One of the features of BEA that is geared toward bloggers more than any other event is the Book Blogger Convention happening tomorrow.
The agenda: 
7:45-8:45 – Breakfast and Registration
8:50 – 9:00 Opening Remarks
9:00 – 10:30 – Keynote Speaker
10:45-11:45 – Professionalism/Ethics
11:45-1:00 – Lunch
1:00 – 1:50 – Writing/Building Content
2:00-2:50 – Marketing
3:00-3:50 – Social Responsibility
4:00-4:50- Author/Blogger Relationships
4:50 – 5:00 – Closing Remarks
If I were there, I’d be particularly interested in the Writing/Building Content portion. But I have a feeling my idea of what will be discussed doesn’t coincide with what I think of first when reading that topic header. To me, the most important content your blog possesses is you. It is your voice we hear when we visit. Your point of view that should be clearly seen.
Doing this is not as easy as it sounds.
So how does this relate? Blogger burnout has been a topic much discussed as many have felt its sting. I too found myself questioning why I was struggling. By taking some time off, I discovered it came down to something very simple, yet it’s the lynch pin of everything I do.
Goals. Making them, working them, meeting them.
I can only speak for myself, but I feel that I became burnt out because I lost sight of my goals. The following are the main obstacles I felt were giving me problems:
- I became too concerned with what others thought, what my statistics were, and trying to keep up with everything and everyone using tools that sucked more life out of my day than made it productive.
- I asked for too many review copies than I was capable of reading in a reasonable amount of time.
- I joined too many challenges for me to finish.
- I participated in memes which had nothing or little to do with my blog and its focus.
All of the items listed above ultimately had the same effect: a sense of overwhelming I could not shake. What do I post today? What do I need to read first? How far behind am I? Will I ever catch up? How can I prioritize when everything has to be done by yesterday?
I pride myself on being as authentic and honest as I can, but of all the people I strive to satisfy in this regard, there was one person being left out of the loop – me. I lost sight of what made me happy to be a blogger.
- Why do I want to blog?
I enjoy interaction with others, especially when it comes to the subject of reading and books. The internet helps bring together people who wouldn’t be able to meet otherwise. - What are the Goal(s) I want to work at achieving?
To enjoy myself first and foremost. To read what I want to read. Discuss what I want to discuss. To share my thoughts and feelings about books and literature with others in a way that is comfortable and unforced, and never to concern myself with whether anyone agrees with me. - How can I do this in a way that suits me best?
By using a format that is welcoming, easy to read and understand. Offering content that is thought provoking, and above all – honest. Not every book is perfect, so not every review will be glowing. But it will be fair. Using social media tools to share my blog and myself are great ways to remain connected, but must never take time away from what I love to do most.
This helped me a lot in dealing with my burnout. Also, I made a list that I keep handy in case I start to feel frustrated:
- Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Know your limits!
- Don’t feel compelled to review every book read except the ones asked for.
- Don’t worry over blog traffic and/or how many people are leaving comments.
- Never limit your reading time, but do set limits on spending time in email, Twitter, and other social networking sites.
- Never put any of these concerns over family and the time you should be spending with them.
Have you ever felt overwhelmed, burnt out, not sure if you want to continue? How did you overcome it?
I’m sure there are a few who are thinking, “Been there, done that.”
By sharing, perhaps you can help someone else out of their funk. Please leave a comment or a link to your post if you’ve already written about this subject.
Author’s Note:
Florinda over at The 3 R’s blog has an excellent post on the same subject. I urge you to read her post titled: Armchair BEA’s BBC Roundtable: Writing what you want to read, in your own voice
The one thing that I am horrible at, in life and blogging, is setting goals. I know that I need to do it, that it is the secret to life and happy blogging and all that, but I just can’t seem to do it.
I seldom get in a reading funk, but did go through a big blogging funk last year. I had another blog that featured home decorating and other homey arty type things. Everything was going great, readership was steadily climbing, advertising offers and other opportunities were starting trickle in, but I HATED it. The pressure and the boredom were killing me.
Then I listened to a podcast from Craftypod.com about
blogging and passion. While she was really focusing on crafting, it was like a lightening bolt hit me. I enjoy crafting and decorating yet I don’t enjoy sharing it much. It is about creating a special nest for me and my family. What I do love to talk about, what flows freely without effort or strain is reading.
That led me to reboot my book blog and I haven’t looked back. Suddenly my blog was no longer another job, it was fun, exciting and totally energizing. (albeit, I spend most of that energy curled up with a good book instead of trying to figure out how to take pictures while spray painting a trash to treasure find)
I think that the key is passion. If it becomes a job, it becomes work and you lose that spark.
If you listen to podcasts, here is the link
http://www.craftypod.com/2009/06/05/craftypod-93-craft-blogging-what-should-you-write-about/
I love this post because it expresses so beautifully a lot of my own thoughts. My goals are similar to yours: to read books that appeal to me; to honestly share my views on the books I read, good and bad; and to converse with other readers about books and book-related topics that interest me. And your bullet list says just what I try to tell myself! (Except that I do commit to reviewing everything I read, but that’s because I also see my blog as a reading record that helps me sort out my thoughts about my reading.)
I’ve rarely experienced more than momentary burnout regarding my blog itself, but all the other stuff has gotten me frazzled more than once. I fret about whether I’m leaving enough comments, whether I’ll offend people by stating my opinion, whether I’m reading enough blogs to stay up on the “community”, whether I’m joining enough community activities, etc. And then I realized that if those activities stress me out and take time away from my reading, I’m losing sight of why I take part in them anyway. It’s supposed to be fun!
So I decided to cut way back on my blog reading, accepting the fact that I might miss out on a few things; and I put major limits on community activities, choosing mainly to participate in ones that don’t require advance commitments so I can participate if I have time when the moment comes. That gives me more freedom to read as and when I want to read.
Good advice. I am too worried about blog statistics, and I have already limited my time on social networking. Spending time with my family is the best advice yet though!
Wonderful thoughts you’ve shared. I never know how book bloggers posting daily reviews have time for life between reading, reviewing and posting!
I still think that stats can be helpful – they helped to show me which posts were wasting everyone’s time and which were ones that struck a chord. That allowed me to wipe out the stuff I’d been waffling over and focus more of my energy on the things I wanted to write.
I plot my post ideas in a notebook in advance, scheduling in family and friend time – like entire weekends.
I’m also taking on the topic of voice in writing for my BBC topic, and I’m including a link to your post. You have some excellent suggestions here.
I’ve been pretty lucky – in over three years of blogging, I really haven’t had a problem with burnout that hasn’t been remedied by a few days off and some variation in my blog content. I think it’s important to self-assess fairly often.