It's all too easy for "life" to happen--we start each month with the best intentions, and then before we know it the month has past and we haven't submitted as many articles as we hoped.

Where many article marketing practitioners run amiss is in a lack of planning--it's not enough to merely wish to submit more articles each month; we have to actually create a plan to make it happen.

We know that every month that we slack off on the consistency of our article submissions that we are in fact slacking off on marketing our businesses--ouch!

As business owners we have a built-in motivator for getting more organized around the way we do article marketing. The more consistently we market our websites, the healthier our businesses will be.

So, writing and submitting articles isn't the hard part--the challenging part is managing our time! Once you get that part under control, you can write articles on auto-pilot, taking the guesswork and stress out, while operating at maximum efficiency.

Being detailed and strategic helps, and I'm happy to share my own method for writing articles consistently:

1) How many articles will you write?

At the beginning of the month, decide how many articles you'll submit for the month. Just a friendly warning--don't go overboard and tell yourself you'll submit 8 articles when you usually struggle to submit 2.

Let's be realistic and set a goal that we can reach. When you've reached your goal your first month, then you can take things up a notch the next month. Over the course of a few months you can build up your submissions gradually.

By setting reasonable goals, it gives you a chance to get used to the writing schedule you're creating without having to strain too hard to write a large quantity of articles. As you get used to your writing schedule, you will likely find it easier and faster to write, and you can then adjust your goals.

2) Plan what days and times you'll do your writing.

This is paramount--actually determining a specific writing day and time keeps you accountable. It helps you avoid the "oh, I'll do it later" syndrome where we keep on putting off sitting down to write.

By having a set writing day and writing time, you put boundaries on your time that really help you focus on meeting your goals.

3) Put your schedule in a place where you can see it.

After you've determined which days and times you'll write, mark your calendar with those dates/times. You may use a dry erase calendar that sits beside your desk (this is what I do) or you may simply mark on a desk calendar: "write article: 9am".

Either way, you want to make your schedule visible to yourself.

So, on that day when you sit down at your desk, you can see that you have a plan: "At 9am I should be writing."

By being so specific about things you take out the guesswork and the stress that goes along with procrastination. This is an appointment that you're making with yourself to do something that benefits your business--honor that appointment!

4) Have a brainstorming session.

At the beginning of the month sit down with a pen and notebook and start thinking of article topics. When I do this I usually jot down topics in the form of article titles. Write down as many titles as you can think of--you will likely find that as your juices get flowing the ideas will flow more freely, and you may get a bumper crop of articles ideas that will last you for a while!

The reason why you do your "beforehand brainstorming" is so that you can coast through the month on that one burst of creativity.

There is nothing worse than sitting down to write and twiddling your thumbs wondering, "Hmmm, what should I write about?" Not having anything to write about may become an excuse to procrastinate, so plan ahead!

Get a list of article ideas, then on your writing day/time look at your list and pick a topic that strikes your fancy.

5) Stick to the schedule!

It's easy enough to come up with a writing schedule, but the hard part is sticking to it! When it comes down to it, you just need to write when you say you're going to write.

After you've created your schedule, the hard part is over--you can operate on automatic pilot for the rest of the month!