Insecure Writer's Support Group: Writer vs Reader

Insecure Writer's Support Group is a blog hop hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh where totally insecure writers can get together and share the things that are making us go argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
        For all intents and purposes, this is meant to be a book review blog as well as my author blog. I can’t remember the last time I read a book with the express purpose of reviewing it. My review policy is up and I’m still taking requests but I have a sneaking suspicion that most people who submit are just ignoring the guidelines and trying their luck. This is why I delete 99% of the requests I get. Most of them don’t even refer to me by name but just called me “Blogger.” A lot of the novels I’ve been asked to read aren’t in a genre that I enjoy. 

         The thing is, the more I write the more critical I have become. I feel like I’m treating every novel I read as though I’m doing edits on it for a friend and often this is what makes me not want to read a book or stop reading it altogether.

        To date I’ve started at least four requested novels and at best I’ve read them to the ten per cent mark and then put them down and have never picked them up again. Once upon a time I used to be one of those people who would finish a book no matter what. Now the slightest thing can make me stop reading. If the plot is slow, I lose interest. If the romance is cheesy or if there’s any hint of a love triangle, I lose interest. I find myself making notes not in an attempt to write a review but with the aim of providing the author with constructive editing advice.

        I long for the days when I used to be able to read just for pleasure. But I’m starting to worry that because my mind is so geared towards writing, that those days are over. 

 

Why The Slump?

Pic courtesy of Clover @ Fluttering Butterflies

It's taken me a couple of weeks to write this post and I think that's apt considering the everything slump I've been in lately. I've read quite a few books lately but just haven't felt the need to sit down and share my thoughts. After much soul searching and staring at a blank screen, I've finally come up with a bunch of reasons why.


SO MANY PLATFORMS, SO LITTLE TIME
I've said it before and I'll say it again, multitasking is a complete nightmare. In an attempt to "put myself out there" for lack of a better term I've signed up to a whole plethora of social mediums. Goodreads, Twitter, Amazon, Facebook. You name it, I'm on it. Instead of increasing exposure, it's become a major chore to go through all the sites and keep updated on everything. So much so that I'm finding it really difficult to get motivated to even post reviews on multiple sites. Which is a huge shame because some of the books I've read deserve all the exposure they can get.

TV IS THE ROUTE OF ALL WRITING EVIL
At the end of a hard days work (which I spend in front of a computer) the last thing I want to do is get in front of another computer and have to think about what it is I'm writing. Whether what I say makes sense, if it's funny or insightful. If it's something someone else wants to read. All I want to do is  something brainless and nothing quietens brain matter as well as the idiot box. Though I'm finding TV to be such a trap. It provides some much needed stress relief but also keeps giving me great novel ideas.So whilst I have some new ideas to flesh out, I'm too busy being lulled into complacency while the flashing pictures. Catch 22.

REINVENTING THE WHEEL (OR IN THIS CASE THE REVIEW)
This should really have been the first and most prominent  out of all the reasons why I have been in a slump but since my mind works in random ways, it's going to stay where it is. You guys know by now that I spend a ridiculous amount of time internet stalking. My head is so full of useless information. Mostly about why a zombie apocalypse could never happen. But I'm a semi-pro and I do stalk the occasional book review blog and let me tell you, there are some incredible bloggers out there. I'm talking the ones who have a blog and also post reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Most likely they're the first reviews you see when you look up a book. They're not just reviews with a few paragraphs either. These things could be considered novellas. None of it is filled with fluff. Every word is pertinent and every idea well established. It's these reviews that make me think...why bother writing my own reviews when it' all been said and said so well? I don't have the time or inclination to put that much love into a review and I feel like it's a bit redundant. Of course there's the other notion that everyone has their own personal thoughts on a book and every review is helpful regardless of it's contents. I personally love reading the different perspectives on a book that many bloggers bring to the table, especially those ones who write short reviews but still manage to say so much. For myself, I just don't know if I have anything to say that hasn't been said better. So as I flip back and forth between the two sides, I am sitting in limbo with a bunch of reviews backed up and going nowhere fast.


WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE...
I have noticed that most wannabe writers who blog don't post as often as the book bloggers I follow. It's got me questioning whether I should be spending so much time "socialising" and much more time writing. But I'm shallow and live in fear of a mass exodus from my blog if I'm not always around. Besides that, I love engaging with other book bloggers. There are so many incredible people who blog and I want to be able to keep up to date with their blogs. I have to admit that being ever present does cut into my writing time. I should be editing right now but instead I'm blogging and agonizing over things that wouldn't have existed if I wasn't a blogger. Although I wouldn't be nearly a good a writer if I hadn't stumbled across the many great books and blogs that I frequent now. So I'm stuck in another moment where I need to decide whether it's more important to me right now to be a blogger or a writer. Hoping to find some balance soon.

THIS DOES NOT ADD UP
I love YA. I love strong female characters. I love the paranormal. I even enjoy the occasional romantic plotline. So when I start reading the latest big thing in YA it should be a given that I will fall in love with it right? WRONG. This is where it all falls apart and I end up standing on a virtual soapbox calling for some common sense and wondering where it all went wrong.Over the last few months I've read so many YA best sellers I can barely keep count and they all have one thing in common: I didn't enjoy any of them. So much so that I'm beginning to think the problem is me. Am I just out of touch? Can I not relate to teenage girls anymore? Probably not. But I've decided not to let it get to me. Despite moving on in years, I highly doubt I would have liked those books even if I were a teenager so no use feeling bad that I'm not part of the mainstream. I'm resigned to be a weirdo :)

END EXCUSES FOR WHY I HAVEN'T BEEN BLOGGING....
I swear I'll be better soon.