To Blog or Not to Blog?
I've noticed a troubling trend lately. Several authors have posted on Facebook, with much sadness and regret, that they are shutting down their personal blogs. The reason is the same: they don't have enough time to post as regularly as they feel they should. So they have decided the best strategy is to throw in the towel altogether.
To me, blogging is a bit like keeping a journal. Okay, a public journal, but a journal none-the-less. When you journal, if you tell yourself you must make an entry every day or every few days, the moment you fall behind, you're doomed. It's only a matter of time before you convince yourself that you can't possibly keep up with the pace and you quit journaling altogether. However, if you ease up on the expectations, and instead, sit down to write when the mood strikes, you can journal for months or years, or even a lifetime.
Because blogs are public, I understand the internal and external pressures to blog weekly. But for busy writers it just isn't realistic. It certainly isn't realistic for me. Deadlines loom. Revisions are due. The calendar is dotted with classroom visits, workshops, and other appearances. This week, I've worked on revisions for one book, written two chapters in another, and outlined a third (I'm writing this blogpost while eating lunch!). I have to make a living and that comes first. So I do what I can do. I try to blog about once a month here, once a month for my middle grade author team blog, Smack Dab in the Middle, and once every two months for my publisher at the Simon and Schuster website author blog. That's the most I can commit to, and if it gets to be too much, I scale back a bit. That's life.
Just like a personal journal, I think a blog should be defined and shaped by its author. Post when you have good news to share or some fascinating topic to discuss. Post when you can, be it once a week, once a month, or less often. Just post. Don't completely retreat from the world. To the readers who enjoy your work, even the small nuggets are still golden.
I'd like to chat more but I need to get back to work ...
To me, blogging is a bit like keeping a journal. Okay, a public journal, but a journal none-the-less. When you journal, if you tell yourself you must make an entry every day or every few days, the moment you fall behind, you're doomed. It's only a matter of time before you convince yourself that you can't possibly keep up with the pace and you quit journaling altogether. However, if you ease up on the expectations, and instead, sit down to write when the mood strikes, you can journal for months or years, or even a lifetime.Because blogs are public, I understand the internal and external pressures to blog weekly. But for busy writers it just isn't realistic. It certainly isn't realistic for me. Deadlines loom. Revisions are due. The calendar is dotted with classroom visits, workshops, and other appearances. This week, I've worked on revisions for one book, written two chapters in another, and outlined a third (I'm writing this blogpost while eating lunch!). I have to make a living and that comes first. So I do what I can do. I try to blog about once a month here, once a month for my middle grade author team blog, Smack Dab in the Middle, and once every two months for my publisher at the Simon and Schuster website author blog. That's the most I can commit to, and if it gets to be too much, I scale back a bit. That's life.
Just like a personal journal, I think a blog should be defined and shaped by its author. Post when you have good news to share or some fascinating topic to discuss. Post when you can, be it once a week, once a month, or less often. Just post. Don't completely retreat from the world. To the readers who enjoy your work, even the small nuggets are still golden.
I'd like to chat more but I need to get back to work ...
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