Struggling: My Blogging Dilemma

Wednesday, February 18, 2015



These last few weeks I have been in a slump. Not a reading slump per se but more of a blogging slump. This is something that I have struggled with since the fall and honestly I don't know what to do. I talked with some amazing fellow bloggers last night over twitter, and then I talked to my husband about it as well, and even though they all gave great advice, I am still torn.

When I started blogging almost 4 years ago I had no idea how big it would become or how encompassing it would be. I loved it from the moment I started, mostly because of the community and the people that loved books as much as I did. But over the years something has changed. Whether it be the ever present jealousy I feel when I see other bloggers receive an ARC that I really wanted but never got, or even when another bloggers gets retweeted for a review of a book, when I reviewed the same book but never got that shout out. It makes me feel really petty talking about these things because I think, I am 25 years old. These things shouldn’t bother me, but they do. And I have no idea why.

I love talking about books, it’s the reason I started doing this in the first place, but I think the guilt factor is the reason for by doubt in continuing. I have SO MUCH guilt when it comes to reviewing and getting posts up on time. I actually have an agenda that is strictly for reviews only and I plan my months out in advance. I used to love this system because it took the guess work out of reading. I knew what I was reading every day of every week. It made sense. That way my reviews would go out on the weeks the books were released (which of course is ideal). But lately my schedule has not been my friend. I have started to feel like reading has become a chore and therefore it has effected the way I read. I now look at my schedule and sigh because I know it’s impossible to fit all the books in, and it is mostly my fault for requesting so many, But my intentions were good. I WANT to read all of these books, I want to review them but I want to be able to do it at my own pace. But when you get advanced copies it seems like there is more pressure to read it before the book actually comes out. And I think in there lies the problem.

When I was talking to my husband last night he made a good point. You are not getting paid to do this, therefore why are you so stressed out about it. And after a minutes I though, that makes total sense. But then I have to play the devil’s advocate and say, well the publishers and authors do give me copies of the books for free so that is a sort of payment. Do you see my dilemma? I want to stay in this community and I know I can still be a part of it and not blog, but I also love my relationship with Canadian Publishers and I really don't want to lose that either.

So I guess this blog post is mostly me trying to sort through my feeling but from what I read last night on twitter, many people go through this or have gone through this.

So my question is: What would you do to get through the rough patch? Take a few months off? Change the way I blog? I need some advice and would love to hear from you!

~Siobhan

You Might Also Like

2 comments

  1. This past summer I took off a few months from blogging due to personal reasons. I had just gone through a breakup and didn't feel the draw to blogging anymore, so I took a step back. I didn't read much during that time, I wasn't on Twitter and I didn't read other blogs. When I came back to it, I felt better about myself and where I wanted to see my blog go. I've stopped requesting ARCs from publishers unless it's a book I was planning to buy anyways. I realized that I could never keep up with reading ARCs on time, so why stress myself out about it? I'll still write a review on the book, but on my own time. Am I happy I took some time off? Yes and no. I needed the hiatus but when I came back, I lost a lot of my followers. I'm still struggling to get my blog back to how it used to be. When you're gone for a long period of time, it's a risk. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn't. For you though, it sounds like you're a little burnt out. I would take a month off. In that month time, really decide how you want to see this blog go in the future. Aim at accepting one ARC a month, plan for a certain number of posts a week (I'm trying to do 2-4 a week now), plan/write some posts so you're ready to go when you're done your hiatus. Take the month to breath again and read books you WANT to read, not because you HAVE to read them. You'll feel much better about yourself and your blog, I promise you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had a blogging slump a while back and although my blog is nowhere near as popular as yours, I still felt guilty for taking my break. But it was definitely worth it for me.

    I think you need to re-connect with your love for reading. Ask yourself why do you blog? Otherwise, you're going to begin detesting it. Remember, this is your hobby, don't make it a chore.

    ReplyDelete