Pre-Posting

Not sure if that's even what it's called--but I've figured out how to set up a series of posts so that they will post, day-by-day, when you want to go on vacation. I would never even have known that this was possible, except that Tammy Vitale has done it when she's gone on vacation. She uses Typepad, which may have that function automated...Blogger, unfortunately, does not.

On Blogger, you first need to choose Customize > Settings > Email. You need to fill in the spot where it says "Mail-to-Blogger Address". Make a note of this. Then you go to a site that will send off emails to this address automatically while you're gone. The one I've used (successfully) is Time Cave. Set up an account there; the service is free, although donations are appreciated in order to keep the site running. Without a subscription (which costs $12 per year), you are limited to sending two emails per day, which is very reasonable. The drawback to doing this is that the posts come up with ads on the bottom. (I bought a subscription--a dollar a month seems like a fair price for this service).

You will compose your Blogger posts in an email at the Time Cave site, addressing them to the Blogger address you chose earlier. You choose the time for the email to be delivered, and you're done!

If you want to include pictures or links, then you can compose your post in Blogger just as you would normally, but rather than publishing it, you'll simply choose the "Edit HTML" option on your post, select all the text, copy it, and then paste that into your email at the Time Cave site. Don't publish the post, otherwise it will show up twice...

You can also use the Time Cave service to send reminders to yourself or others. Pretty nifty idea, actually.

Let me know if there are any questions; I'm not sure how clear the directions are!