Not the person reading your book, but the WordPress Reader. I have to admit that I’ve spent most of today trying to keep up with it. Reading, liking, and commenting until I lose track of time. It’s roughest in the morning and tomorrow morning I’ll be off to a parent/teacher conference, so I won’t hit my reader until noon.
So, what do people do to avoid getting sucked into the reader cycle? Do you start fresh every morning, focus on certain blogs, or go back a certain amount of time? I’m lost on what to do.
Legends of Windemere 
Well duh. I read your blog and ignore everyone else’s. (Just kidding) Seriously, don’t worry about rushing in any way to like my posts or comment. I, for one am happy just to read your blog. Here is how I handle it. I send the important stuff to email, and then devote the rest of the day to other things I need to get done. In the evening I limit myself to one hour of commenting, reading and browsing other people’s blogs.
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I should do that. I’m at my laptop all day writing my books and blogging (and my dad says this isn’t a job), so I check it so often. I have to start checking it once every two hours, especially when I pounce on Book 5 either next week or the week I return from the convention.
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Honestly this may sound bad but there are only a handful of people I respond to during the day. Everyone else waits until later
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I might be getting to that point, but it comes down to my problem with saying ‘no’. I’m such a sap. 🙂
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You are as am I. I may have to make you a weenie badge
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Now I have the urge for a hotdog.
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🍔🍕🍗🍖🍝🍟🍤🍛🍷🍹🍸🍻🍺🍼hey look I’ve everything but that
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Eh, I shouldn’t be eating those anyway.
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Manage your distractions – set aside a time to read, comment, like (even if it is two or three times a day) and ignore it the rest of the time. Unless you plan to read and comment full time, you won’t get anything else done if you allow the constant distractions (all of this is said by someone who is not in her prescribed reading time period and should be working).
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Thanks. I’m wondering if it’s harder today because I’m trying to read books instead of write them. I should probably get used to not looking at my reader for a while or I’m going to be a basket case when I hit the convention a week from Friday. Won’t be able to check my blog and e-mail all weekend. Might be able to do a morning clean up if I’m lucky and find some wi-fi.
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Yeah, I get sucked in and distracted. I’ll tell you right now that it’s a terrible approach. 😉
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Sorry. I missed what you said because I was distracted by my reader. 😉
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Exactly.
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I get sucked in as well, and a few minutes turns into a couple of hours, and suddenly I have no time left for writing (which is supposedly why I am here in the first place!). I think first and foremost you have to accept that you shouldn’t aim to read every single post because its a huge time sink (especially as you follow more and more blogs). I agree with the suggestion of setting some time aside, or at least of limiting yourself to 15-20 minutes if you prefer to intersperse it throughout the day. Bottom line is, don’t stress yourself out about it! We all know you love us.
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Thanks. I’m thinking of doing the ‘reader break’ whenever I finish writing a chapter section and use it as a reward. That’s when I get back to writing. It seems to be rougher when I’m just sitting here reading.
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I do that too. I allow myself rewards for hitting certain goal points. Of course, I say this as I’ve been dinking around all morning and not writing.
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I’ll admit that I’m feeling pretty lost without a book to write. I was editing and writing for 11 months straight to prepare for my book’s debut. It’s like walking out of a cave and having to adjust to life again.
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I read your post but I don’t have time to comment. Sorry.
ha ha
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No problem. 🙂
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I for one read as many posts as I can when I can. I generally enjoy the work of the people that I follow and feel badly when I don’t get to comment or at the very least “like” their work.
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That’s what I’ve been doing. Though, I hit a loop many times where I read through and like everything only to find 20 more new posts are waiting for me.
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I know, its a never ending cycle, but we all know we are part of that cycle as well with each and every post we make.
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Time sort of makes the decisions for me – I have only a few opportunities during the working work day – usually first thing in the morning before I go to work, like now, then sometimes a small time at lunch if I am lucky, then before dinner when I get home…so I keep up with the blogs I follow that way, then spend a bit more time on it when I can on the weekend. So I make it a structured part of my day, but I find I don’t have time for much extra, and I worry about whether I neglect anyone. So, no words of wisdom here, but I know what you are feeling!! 🙂
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Thanks. Sounds like I just need to develop discipline and not distract myself so often.
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Time and energy is low for me so i work on priorities. Once the ‘must do’ things are out of the way i work on the notifications in order of arrival. If i do not manage to read all blogs during the day i do so at night before sleep and if i have one of those frequent nights of waking up at 2.30 am and i know i can owl to morning, i turn my little iPad sitting on my bed side draw, which my loving man bought for me just for this purpose, i.e instead of counting sheep i read the blogs of interest and catch up with unread entries. It is understandable not everyone is on the internet every minute of the day just to read or respond to Followers and Following and then pleasant to see some returning …dutifully, lol! a couple of days later.
So!… get on with the Priorities and when ready pour yourself into the pleasure of replies, etc
Enjoy a great Day!
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Good idea. Though, my priorities for this week are kind of screwy. I should try to do a morning, lunch, and night check to allow for work getting done.
