Sure, the posts are up (because I wrote them all in a flurry weeks ago) and sure, I've been keeping up with the steady flow of books flooding my life (I may have gone overboard with the ARC tours), but my online presence has been practically nil. I scan Twitter maybe once a day, haven't opened Google Reader in weeks, and am largely ignoring my inbox.
I am in a funk.
Work has been stressful, life has been stressful, and I keep getting sick. I haven't written or attempted to write anything in months, despite the ideas flitting around my head. It has not been sparkly rainbows and magical unicorns in my neck of the woods.
You probably noticed that I stopped commenting weeks ago. I promise it is not you. It's me. And I'm hoping that by airing my feelings here that maybe I can turn a corner.
Does this happen to you? Do you reach a point when you start questioning how much of your life is getting eaten up by your blog? How do you fix it?
Don't get me wrong. I've been reading some incredible books. Books and reviews are not the problem. But I don't want this blog to be just reviews, or reviews and memes. I want this to have real, proactive content, but the time commitment makes it all seem so overwhelming. I need something to get my creative juices flowing, but that doesn't require me to give up half my week. That half needs to be reserved for exercise.
I'm going to keep thinking about this, and will be making my way around the blogosphere to say "hi" soon. I miss you. I apologize for being an absentee bloggy friend. I thank you if you've made it this far and still care about what I have to say. To make it up to you, tomorrow I'm going to be putting together a giveaway.
Until then, you'll have to make do with a Paint.
Amazingly beautiful and painstakingly crafted signature courtesy of Small Review
13 comments:
Aww! Don't worry about it, I've been in a bit of a funk myself. I realised I pretty much abandoned my gaming blog because I felt so disconnected from that community and my book blog is pretty much memes and reviews because the content just isn't coming to me (*FLAIL*). I just hope my steampunk feature in October can breathe a little life into my blog *touch wood* but basically, yes, I know exactly how you feel and heck it's lucky I read this post because I'm awful with keeping up on my reader, just caught the auto-tweet.
*hugs*
We forgive you! I get that all the time, though I'm not the most committed to my blog lol. I simply take a little break and get my head together :)
I had been wondering what happened to you. Sorry to hear that you're in a funk. That is never good. :( But, sometimes you just need to step back from blogging, and we all understand that. Hope the funk starts lifting soon. <3
Aaaaw my bosom friend! I was worried about you. I was just about to send you an email asking if everything was ok. :) Sending you hugs!
Sometimes I need to take a step back from my blog and give myself a little break. I still enjoy it, so I still do it. I hope you still like blogging because I LOVE your blog.
Your reviews are always fun to read and super informative. I don't mind at all if your blog is "just" reviews, because I love your reviews. I also really like your writing Wednesday posts.
and, paints!! :)
Hey, it happens. Hope you feel better soon. Getting into the autumnal mode can be stressful too. If your gut is telling you to do a few less reviews and more authentic spews then it'd be wise to follow it. Intuition is almost always spot on.
You are not alone-I have my fair share of dark and snarky moments. Hope you're feeling better soon. (((hugs)))
I think everyone gets in a funk sometimes. Maybe you just need a little vacation from the blog, not that I want you to, but sometimes we just need to step back for a minute and regroup. Hope you feel better!
*sobs buckets*
Your paint picture is making me so sad.
No need to feel bad. I think it happens to us all, Logan. The simple fact is that life happens.
We miss you too and will be here when your ready to come back. :)
This is the problem with virtual friendships. You need some hugs and I can't give them to you, which means I revert to my fallback position of making you laugh. That doesn't feel right either, because while it may improve your mood temporarily, it doesn't address the underlying issue. And I'm sorry I didn't reach out before--I noticed you weren't around but I didn't want to pester you. I thought about sending whiny "Where are you?" emails at least once a day.
Long story short--email me. Googlechat me. Let's talk. I want to see if I can help and if I can't...EMAIL ME ANYWAY.
Ahhh your post is sad. I think you should just enjoy your funk. Delete all your emails and google reader and start out fresh. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed that by it all because I get behind. It seems impossible to catch up.
THANK YOU all so, so much for your sweet comments. I promise I wasn't trying to make anyone else feel bad, I just truly wanted to apologize for not being around. Thanks for sticking with me, and look for some fresh things coming to the blog!
Honestly, I never noticed that your commenting and such has dropped. Maybe because I've been so out of the loop the past few weeks with no internet.
I think it's perfectly normal. I constantly feel overwhelmed with the amount of reading, reviewing, and commenting that I'm not getting done fast enough. Sometimes I have to remind myself that this whole blogging thing is supposed to be a fun hobby, not a job.
Take a break, you deserve it! You write amazing reviews and paint amazing pictures, haha. Hugs!
Maybe its the time of year! I've seen a lot of bloggers saying they are having trouble blogging right now. Life really does have to come first.
When I moved this summer, I got way behind on emails and commenting and it became so overwhelming that I didn't want to start again. So I just deleted all my emails that weren't personal and started where I was at, on that day and moved forward. Yeah, some books I read didn't get reviewed. So what? Other people reviewed them and didn't say anything different than I would have. Slowly I worked my way back into it. But I don't find the time to write like I want to.
Late at night I might find 15 minutes but that's about it.
But if blogging is a chore, take a break. Everyone will be here when you come back. Write, do what you need to take care of the stress. Blogging should be a want to, not a have to. I'll write you a permission slip if you need one.
Heather
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