I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about my future as a blogger and how I can make life easier for myself so that I'm not constantly absent for extended periods of time. As the blog name suggests I am an obsessive person by nature and when I am in one of my obsessive moods everything else seems to get pushed to the side. For example, I am doing NaNo at the moment and my house looks like a bomb shelter. We've eaten take away almost every night and there's no clean laundry left.
But I recognize that things need to change. I love my blog and being able to interact with everyone and I want to put more priority on it. So I've devised a list of things that I'm going to overhaul in order to get me back on track:
DNFs: I know a lot of people frown upon reviews for DNF books but frankly my dear bloggers I don't give a damn. I spend 50% of my reading time with books that eventually become DNF. Sometimes because the book wasn't really my style. Sometimes because I hate it with the fiery passion of hell. Regardless, I think I should at least get credit for trying!
Reply Comments: I've decided that I'm going to scale back on replying to comments on my blog if I'm really busy unless I have something really pressing to say. That way I have more time to visit the blogs of people who do comment on my blog. Please don't be offended if I don't reply to your comment.
Reading Challenges: I am officially dropping out of all my reading challenges. As sad as that makes me it's for my own good. Not only have I not kept up with my reading challenges I haven't even kept up with counting books as part of my reading challenge. I think it's better for me right now if I give myself some flexibility.
Reader/Writer Balance: I'm going to try and post at least one review a week and one writer post. I keep thinking that reading is cutting into my writing time but in all honesty it's what motivates me to write and helps me improve as a writer. Also, the other week, I had dreams about creating a separate writer blog. That was monumentally stupid of me. I can barely keep up with this one. So I'm going to continue posting my writer stuff on this blog. I hope you guys don't mind.
Review Policy: I'm going to do a major overhaul of my review policy. Sad as it is, I think I was way over zealous when I first started blogging and just accepted anything to review. Most of what I've got isn't anywhere near my kinda book. So now that I'm older and wiser I am going to put in strict criteria so I don't waste my time or anyone elses.
That's all for me today. Hope everyone is well and see you on the flip side of NaNo!
Lan
I completely understand having to prioritize. I know blogging became second nature as soon as I got things prioritized, set up with a schedule and really got a plan made.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Konstanz Silverbow
nothoughts2small.blogspot.com
A review policy is a good idea. I don't have a review policy, but I do have guest post guidelines to keep everything under control.
ReplyDeleteI think your changes sound great, good for you. I think DNF reviews are totally justified, I'm always interested in why a book is a DNF.
ReplyDeleteGood for you for prioritizing. NaNo definitely takes a lot of time away from other things. I might need to re-prioritize things myself. I really want to keep writing as much as I have been during NaNo. I love both your writing and review posts, so I'm happy to see them both in one place. :)
ReplyDeleteYay! I've missed seeing all your posts. :)
ReplyDeleteWith me, I can't not finish a book... even if it gets on my nerves, I will start skimming to find out what happens. I need to know. I still review them for my blog. I don't see why you can't. It is your honest opinion, right?
I've given up on reading challenges myself. I don't have time to worry over them. I just want to read what I want when I want. :)
My review policy is pretty picky. I suppose I'm lucky that most of the requests I get go against my policy. Lol.
I wish you luck on NaNo and can't wait to see what happens soon on your blog! :D
The changes seem like they'll make your life easier, so that's a good thing! I like seeing your writing posts, Lan. :)
ReplyDeleteSeems like you're doing the right thing. I totally agree with you on the DNFs, as long as you're giving reasons why you can't finish, DNFs shouldn't be that controversial. Hopefully with all the changes you're making, you'll get back on track in no time. :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, that was something I always worried about whenever I thought about requesting books. Actually I'm wondering about these blog tours I'm seeing EVERYWHERE. But what do you do if you don't like the books? I hate being mean, but some books just aren't my thing. I think it's alright to do DNFs, though honestly, I've never read that kind of review--except for on Goodreads. Everyone seems to be either in the Loved It or Hated It category over there lol! I totally get where you're coming from with wanting to read more books that you love. Just for fun. I hope this helps lighten your load, and as always, I'll be following your future posts ;)
ReplyDeleteNinja Girl
Good for you for realizing that you need to change up some things to be happier. I've noticed that when a lot of blogger reach that point, they just give up their blog--I'm so glad you're not doing that!
ReplyDeleteYou've made me realise that I need to just drop out of my reading challenges, too. At the moment I'm working and studying and I just have no time. In the rare moments I get to read something that's not for my MA, I want to just read what I want and not worry about a challenge.
ReplyDeleteI'm sad that at least 50% of your reads are DNF - that seems high! Maybe you're not choosing books that suit you? I used to read all the hyped paranormal romances, but I wasn't really enjoying them and realised paranormal romance rarely works for me. Now I stick to the genres I know I actually like. It's hard to resist hype, though!
Lan, I totally understand about the obsession thing! I'm a pretty obsessive person myself and when I'm in the mood for something, the rest of things in my life tend to be abandoned. I hate when I do things halfheartedly, but it's so hard when I'm not in the mood for it. -.- But this is not about me, this is about you! <3 I'm glad that you will read and (hopefully) post more! <3 Maybe you should try to limit your books only to popular YA, the ones with less percentage of failing your expectation. :) Reading amazing books make me happy, and I can always finish my five-starred books in shorter time compared to my four-starred books. :) I hope that if you read more amazing books, there would be lesser chance for them to end up in your DNF pile! x)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with NaNO, Lan! <3 Hoping to see you around more! :)
Sounds good to me. I'm thinking of cutting back on replying to comments too. I'm pretty sure no one ever even looks at my replies so why bother?
ReplyDeleteFirst off, good luck with Nano! I totally love all your blog ideas here. I actually like to read DNF reviews. I am always interested in what makes someone stop reading.It's good info for writers to have. I also like the blending of a writer's blog and a book review blog. (Of course I am a bit biased, since I do this on my own blog.) But to me, writing and reading are so closely intertwined, there is a certain logic to mingling them on the same blog. Good luck with your new adventure, looking forward to reading more posts from you!
ReplyDeleteGreat Great Ideas. Stupidly, I too thought of making a writer blog and thought better of it. First of all I dont write about anything writer related besides now, during Nano, and second Im already too busy. There's no way. I think I was just riding off my high of thinking I would be a successful writer just as soon as my book was finished and that I probably need to get a blog ready for the fans I would start having. Like I said, stupid because its too early to even determing if my book is any good, or if it sucks. I still need to do a couple hundred edits before I will even feel like showing it to my mom, let alone an editor
ReplyDeleteGlad you decided to keep going instead of letting the blog wither away! I'm sort of obsessive too, so am a little surprised that I haven't moved on by now since I usually get bored sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteAs for the DNF reviews, those are my favorites! I think it's more interesting to see why someone didn't finish a book than read yet another gushing review.
Good luck with your writing!