I'm a member of this group of writers in the Des Moines area, and we meet every couple of months or so. On Thursday night, we had a set topic to discuss: blogging. Some of us wondered whether there was any point to blogging--whether we were actually connecting with people, whether it would be more beneficial to just plug that time into working on our books.
There seems to be a lot of frustration surrounding the whole blogging thing, especially once you've been published. You have to be careful about what you say, not divulge too many details, avoid plugging your book excessively. People hold you to a higher standard and sometimes judge you if they see a typo or whatever.
Actually, some of the authors were saying that they spend HOURS on their blog posts, revising them up to ten times before posting. I had to keep from laughing--not because I think that's ridiculous. I think that's really admirable, but I tend to be in the jot something down and slap it up there camp. At least when it comes to my blog. I'm very stream-of-consciousness. I don't plan a certain number of posts on the craft of writing or the publishing business. It's just whatever comes into my head, the stuff I've been thinking about.
That's probably why I'll never have a super popular blog with millions of followers. I'm fine with that. I've got friends I've been following for years who follow me back. There are several readers who've connected with me via the blog, and I love hearing from them.
I guess that's what I like about blogging. It can be whatever you want it to be, and you get out of it what you put into it. Right now, I'm at a spot where I'm pretty busy and can't blog the suggested three times a week. And I know that my best internet friends understand that blogging isn't always first priority. So thanks for that. I love you guys. ;)
What about you? Do you ever question whether you should keep on blogging?
Just interested on how you came up with the title and what the symbolism is for it?
ReplyDeleteUh...
ReplyDeleteIt is tough to keep up with new topics...I finally just chose something that interested me enough to write about it while I figured out what to write next in my writing projects. I don't know if that's the right thing to do, but it works for me...so far.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I only blog every four days.
That sounds like a good policy. I might be able to do every four days...
DeleteI blog book reviews, and have a bunch of other girls I work alongside, so I'm only responsible for content every 5 days or so, and we have a bunch of memes that we do collectively. I think posting once a week as an author is more than fine - the writing people really want you to be doing is your next book!
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed your posts so far; its nice to read about different stuff... burritos, babies and so on! I got bored of some blogs which only ever post about writing craft. But then I'm a fan of The Bloggess, who frequently blogs about virtually nothing and has me in stitches every time!