A friend whose blog I follow wrote recently that readers should come dig her out with a backhoe if she failed to post for a while: she’d be buried in snow.
When I read Jane’s usually funny, often poignant posts, I realize I’m merely a blogging wannabe, at least here.
No, maybe that’s an untruth, because doesn’t one press through for the important things in life? (I hear my husband’s voice: “Or, don’t two? Or even three?” He’s the one who assures that I don’t take myself too seriously. But he’s off on the boat, and I’m land-bound for now, so I’ve no one to temper my obvious self-absorption.)
I get updates from a number of sites, some daily. How do they manage to think of that much to say? Those of you in that number, how do you do it?
Granted, I maintain a sailing blog, but that only takes a shift in space: Sea Venture moves or someone takes a picture or two, and I update the travelogue. But here I’m supposed to talk about writing…mine or someone else’s. Have I read any good books lately? Well, yes, but they’ve been rereads of classics.
Between the minutes of reading leisure on my new Kindle, I’ve been editing. I don’t usually want to blog about that. I’m too busy doing it and trying to keep up with deadlines, real or imagined. I’ve also been tweaking my own stories. I wish I could quit that. I imagine my agent shares that wish because all I seem to do is confuse him. (Sorry, Terry, but the need to reread and change words — obviously with the idea of improving the work — is like any addiction…very hard to break.)
I’ve been told I must post regularly. I must keep you reading and interested. The presumption flogs me: if I fail, I won’t be published. How’s that for a shoulder-slumping burden?
Talk to me. How do you manage to do it, you daily or weekly blog posters?
I try to stay up on what’s happening in the writing world. Say the debate on eBooks or the current big news coming out of the conferences everyone wants to attend but can’t. Signing up for blogfests and hosting other writers helps too.
Sometimes its hard for me to post personal things because as a homeschool mom…we don’t really get out all that much outside of field trips. I like reading about other people’s lives and how it relates to writing.
Edge of Your Seat Romance
Thanks for answering, Raquel. I think that’s probably what most others do, so perhaps I ought to jump on board…if I could find something unique to say!
Feeling way out my league here, I have almost not posted my thoughts here 3 times. Stepping out of my comfort zone here.
I am trying to find out the answer to that very question in my attempt to be obedient to write in my blog, particularly with no audience.
Steph
Good for you, Steph! I’m so proud of you for moving out of that comfort zone — because without effort, we’ll certainly never have a chance for success, will we? We’re all in this together, trying to be obedient, trying to find God’s words for us and for others.
Thanks for the encouragement Normandie! You’re the best!
Steph
Hugs back to you, Steph.
I’ve been all across the board with my blogging. When I first started, I had no idea what to write about and only posted an article every great now and again.
When I heard that blogging was an important part of a writer’s platform, I made a commitment to blog at least twice a week. It worked great and I started gaining a following (although it helped that I had also jumped into networking on Facebook and Twitter at the same time).
I finally found my niche, but eventually hit a plateau. To get over the hump, I started writing blog post about five days a week. It increased the number of hits considerably (and quite quickly), but I found that I couldn’t keep it up.
Now I only post once a week, and that’s only a list of free Christian ebooks offered by Amazon. I need to find a happy medium, but I’m so burned out by the pace I kept before (along with all the networking, editing, critiquing, and of course, writing) that I haven’t even tried to get back into the swing of it.
Suzanne, thank you for your thoughtful answer. I know you were one who posted all the time, absolutely amazing me. Frankly, knowing you couldn’t keep up the pace makes me feel just a bit better! Life gets in the way, doesn’t it?
Yeah, I had a lot of life get in the way last year (both good and bad). I think it all comes down to balance…and I haven’t found that yet.
Balance. Hmmm… Something to imagine I might achieve…when?
Hey Normandie, I’m the worlds worst about posting to my blog. I make resolutions over and over again and still fail. However I have a newsletter that, so far, I’ve faithfully gotten out once a month. It makes me feel better about my blogging failure anyway. My problem isn’t about not having enough to say. It’s about having too much to say because I have too much going on. So I end up saying nothing and doing nothing – except the “too much” I’m getting “behinder” with every day! I’ll bet you’ve been there too!
So, Jean, how do you solve the too much?
Having too much to say: I write long essays in letters or on a blank document or in the middle of a story and then find I’ve exposed too much or merely been too wordy. CTRL-X and I spend a great deal of time getting to know one another.
When I delete huge portions or scenes from a story, I imagine that those words might hold the key to some future plot, which means I’ve saved pages of CTRL-V paragraphs.
I’ll probably never look at any of them again.