For some reason, not posting on my blog for three days feels like I've abandoned it. I'm generally a 4-6 posts a week kind of girl, and this week has been much less. I don't feel pressure to blog 4-6 times, that's just generally the number I come out with. But I have been getting the question a lot: "how do you find time to blog?!", so I thought I'd address it today.
When I started blogging, I only knew of a handful of blogs and they were all by friends or acquaintances. At that time those few friends or acquaintances didn't blog regularly, but I liked the idea of the outlet they had and the method of keeping in touch with distant family, since I was a newlywed living 7 hours from mine. I basically followed their cues when I started up The Baby Bump Blog, which began around the same time that baby fever did. We weren't even officially trying when I started the blog, but were shortly after, and I wrote about little else. Trying, pregnancy symptoms, doctor's appointments, etc. It was not intended in the least for the public eye and I updated as I felt like it - which wasn't often. Looking back I attribute that to writing about such a small theme. If I wanted to blog about something else that wasn't baby-related, it didn't seem it would fit in my blog since I had defined the parameters so tightly.
My first blog (which is still alive and kicking as we've been trying for baby #3 and considering adoption, too) is great, but I don't find joy in it like I do this blog, which is likely why I don't write there as often. It was essentially an easier way to communicate how things were progressing with my pregnancies to the many friends and family who wanted phone calls more often than I could deliver. Now it's evolved too, and especially through blogging about adoption I've connected with numerous people in a similar journey. It has become a bit of a resource centre for people adopting from Canada, Quebec, and via Foster Care, which is really cool. But if time gets scarce around here, it will be my first blog that first gets neglected, not this one. This is my main outlet, and I love posting here.
So people often ask how I find the time to write here so often and what I get out of it, and I'd love to share my answers. With time, it's really simple: I may post every day (or close to) but I don't write every day. Usually at night, I start blogging about something, which leads to another post, and another, and while I'm uploading pictures from my camera I see a lot of pictures that fuel more posts and so on. That's my blogging secret! I write 2-4 posts at a time and then schedule them to post on the week days, one after the next. I essentially write twice a week, to have between 4-6 posts a week. I used to use nap times for blogging (which I am right now!), but they're less predictable now, so evenings are more common. And because I don't love the idea of using my children's waking hours to build my blog. I've done it and I sometimes still do - they're great independent players and I don't feel obligated to be at their side every.single.second - but it's not the norm for me anymore. I think everyone's happier this way :)
So why blog? I think every blogger's motives are different. Mine began as an outlet and a place to collect my thoughts. It was the days before Pinterest, so if I saw something that inspired me (a recipe, a style of home decor, etc), I blogged about it. I still use my blog for that purpose from time to time and read many blogs fashioned in that manner. I also use my blog as a place to verbally process things I'm in the process of dealing with or deciding. That's where posts on spanking and discipline, children and nudity, and kids and media come in. I get a lot of feedback from those posts which I love. It's why I write posts like that - to process and to receive input from other sources.
As my blog has grown over the years there have been new additions like product reviews and giveaways and sponsorship. Since I choose each product to review myself, and decline many that aren't a good fit, each product blends really well into my blog's themes (cloth diapers, baby things, etc) and I think (read: hope!) it's been a fairly seamless transition. The giveaways are just plain fun and I hope you guys love them! Sponsors fall into the category of "new" things on my four year old blog since they've just come about in the last six months or so. It's a verrrrrrry slow addition but it is nice to be compensated for the hours I spend here, even if I already derive joy from the process. Plus I get to share about shops and blogs I believe in with all of you, so it's win-win. Like reviews, I only have ads up for blogs and shops that I personally respect, and have declined ads in the past that weren't a good fit for my blog. That was hard, but I think the integrity of the space is more important than an extra $10/month, don't you?
Anyway, after a three day silence, this is the result. A whole lot of bloggy thoughts that I've wanted to share and am asked so often. Hope that's provided some insight! Tomorrow it's back to the norm :)
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When I started blogging, I only knew of a handful of blogs and they were all by friends or acquaintances. At that time those few friends or acquaintances didn't blog regularly, but I liked the idea of the outlet they had and the method of keeping in touch with distant family, since I was a newlywed living 7 hours from mine. I basically followed their cues when I started up The Baby Bump Blog, which began around the same time that baby fever did. We weren't even officially trying when I started the blog, but were shortly after, and I wrote about little else. Trying, pregnancy symptoms, doctor's appointments, etc. It was not intended in the least for the public eye and I updated as I felt like it - which wasn't often. Looking back I attribute that to writing about such a small theme. If I wanted to blog about something else that wasn't baby-related, it didn't seem it would fit in my blog since I had defined the parameters so tightly.
My first blog (which is still alive and kicking as we've been trying for baby #3 and considering adoption, too) is great, but I don't find joy in it like I do this blog, which is likely why I don't write there as often. It was essentially an easier way to communicate how things were progressing with my pregnancies to the many friends and family who wanted phone calls more often than I could deliver. Now it's evolved too, and especially through blogging about adoption I've connected with numerous people in a similar journey. It has become a bit of a resource centre for people adopting from Canada, Quebec, and via Foster Care, which is really cool. But if time gets scarce around here, it will be my first blog that first gets neglected, not this one. This is my main outlet, and I love posting here.
