Homer Simpson
So I’ve been doing some thinking about the future of this blog. It’s the hub of my social media activity and where I share my thoughts, W.I.P., and other things. It’s also becoming hard to maintain because the payoff seems to be dwindling. I don’t pay attention to my blog stats, so that isn’t it. I mean comments and overall interactions here. I get some back-and-forth, but not much and I’m posting every day.
And that might be the problem. Maybe I did too much. I’m running out of weekly topics and I’m just so burnt out here. I do thank my usual comment leavers and those who show up from time to time. That’s a big reason why I’m not closing up shop. There are some people paying attention. I’m simply going to dial it back in January. Here is the plan that I’m considering:
- Post Sunday Goals, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I need some schedule to avoid forgetting this place entirely.
- Save full week of posting for Hype Weeks or any other special events.
- Post more non-blog stuff on my Facebook Author page to keep it active.
- Retire Character Interviews because those get nowhere. Check other recurring post types to see if they have any traction.
- Leave opening for posting on a whim.
- Continue reblogging at the same rate to help others.
This means I’ll have made it 2 years without missing a day of posting, but I guess I couldn’t keep it up forever. I was bound to run out of things to say. I’ll admit that I’m having a hard time letting go because this place is my main source of social interaction. I chat with a few people on Facebook, but that’s really it. Hopefully this doesn’t hurt my books, but I really think it’s come down to me toning it down. Only reason I’m letting it go for the rest of the year is because I have all the October posts prepped, I have enough topics to cover November, and December MIGHT be a debut month.
Guess that’s it. Business as usual for now . . . Guess I’ll see if I hold to this or something changes my mind.
Legends of Windemere 
I can relate on two points – the social interaction and the fact that a blog is damned hard work. Here’s an idea: how about when you come up with all the recurring themes of your blog posts, you do a poll to see what most people are interested in reading more of?
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I did something like that a while back. People claimed to be interested in the ‘Ask-A-Character’ stuff, so I brought it back. Very little happened, so I kind of feel like most people will say they want something and then not return to support it.
I’m thinking of keeping the Olde Shoppe and my characters chatting amongst themselves, but have those only be Friday. Monday would be the open question of the week and Wednesday would be my thought posts. Any poems or sudden musings will show up when they show up.
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Sounds good. 🙂
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I think part of the issue is the time of year. Blogging should be regular. Not necessarily daily. Also, I think people (your fans) want to hear more about you, the author. Not always just about your books or characters. Just some thoughts
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This has actually been going on since late spring. It’s been a steady decline. As for talking about me, I ran into a problem with that. I have various family members and friends who read my blog and respond to what I say outside of the computer. That’s why you don’t see me talking a lot about myself. It caused some unnecessary stress on this end.
I have a week of son-related posts in October, so we’ll see how that goes. Beyond that, I don’t really do much else since I’m the house parent.
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Talking about yourself doesn’t mean revealing family secrets. Talk about your likes/dislikes, hobbies, TV shows you watch, etc. Make yourself human to your readers. It makes readers feel like you are one of them.
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It wasn’t even family secrets though. If I wrote about being depressed then I heard about how I’m being publicly negative. If I posted about something happy then I heard about how people didn’t understand why I had a blog when I didn’t write about my books.
I simply couldn’t win. I’ll be trying a few about me posts in November once all my monster-based stuff is over. So we’ll see how it goes. November and December will be about finding out what works and what doesn’t.
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Obviously people who don’t understand marketing for authors
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That’s another odd thing. I’ve seen a lot of authors that rarely talk about themselves and they have a massive following. They put a few personal things in there posts, but it’s focused primarily on writing and their books. So I don’t get where I went wrong. And I definitely went wrong.
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As an avid reader, I don’t read author blogs just to learn about the books. I read interviews to learn more about what makes them tick. And to hear that they had a bad experience with a Chevy Volt bit or they locked their keys in the car or they favorite vacation.
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That’s where my challenge comes in. I haven’t had an actual vacation in nearly 5 years and I don’t go out of the house for more than running errands. Only so many posts I can make about the insane drivers around here. So, I guess my question is what does a person write about when they think they’re boring or live in a rut?
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You’re a writer, I’m sure you can come up with an interesting way of looking at boring stuff
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Uh . . . I should be honest here. I kind of just wake up, get the son off to school, shower, and the write until he comes home. Some days I don’t even leave the house beyond getting him from the bus. Guess that’s where interesting songs, shows, and movies come in.
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Can’t help then
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Yup. It really does boil down to me needing to get a life. Though bad things happen when I escape for a day.
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My daughter has a five year old. Single mom. Works her own business. Still find time to live. It can be done
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Yeah . . . there are other factors here. For some reason, everyone seems to blame the boy.
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I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong.
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Maybe, but it kind of feels like I screwed up somewhere with the steady decline. Posts about aspects of writing that I thought were insightful went unanswered. Next month might end up being the same since I’m too lazy to switch out the topics. Actually, I only remember having a week of son posts and something about using tiny monsters like Gremlins and Critters. I really need to keep a list of what I’m posting when I do it in advance.
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A week on writing about fear and tension. That’s it.
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I agree with Pam. Regular doesn’t mean everyday. Also I am glad you aren’t closing because where would I leave my stupid comments then?
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There will always be a place here. I guess I’ll just make a new schedule or something. Not sure if leaving Saturday out of the mix is a good idea since there seems to be more activity there. Maybe move the goal post to that day and leave Sunday cleared.
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You can title everything with “nude pics of”
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Nude pics of a tree! Nude pics of that guy on the corner! Nude pics of wall! (Did I get it right?)
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Nude pics of …my work in progress!
