Roughly 6 1/2 years ago, I decided to start a blog. The blog was mostly about me and my adventures in writing. Through all the trials and tribulations, peaks and valleys, highways and byways, I basically poured my heart, soul and spirit into 1,448 posts spread out over 6 blogs.
This past weekend, I managed to wedge in some precious personal down time. It wasn't easy to do as I had all kinds of things (personal, professional, financial, etc.) vying for my immediate attention (like the cliché, they wanted it yesterday), but I found a way here and there to do it.
What I spent doing with my down time was thinking about my writing and my blogging. These days, both are vying for my attention whenever I decide to recharge my batteries. As of late, the pull of writing is stronger than the pull of blogging, which in some aspects is a good thing. In others, not so good.
Lately, blogging has been a touchy subject with my ying and yang, with the twin battles being 1} do I continue blogging, and 2} where do I continue it? As most of you know, I started up a book blog at Tumblr, and for my money, it was ridiculously easy to set up. Because of that ease, as well as the fact that one can pretty much post whatever they want, I've been giving some serious thought to scaling back my blogging here and moving some of my operations over to Tumblr.
The main drawback to that idea is that I'm really not motivated to blog right now. 6 1/2 years is a seriously long time to blog and eventually one either earns a temporary burnout or if they're really good, earns a permanent burnout. Personally, I'm fluctuating between the two.
As for my writing, it's sadly starting to follow the same trajectory that my blogging is, with only the issues being financial (as in needing money to have book properly formatted, etc.) and topical (as in, what do I write: fresh or re-write?). On the plus side, I do have two complete novellas that are ready for phase two, as well as the upcoming print version of The Inner Sibling for the fall.
Thus, the battle rages within, and at the end of the day, the only survivor will be me. Problem is, I don't know what kind of collateral damage I'll be facing at the end of the day. One thing you can count on though, is that I will let everyone know what my final decision will be in regards to my blogging, as well as my writing.
I leave you with a song from the late great Paul Revere, who sadly passed away over the weekend at the young age of 74 (I found this out from a fellow writer who is a FB friend as well as a very close family member to Paul Revere, not to me).
(c) 2014 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved.
We've only put in about half the time you've put into blogging, but being burned out is always a constant struggle. And as I always say, real writing trumps blogging any day, but either way, we hope you get everything sorted out!
ReplyDeleteSix and a half years is a long time to maintain a single issue blog. I've been blogging for 6 years but the only thing that keeps it fresh for me is that mine is so eclectic that I can pursue any train of thought or issues I want on it. Do what's best for you and for your writing!
ReplyDeleteSad to hear Paul Revere of the Raiders has died -- hadn't heard it before. I had a huge crush on him back in the day when I was a girl.
Maybe it's time to cut back here to just once a week. A couple of my author friends just blog one day a week, and that's also the only day they visit. Frees up their time the rest of the week.
ReplyDeleteHope you don't move it all to Tumblr as I don't have an account and wouldn't be able to comment.
I hear you...I am thinking of taking a small break. But maybe not. I can't imagine not venting in some way, shape or form :)
ReplyDeleteABFtS: Real writing indeed trumps blogging on a daily basis. However, at least for me, blogging really did help me with my writing as without I probably would be stuck paying thousands of dollars to ASI for the "privilege" of being a published writer.
ReplyDeleteStill, burnout by any other name is still burnout, and I agree that it's constant struggle to survive it.
Debra: I definitely love the uniqueness of your blog. You always managed to get me smiling and thinking.
I never really thought of my blog as a single issue blog, but you might be right.
Alex: The thought of decreasing my blogging has crossed my mind with a greater degree of frequency that I would like to admit.
It's tough to comment on Tumblr. I did set up the account to do just that, but I didn't want to run the risk of being bothered by Tumbler for not having a blog. Not sure what I'm going to do, but it'll probably be a mixture of something.
M: That's why Mother Zuckerberg created Facebook, so we can rant and act like goofs 95% of the time. :D
It seems to me that quite often we all believe that we are just going to quit this madness and then it pulls us back in. We might as well admit that we are addicted....or start a self-help group BA ANONYMOUS. (Blog Addiction)
ReplyDeleteYes - I have cut back on blogging a bit, too. I can't believe I used to turn out a post every day. Then I switched to Mon.thru Fri., then Mon.Wed.Fri. and now I'm down to Tuesday and Friday. I'm not sure anyone even noticed. :)
ReplyDeleteG.A.: Ain't that the truth. I think we all need to participate in BA. :D
ReplyDeleteLynn: I think you're right in that almost no one noticed. At least, I didn't. :D
It's funny, I started off by doing twice a day every other day, and now I'm down to who knows how many per week now.
I noticed, Lynn! I'm down to once per week, due to not having time for it except on a Day Off. I'm working harder more hours.
ReplyDeleteI hate loading the Tumblr reader, because it eats my cashe space really fast. Then, I can't use Discus for comments on either computer I blog on. Plus they kept changing the editor, n I lost formatting over n over again. On this slow machine it has driven me crazy- I just don't have the time. I'm doing this instead of sleeping right now! But not unwound yet anyhow.
Good luck no matter what.
Only write n blog when you want to- at any rate!
Snaggle: I agree that Tumblr definitely sucks up a lot of space (always have my task manager on so that I can do a reboot of IE whenever it gets jammed up).
ReplyDeleteI do know that I'll probably be cutting down to a few posts a week and as for writing, it's just the matter of finding the time during the week to do so, as opposed to just doing it on the weekends.