There's something magical about getting into a flow state and just... writing.
One idea leads to the next. Your fingers are moving, your thoughts are clear, and everything feels effortless. But then the friction hits: publish one post, wait for the page to update, navigate back, start fresh. By the time you're ready for the next one, the flow is broken.
Batch publishing is your antidote to that friction.
What Batch Publishing Means
Batch publishing is exactly what it sounds like: creating and publishing multiple posts in one sitting, one after another, without losing momentum.
For some people, this is a weekly ritual—Monday morning, coffee in hand, clearing out the backlog of links and ideas that accumulated over the weekend. For others, it's capturing a sprint of inspiration in the moment. Either way, the goal is the same: stay in flow and get it all out.
When Batch Publishing Makes Sense
Weekly Link Roundups
You've been bookmarking good articles all week. Instead of publishing them one at a time (and looking a bit spammy), gather them up on Friday and publish them all together. Your readers see a curated collection. You see a clean, organized moment of productivity.
Photo Dumps
You went on a trip. You took photos. Lots of them. Instead of scheduling them across days (which feels forced), publish a series of them in one go. Add quick context to each—a location, a thought, a memory. Your site becomes a photo essay instead of a slow drip.
Idea Sessions
Sometimes ideas come in clusters. You're thinking about a topic, and suddenly you have five different angles, observations, or related thoughts. Don't let them cool off. Write them all, publish them all. They're connected in your mind—let readers see that connection too.
Content Brainstorms
You're preparing for something: a talk, an essay, a project. Batch publishing lets you think out loud, iterate visibly, and build momentum toward the finished piece.
How Batch Publishing Works in Jottings
The dashboard is designed to get out of your way.
Open the new jot form. Write something. Publish. The page refreshes with a success message. Want to write another? The form clears and you're ready immediately. No page navigation. No delays. Just you, your ideas, and a simple input field.
Each time you publish, Jottings rebuilds your site in the background. That means:
- Your home page updates instantly
- Tag pages reflect the new posts
- Your feed (RSS, JSON) is refreshed
- Everything stays in sync
You never have to think about it. Just keep publishing.
Staying in Flow
The secret to effective batch publishing is removing every possible friction point.
Minimize navigation. Keep Jottings open. Don't jump between tabs or apps. The dashboard is designed for rapid-fire publishing—use it.
Pre-write if needed. If you prefer drafting elsewhere (notes app, text editor), that's fine. Copy-paste into Jottings. But don't context-switch more than necessary.
Use templates for repeated formats. Publishing a weekly roundup? Create a pattern: link: at the start, source in brackets, your thought in one or two sentences. Muscle memory takes over.
Tag as you go. Don't save tagging for later. Tag each post immediately after you publish. It keeps the context fresh and gets the work done in one pass. Plus, if you're using AI Tag Suggestions, the suggestions get smarter with each post you complete.
Batch similar types together. If you're mixing formats (links, photos, thoughts), consider publishing all your links first, then all your photos. Each format has its own rhythm, and batching them together keeps you in the right headspace.
The Beauty of Incremental Rebuilds
Here's something I find genuinely satisfying: each publish triggers a rebuild of your entire site.
Your jots are stored in a database, but your site is a collection of static HTML files. Every time you publish, Jottings regenerates your home page, tag pages, feeds, and sitemaps. The process takes a few seconds.
Why is this cool? Because your site stays lean, fast, and search-engine-friendly. No bloated JavaScript. No database queries on each page load. Just static files served from a global CDN.
And you never have to think about it. Publish three jots in five minutes? Three rebuilds happen silently in the background. Your site is always current.
Batch Publishing vs. Scheduling
You might wonder: shouldn't I schedule these posts to publish over time?
Maybe. Scheduling has its place. But batch publishing is different. It's not about gaming your audience's attention. It's about honoring your own creative process.
If you had five thoughts at once, why pretend they came to you throughout the week? The truth is interesting. The coherence is interesting. Your readers might enjoy seeing a moment of prolific energy—three fresh perspectives on the same topic, published together.
Scheduled posting flattens that truth. It's performative. Batch publishing is honest.
(And if you do want to schedule, Jottings has that too. Create now, publish later. Your choice.)
The Workflow
Here's what a typical batch session might look like:
- Open dashboard. Keep it simple. Keep it focused.
- Write first jot. A link, a thought, a photo with context.
- Add tags. Be consistent. Use the AI if you want suggestions.
- Publish. Form clears. You're ready for the next one.
- Repeat. Second jot. Third jot. Fifth. Tenth.
- Step back. Take a breath. Scroll through your site. See what you've created.
That's it.
No complicated workflows. No special features. Just a simple input, a publish button, and the freedom to keep going.
Building Your Habit
If batch publishing sounds appealing but you're not sure how to start:
Pick a day. Friday evening, Sunday morning, Thursday lunch. Whatever works. Make it a ritual.
Set a loose target. Not a quota—a loose intention. "I'll publish at least three things" or "I'll spend 30 minutes on this."
Start small. Batch three posts your first time. Five the second. You'll find your rhythm.
Reflect. After a few weeks, notice what kinds of batches feel best. Maybe you love idea sessions. Maybe photo dumps are your thing. Double down on what works.
A Different Way to Think About Writing
Batch publishing shifts how you relate to your microblog.
It stops being a thing you maintain. It becomes a thing you make. There's a difference.
One approach: publish continuously, one post at a time, whenever something strikes. It's real-time. It's authentic. It's also scattered.
The other approach: batch your publishing. Create pockets of focused intensity. In those moments, you're not maintaining a feed—you're having a conversation with yourself, sharing your thoughts in clusters, building momentum.
Both are valid. But batch publishing, when it works, feels different. It feels more alive.
Your Site, Your Pace
The beautiful thing about Jottings is that there's no pressure. You publish when it makes sense for you.
Batch publishing is just one approach. Some days you'll publish one jot. Some weeks you'll batch five. Some months you'll take a break entirely. Your site evolves at your pace, on your terms.
But if you do want to try batch publishing—if you want to experience that flow state and see what emerges—Jottings is ready for it.
Get started with Jottings and publish your way.