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I feel bad too. I was out all day today so when i got home it was a case of tending to my own blog comments etc and then a whole 24 hours of reader to fight with….urgh. Tonight I am too tired to read all of them properly (and again I feel bad) so I will try to click at least one post of each follower and take the time to read it fully. I have also vowed to set aside weekends to just read…no writing. With new followers I find I need to set aside time to read more than one of their posts before deciding whether to follow them or not (sounds harsh but I dont follow just for the sake of it…again I feel bad lol ) and it means I can really read them properly. It really can be overwhelming and if you find anymore tips of overcoming the reader…please let me know xB
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I hate to say it, but the few 24+ hour periods that I’ve missed, I tend to skip. I might try to play catch up with a few blogs, but it’s too much of a mountain. I can only imagine what will happen when I’m away from WordPress for 3 days. Might do a ‘start from scratch’ point on the following Monday and make a post asking if there is anything people really want me to see.
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Good idea..I think I may do the same thing. Playing catch up makes it a chore and to be honest Im sure a lot of people wouldnt be offended by a day or 2 without on specific blogger liking or commenting…I know I wouldnt.
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Doubt it. Unless you skip me and then I will be horribly cross. 😛
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ha ha 😀
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Timely! I was beginning to feel a bit swamped myself… and I amn’t following that many! (Yet… 😮 )
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It gets rough. Part of me wonders if I should make a list of blogs I always check and then check the posts of anyone that comments on me or anyone new. That sounds a little jerky though.
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Yes. It would be good if there was some kind of functionality for the *must reads* and the *when I have time reads*… 🙂
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I know it is probably mean of me, but I only have a few sites that I keep up with regularly.
I go through my reader once a day (in the morning) and like or comment on anything that catches my eye. Then I am on-and-off wordpress for the whole day (except for the weekends now becasue my mom says I’m cut off: I can only work 16 hour days on Monday through Friday), seeing if anyone has commented on my site. If so, I’ll reply to them, then check out their site and see if there is anything new. 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I definitely go to people’s sites if they comment on me and try to return the favor. I think I’m reaching the point where I only have time to read and like for most of my reader. Such a complicated weight on my shoulders.
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It is hard, especially when you’re following more than 5 people!
But I do want you to know how much I enjoy and look forward to your comments and suggestion on my blog. But I understand if you need to back off a little, (I’m near tears over here, but don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine, really, oh, sniff, do you have a tissue?) 🙂
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Thanks and no crying. I’m going to find a way to keep myself going as long as I can. I think I’m smart enough to find a way.
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Yah! (Happy dance and BIG smile!) LOL
And I know you’ll figure something out!
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I’m having a hard time managing the Reader and comments too! I don’t want anyone to think I’m ignoring them, but I also need to sleep a couple of hours a night! lol Right now I try to focus on the RCC, answering comments, and reading blogs of people I’ve read since the beginning. But I’m beginning to lose track of time too often on here!! 🙂 If you discover a solution…clue a girl in please!
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I’ll try my best. I make sure to do the comments first though because I feel those are more urgent. That’s all I’ve got.
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LOL…you’ve got good stuff!!! I just started doing that this past weekend too!
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Honestly, it is super time consuming, but I scroll all the way down til I hit where I left off and work my way up. Sometimes I do this in the morning, but if I run out of time, I continue when I get back home. If not, I have my favorites bookmarked onto my Firefox so if I’m super short on time or I’m not feeling well that day, I only hit up the blogs I like the best 🙂
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The scrolling down is what I’m doing now, which is what is taking up a good chunk of my morning. I should make a favorites folder for my busy days. Thanks.
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My theory is to sit down every morning and catch up on blogs. I scroll down the reader, right clicking and “Open in new tab”-ing the posts that strike me as interesting, until I reach where I left off yesterday morning. Then I read the posts, like, comment, whatever, and pick up again the next morning. And if I notice a blogger consistently posting posts that are of no interest to me whatsoever, I hit “block blog” — it’s nothing personal, it’s just that if their posts don’t interest me, I don’t want them cluttering up my blog feed, you know?
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I didn’t even know that I could block a blog. I do the morning thing, but I’m on here all day, so I keep going to it. It’s probably worse now that I don’t have anything urgent to really distract me. The only thing left for the convention are the bookmarks. My wife is up to something that doesn’t sound like it’s going well. At least those are the words she typically uses when things go wrong. Probably not the best time to bring up that she’s a week late on my birthday cookies. 🙂
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I’m not actually sure if blocking a blog is the same as unfollowing someone, but … well, either way, it works 😀 Oh yeah, the convention! Take lots of pictures and videos and whatnot so we can live vicariously through you 😀 And I’d say cut your poor wife some slack – cookies ain’t easy, y’know. Fo shizzle. And I’m not sure why your cookies are gangster, but just go with it, a’ight?
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I’m going to be taking lots of pictures. The video would be rather boring since I’ll be sitting at a table the entire time. Also, I lost the charger for my digital camcorder.
I’ll cut her some slack until it hits May 9th. Then I’ll start guilt-tripping. 🙂
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