blog « Robin Writes

There are so many choices when it comes to SHTF regarding bugging out or staying in place. It’s hard to know what to do, and it will be harder when SHTF actually happens, because you, and everyone else, will be in crisis mode.

What? You thought you’d be perfectly calm and collected? Probably not. See, it’s one thing to talk about it and to prep for it, but it’s something entirely different when it happens—because it hasn’t yet happened, and few people have that experience; even fewer have the experience of complete collapse.

However, if you prep, you’ll be better off than most. Think about it.

So now it comes down to do you stay or do you go?

If you’re staying, you’re pretty well set, right? Food, water, ammo, defensive measures, heat sources, etc. Unless, of course, it’s impossible to stay because of fires, looting, rioting, and so forth. Only YOU can make the distinction, the decision.

But if you go, you’ll probably have to decide that pretty quickly. People will be in panic mode, some hunkering down at home and waiting to get supplies, some heading out and creating more traffic and confusion and congestion than rush hour.

Our plan is to wait and see—to a point. As you know, things around here may be getting crazy in the next few weeks. Crazier. If things start spreading south and west, we’ll be watching. If it’s more of the usual, and pretty well contained, we’ll be okay; if panic starts, we’re outta here.

Of course, the big question, if you decide to leave, is where are you going? You need a plan, and a route, and a means of transportation. And, of course, a destination.

I don’t recommend crashing at a friend’s house, or even that of a relative. We’ve talked about this. You likely won’t be let in, unless you can bring something to the table—food, ammo, skills—and maybe not even then.

Some folks are lucky enough to have a place to go, one of their very own, that has been ready and waiting. Awesome—go there.

The important thing is to get out of the city and out of suburbia. Why? Because more people equals more chaos. More mayhem. More danger. And fewer supplies. And that decision to go or stay needs to be made quickly, before these things escalate.

So where do you go?

The less population, the better. Avoid homes and anywhere near buildings and what is clearly private property—you don’t want to get shot. Study maps. Learn the lay of the land within a reasonable driving distance, or further out if necessary. Look at satellite images to determine where people live, bodies of water, and so forth.

Don’t forget public land—private is dicier, but remember that some of these people may not be able to actually get to their property or perhaps even live in another state. It’s good to check out as much information as you can find.

Parks, particularly county, can be a good spot for a temporary relocation. Sure, others may think of it, but not as many as you might imagine. One thing that will hold up their decision is the “permission” factor. We’re all conditioned to make camping reservations, go in or out at certain times of the year or times of day. Forget all that. When SHTF, no one’s going to care. Or even be around to enforce it.

Look, make your call—stay or go—and then have a planned route and a planned location. Even two or three locations, just in case. And definitely several routes, the less traveled under normal conditions, the better. Again, study those maps.

A reader asks, “As a writer, how often should I blog?”

Oh, mercy, there are as many schools of thought on this as there on comma usage . . . but in general, you don’t want to irritate people with a barrage of irrelevant content and, at the same time, you don’t want them to forget about you.

Let’s start with content. You can write about anything, of course, or you can use your blog as a journal of sorts. Now, some people might want to hear about your daily life, some won’t. “Relevant” content is simply something of value that most of your readers want.

You can blog about the writing process, your own writing career, or something at which you have expert status—if you’re an author, what is your book about? Make yourself an expert.

Who are your readers? That’s what you have to figure out. Look at the list of those who follow your blog, and see what they have in common. Look at past posts and see which get the most hits and the most comments. This will tell you what your followers want.

Then tailor your content to that. Don’t make every post a “buy my book” pitch, but you can certainly do that once in a while, and even mention it in passing. I’ve found the best way is to have permanent buy links in the sidebar of my blog. They’re there, they’re visible, and people can click if they want.

Frequency—again, that’s up to you and what you have to talk about. If you can create enough content to blog on a daily basis, go for it! Just be sure it’s interesting to your readers and not repetitive. And, too, watch the length. A blog post of two paragraphs often isn’t worth clicking on, and one that lasts for more than 1000 words can become tiresome to read.

I recommend blogging once a week, at minimum. Or even every two weeks, if you’re short on time. Once a month just isn’t frequent enough; your readers may well move on. Seven days a week might be too much.

And be consistent. Pick a day, or two days, or whatever, and make sure your blog is live on those days, every week. Most blogging platforms allow you to schedule posts; take advantage of that. Readers will start to look at those days and be expecting your post.

It might take some time to find what works best for you, and that’s okay. Experiment, and when you find your formula, let your blog take off.

I’m now posting four days a week here at Robin Writes; I’ve done the twice a week, three times, and even once weekly. The latter just doesn’t cut it for my readers . . . Why four days? Well, I’m experimenting again! I do two posts a week related to prepping, and two related to writing (one is answering a reader-sent question, like today’s). I split up the prepping because I realized I do two separate sub-topics: prepping in general, and our “journey” in moving out to the country and being self-sufficient.

Another tip is to write your blog posts all at once. I do mine on Sundays, my day off, when I have time to actually just write. Then I upload and schedule them, and I’m all finished!

Finally, keep a list, on your desktop where you can find it, of potential topics. That way, if something doesn’t come to mind right away, you can pull from that list and whip up a post pretty quickly.