comments.
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I also receive a lot of emails for robbiesinspiration but I don’t mind keeping them in my email box until I can get to them. For robertawrites I use the Reader.
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I still get some notices via email. But the reader makes it convenient to have everything in one place.
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