So people often ask how I find the time to write here so often and what I get out of it, and I'd love to share my answers. With time, it's really simple: I may post every day (or close to) but I don't write every day. Usually at night, I start blogging about something, which leads to another post, and another, and while I'm uploading pictures from my camera I see a lot of pictures that fuel more posts and so on. That's my blogging secret! I write 2-4 posts at a time and then schedule them to post on the week days, one after the next. I essentially write twice a week, to have between 4-6 posts a week. I used to use nap times for blogging (which I am right now!), but they're less predictable now, so evenings are more common. And because I don't love the idea of using my children's waking hours to build my blog. I've done it and I sometimes still do - they're great independent players and I don't feel obligated to be at their side every.single.second - but it's not the norm for me anymore. I think everyone's happier this way :)
So why blog? I think every blogger's motives are different. Mine began as an outlet and a place to collect my thoughts. It was the days before Pinterest, so if I saw something that inspired me (a recipe, a style of home decor, etc), I blogged about it. I still use my blog for that purpose from time to time and read many blogs fashioned in that manner. I also use my blog as a place to verbally process things I'm in the process of dealing with or deciding. That's where posts on spanking and discipline, children and nudity, and kids and media come in. I get a lot of feedback from those posts which I love. It's why I write posts like that - to process and to receive input from other sources.
As my blog has grown over the years there have been new additions like product reviews and giveaways and sponsorship. Since I choose each product to review myself, and decline many that aren't a good fit, each product blends really well into my blog's themes (cloth diapers, baby things, etc) and I think (read: hope!) it's been a fairly seamless transition. The giveaways are just plain fun and I hope you guys love them! Sponsors fall into the category of "new" things on my four year old blog since they've just come about in the last six months or so. It's a verrrrrrry slow addition but it is nice to be compensated for the hours I spend here, even if I already derive joy from the process. Plus I get to share about shops and blogs I believe in with all of you, so it's win-win. Like reviews, I only have ads up for blogs and shops that I personally respect, and have declined ads in the past that weren't a good fit for my blog. That was hard, but I think the integrity of the space is more important than an extra $10/month, don't you?
Anyway, after a three day silence, this is the result. A whole lot of bloggy thoughts that I've wanted to share and am asked so often. Hope that's provided some insight! Tomorrow it's back to the norm :)
I wonder:
Do you blog for the same reasons I do, or different ones?
How do you find time to blog?
this is a great post em.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I stopped blogging was because it was consuming my time, heart, and mind.
I used to blog when Pen was awake too but felt really guilty, so I started blogging when she napped instead. But, I'd find her two-hour nap would be over in a blink of an eye, and I hadn't read my bible, eaten, showered, cleaned up, or even rested. I can't blog in the evenings because Daniel has asked me not to, it's our time as a family and he really doesn't like me on the computer during that time, which I respect.
So basically, blogging became an idol! Now I blog at Daughters of Jerusalem, which to me feels more of a ministry and is only once a week. I also only read a SMALL handful of blogs and try to have a day or two a week that I don't even go near the computer.
But I think you have a system that works well for you! But I do think lots of women get overwhelmed by the blogging world and do end up idolizing it a bit. That was true for my heart at least! It was SO hard to give up though :(
I've just come back to blogging after a brief hiatus. In the past I got caught up in the idea of having followers and was fixated on things like page views and whether or not I could make my blog "cool enough" for sponsors ... like Brianna, it became an idol to me and I think I ended up losing touch with why I had started blogging in the first place!
ReplyDeleteNow I'm back and my focus this time around is really just documenting newlywed life - for me, not for anyone else. I love the idea of having a written record of this special season of our lives. It would be great to end up building a network of blogger friends too, but if that happens it's just an added bonus.
EM!!! we're finally in business...check it out!!!! gosh, sorry it took me FOREVERRRR!!!
ReplyDeletelove, brit
I blog because I can't live without a creative outlet. Oftentimes, many of them, if I'm being completely honest. I use to work in an artistic field and I don't any longer so I was missing having a creative in my everyday. Couple that with the fact that I've always been a journaler and the blogging world just seemed like a fit.
ReplyDeleteI truly didn't believe anyone would ever read my blog. Well, other than my husband and my mom because they're obligated! But I wrote anyways. It's in me, I need to write, and that's the only reason I do. To work it out, figure it out and get it out of my system! But slowly, over the past 4ish years i've developed a 'readership' if you will. Still blows my mind!
I'm like you, Em, in that I only write a few times a week and by then a bazillion things are stewing in my heart and soul and begging to be put on paper (er, screen?) so I just go for it! Then I post what I want, when I want. Sometimes tweak a bit here and there, add a picture, and believe me there are probably as many posts that never make it online as do. (possibly more!)