I've been blogging pretty heavily (at least for me, the used to be queen of the once-a-month blog), following lots of people, facebooking, trying to Twitter, etc. etc. etc
Can I just say that it is consuming ALL of my time. AND I HATE that it is.
See before someone told me that I needed to start promoting myself and joining social networking sites, and gaining followers, I used to be a mom, a full time employee, and a writer. Now I feel like I am being controlled one hundred per cent by my computer and the internet.
Don't get me wrong. I've found some fabulous blogs to follow and new friends and lots of ideas to inspire me. But it is sucking away my entire life.
For me, it is a miracle to get even one blog post up a week, and yet I see these people who do one every day. I see people who tweet and twitter every two minutes, and change their status update on Facebook three times a day, and I just have to ask...
Does your life revolve around facebook updates, twitter tweets, reading blogs, writing blogs, following blogs, etc? And if it does, do you work full time?
Sometimes I feel like the only working mom who is crazy enough to take on this kind of craziness. Is this true? Is it not?
So I guess what I'm doing is taking a poll.
Comment on one or all of these questions.
1. How many sites are you a part of (facebook, twitter, blogger, etc.,etc.)?
2. How many blog posts do you do a week?
3. How many people to do follow?
4. How do you keep up on all the people you follow without burning out?
5. Do you work full time/ part time/ or from the home?
6. What advice can you give to me in order to keep up with it all and not have it consume every spare minute of my life?
And that's it. I feel like my writing is suffering because I'm networking so much I don't have time for it anymore. It makes me sad. :-( I miss writing.
What would you do if you were me?
10 comments:
I'm on Facebook and Deviantart. I change my status when I want to. I read post of my friends. Friends only. People who, when it comes down to it, I can leave my room get in a car drive to whereever they are and they'd be happy to see me in person. In this new age of "social networking" and the ever present ability to check what everyone is doing everywhere, we forget that people are still doing things out there. These tools were designed (well to be honest they were designed to make the designers money, but thats besides the point) to help us connect to people we otherwise wouldn't. To be able to talk to people that aren't right next door. I have friends in Utah, Montana, California, Oregon, Texas, New Hampshire, New York, Florida... I live in Illinois. It's amazing that we can all have an ongoing conversation about a picture a few of us took this summer in Salt Lake City. Or that we can plan times we can see each other. Remain in contact. But that doesn't mean we should be controlled by Facebook. Doesn't mean we're obligated to like or comment on everything our friends post. My friends know my policy. Just because I didn't "like" the latest picture of their kid doesn't me I don't like their kid. Secondly, I'm a writer. That means I need to read and be exposed to other peoples works and ideas. It helps me grow. But its always a balance. I spose that's where I was headed with this comment all along. On Deviantart, its a balance between me reading new work or spending a few minutes enjoying a photo someone I will probably never meet took and working on and submitting my own work. I hold a part time job and I'm a student. I don't understand all the details of your life, but I firmly believe that balance is the key to happiness. And that doesn't mean we make our lives bland. It means we enjoy the joy and feel the sadness.
I hope you have a great day ^_^
How many sites are you a part of (facebook, twitter, blogger, etc.,etc.)?
Facebook, Twitter (never do it though), Blogger, my preschool website as well on weebly
2. How many blog posts do you do a week?
-4. Yeah. I don't even do a blog post once a month anymore. I finally added 2 new blog posts for the last 3 months. I just don't have the time now that I have a preschool.
3. How many people to do follow? I have several people's blogs that are on my own blog, those are the ones I check on not so very often often when I have 5 minutes.
4. How do you keep up on all the people you follow without burning out? I don't.
5. Do you work full time/ part time/ or from the home? from home (but it seems to have taken over my life)
6. What advice can you give to me in order to keep up with it all and not have it consume every spare minute of my life? That's a good question. I used to let it consume me too, but then I just realized it was either living in a total dump and eating chicken nuggets for dinner all the time or getting away from the computer. Then it was decided for me when I had no more time to blog or really follow blogs either. One thing I tried before I really just had no time was only being on the internet right before bed. The only downside to this is that if you get sucked into the internet's vortex, you might not get to bed until much later than you wish.
I only post once a week now because of the burnout. I have people who started blogging with me at the same time as me, about 3 years ago, who still post daily. I don't know how they keep it up. And honestly, I've noticed that the daily posters seem to lack in quality sometimes.
I totally get you Margie. You've got to have your priorities straight. If all the social networking/promoting is getting in the way of your writing then you might need to cut back. After all, the point here is to write and publish a book. If your not writing, then what are you trying to promote? I really think our group blog thing is really going to help.
I'm looking for balance too, girl. I keep telling myself I'll figure it out, but haven't yet.
I'm currently only on blogger and I have no idea how people who tweet, facebook aND blog do it all!
I used to try to blog everyday, but I cut it down to 3 times per week, because it was just too much, and it was taking up all my time. And although I'm still struggling with this, it's made it a bit easier.
You should try to schedule your posts for the week whenever you get some down time.
Good luck! :)
I write because I have to. I write every day...no exceptions, no excuses. Period. My writing is first and then everything comes after for me.
I don't promote myself through social networking. I have a little plan laid out for my writing and I'm following that and it is my guideline.
For me, publishing my blog every day is part of my discipline.
I think the chance of most of us becoming famous like Pioneer Woman from our blogs is pretty remote and I wonder if that's what the social networking is for...
I don't do FB or any of the others because I don't have time.
And at the end of the day, it is always about the writing for me.
Often my blog posts are 'throw aways' because my writing for that day has been deep or sad or for contest but it always gets my mind moving.
And this was an extremely long answer.
Hope you find some kernel of something useful in it.
Good luck on your search for answers.
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