Disclaimer: this post is really for me. Proceed if you want something personal; do not pass go if you’re not interested in my personal thoughts.
Happy Friday, everyone! So even though I’ve had my new computer for almost three weeks, it took me awhile to get myself to write again. You may have noticed that despite my “I’m back” message last week, I wasn’t REALLY back until yesterday.
This is because, frankly, it’s hard to come back to blogging after over a month away. As much as I love blogging and writing, I have to admit that having the time to just read, without any distractions or frantic thoughts of “I must get this review out tomorrow!” has been so refreshing. Our honeymoon was awesome, but it wasn’t exactly relaxing – and getting our stuff stolen was pretty stressful. Coming back to work after three weeks away was also really hard.
So yeah, I needed that time away, to veg, to spend time with my new husband, and to remind myself of my own love of books.
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| Blogger guilt looks like this. |
The problem is, I’ve felt kind of guilty and lazy over the last few weeks. I got really used to not having anything to do at night other than veg on the couch. And writing isn’t something that I just do – I usually have to carve out some time at night to sit with my computer and write, and sometimes, that’s hard when I want to go out with friends or I just don’t feel like writing. I’ve had a lot of guilt over the fact that I haven’t blogged in a few months. And the blogger guilt doesn’t go away when I’m writing and reading a ton, either.
Last winter, I got really excited about requesting and reviewing books off Edelweiss and Netgalley. I ended up asking for too many books and feeling super-stressed. I spent a lot of late nights trying to finish books. There were a lot of books that I read in one evening in order to get my reviews up in time, and a lot of times when I said no to social things in order to get blogs done.
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| This is my TBR pile. Always. |
This summer, I’ve been much slower about reading, and as a result, I’ve enjoyed books a lot more. I’ve thought a lot more about each book that I’ve read. I’ve had more time to spend with friends and to enjoy my newlywed status.
I’ve also been able to really read other bloggers’ posts – and enjoy and comment on some of the fun, thoughtful, and creative posts out there. In particular, this post by Estelle from Rather Be Reading on her experiences living life online, and the post that she links to about personal blogging and staying true to one’s blogging voice, have really resonated with me.
I think maybe I’ve been putting too much pressure on myself and this blog. At the end of the day, this blog is supposed to be a guilt-free thing that I do because I love YA and I love talking about YA books and writing about and promoting YA books. Even just writing this post is reminding me of that.
So for the rest of the year, I’m going to try the following things:
1) requesting fewer new releases
2) really dipping into my TBR pile
3) letting myself enjoy the writing and reading that comes with being a blogger, guilt-free
4) being more reflective and personal, especially on these Friday Rants
5) not feeling guilty if I end up reading or reviewing fewer books than I would have last year
6) definitely not feeling sorry if I go out with friends or write instead of blogging
I expect that most of you won’t notice any change in my blogging. But change has to happen on the inside first, and that’s what I’m going to work on, guilt-free, in the next few months. Take this as my blogger manifesto for now.
I understand where you're coming from, Tiff, and I've felt like that before, too. However, when I woke up one day to find that all my blog posts were missing and only was able to get a portion of them back months later, I gave that up for good. Sometimes I need breaks from it, and I take them guilt free. I hope you can do the same.
I read this a little bit ago on my phone so I'm excited to be on my computer to comment!
I struggled with this a lot in my 3 years of blogging and I guess if I'm being honest I still do have SOME guilt but maybe more about other things like not being able to do all the things I want to do with the blog or not being able to comment on EVERYBODY'S blog etc. I've also really slowed down what I'm acquiring and that has helped. I DO have guilt about all the books that get sent unsolicited that I can't get to but it is what it is. This year I've really taken a more laid back approach that really started after my own wedding…I, like you, had been taking a lot of time off BEFORE the wedding so I honestly maybe would post 1-2 a week if that. I realized after the wedding that break was GOOD and recharging for me and I was ready to get back but I was able to operate under a different mindset. The world didn't implode before the wedding when I didn't post every day so it sure won't now! 🙂
I think the only guilt I really care about is when I'm at the end of my life and I think about all the things I kept doing that I didn't want to. So right now your brain is telling you to slow down and you are listening to it..that's important! Glad you wrote it down and got it out! Sometimes just writing it down helps motivate us and we can go back and check it out later when we are having trouble again!
Oh snap Tiff! I had no idea you had a blog, I totally understand what you mean about actually having to take time in your relaxing schedule to make sure you blog something. Sometimes it's the most amazing thing to do and sometimes it becomes a chore. My goal is to be more consistent with mine and really kick start it up to gain more followers these few months though!
Keep writing and having fun at the same time!