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Guess the work in progress days are over. Those tend to go over like a lead balloon with bowling balls tied to it.
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You could always post nude pics of fizzle. He has fans.
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Good idea. Though he’s always nude. That might be an issue.
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Nah. People are dumb lol
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Which explains the careers of so many people. We should make a list.
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1. The president’s body guards.
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2. Reality TV stars.
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3. The people who made the “booty pop”
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4. People who start flame wars on forums.
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5. Huge people who drive volkswagon beetles.
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6. People who speed through school zones and wonder why they get pulled over.
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7. People who walk around in message to shirts that prove their own point.
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8. Those who are on line at a fast food place and STILL need to look at the menu for a few minutes when they get to the front.
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People who say to shirts instead of t-shirts because they don’t read the message before sending.
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9. Autocorrect.
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10. Those who say, “I considered writing a book too.”
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11. Those who ask when the movie will be coming out.
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12. Those who can’t figure out anything beyond pressing like.
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13. Whoever decided that a phone should do everything except act like a phone. 😀
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14. Whoever decided that writers should be the only professionals who must be kind and patient every moment.
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15. Whoever decided that authors should be read and not heard even when they’re being insulted so badly that they have flashbacks to high school bullies.
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16. Those who bully.
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18. Those who skip 17. 😛
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19. That person in the queue in front of you who always has a problem with their payment method.
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20. The person driving behind you that flashes his brights to get you moving quicker even though you then have to slow down to blink the spots from your eyes.
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21. The one who can’t wait to pass you and then slows down in front of you when they do.
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22. The one who cuts you off and still doesn’t make it through the intersection before the light turns red.
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23. The one who calls you to sell you a vacuum and interrupts your vacuuming
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24. The door-to-door salesman that tries to approach you when you’re getting your kid off the bus, bringing groceries inside, playing with your kid, or doing anything that seems important.
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25. The reprove mother talking about how immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to bilch the system whilst all 14 of her kids wait for her to pay with her food stamp card.
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Wow. I really gotta just say that one’s oddly amazing to imagine.
26. People that try to pick fights with stand up comedians. Even if you win, you lose.
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27. People who complain because they can’t find anything to do.
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28. People that think Bram Stoker and Anne Rice copied Stephanie Meyers.
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29. People who think Romania is in Rome.
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30. People who think being Jewish means you hate Germans and are rich.
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31. People who assume because I am Romanian I am related to Dracula.
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32. The person who keeps updating Facebook and making it worse.
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33. The person who designed windows vista.
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34. The people who think a broken escalator can’t be used as stairs.
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People who take the elevator and then complain that it took too long.
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People who fart in an elevator and gloat about it.
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Now you made me lose count.
People who fart on WordPress and blame me.
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38. People who give kids a name raft is pronounced nothing like it looks. Jennifer does not equal Stephanie!
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39. People who name kids with the same first and last name. Dick dick.
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40. The guys behind Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and Disaster Movie.
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41. That should have been the 40 year old virgin.
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42. Politicians
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43. People who give up on a sports team when they go through a losing streak.
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That one always irks me.
44. People who mock others for being fans of a sports team while they post incessantly about various fictional stories. This includes fans of TV shows and movies that keep pointing out to wrestling fans that WWE is scripted. So is Doctor Who and Firefly, what’s their point?
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So agree. I get incensed over people who #45 take fiction way too seriously
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I’m suddenly blanking on what this list is for again.
46. People who hate on something that’s popular solely to be different.
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47. People who like something different just to fit in
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48. People who leave one square of toilet paper on the roll.
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I will follow you what ever you decide. I may not comment often but I do enjoy your posts.
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Thanks. Guess I’m going to have to get some hobbies and interests. Been living off DVD’s and Youtube for the last year or two.
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I agree with both Linda and Pam. It is hard work to maintain. I also think bloggers in general, not necessarily those interested in writing fantasy fiction, but fans who stop by for any reason (who might like the read) are more interested in you, your other interests, your life and activities. Not just books, characters and the series. I know this is a themed blog, so blogging about Legends of Windemere makes sense, but I have found that I pick up potential readers on other common interests besides historical fiction in relating other things.
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I guess this is a little bit of confusion for me. I don’t actually talk about my books all the time. I say this before a week of Legends of Windemere stuff goes off, but I try to pick writing topics. Like this past week was about heroes and the week before that were Superman poems. So I don’t think it’s as strict a theme for this blog. I might have pulled back a bunch after a few bad incidents, but I tried to create conversations about the trade like I saw other blogs doing.
Though it seems to be a consensus that I need to talk more about me. That does create the previously mentioned problem. Also, I’m REALLY boring outside of my stories. I sit around tending tot he house while trying to write/edit and listening to Pandora. Mostly Jim Gaffigan lately for some reason. So, what should a person who thinks he’s boring write about? I’m kind of out of college stories that I’m allowed to tell.
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LOL…That’s tough, no more college stories. The writing craft is a good thing but that goes along with writing about the the series…authorly stuff. Many bloggers I have met who are authors write about the places they have lived or live, their dreams, hopes, aspirations, plans for their future, how different family members have touched their own lives. Just an event that occurred on a particular day that moved them emotionally, mentally, educationally. Local current events. I try to avoid religion, war and politics on my blog, but with some of my previous writing that’s not entirely possible. Most all bloggers I know say they have best luck posting ever other day rather than every day.
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I kind of feel like I’ve done the hopes/aspirations/future thing to death in my first year. By now I assume people know these things. As for the rest . . . not sure what it says about me coming up blank on there. My family doesn’t seem to be happy if I mention them on here. I kind of feel like part of my life is being blocked here.
It doesn’t help that I’m actually a depressed pessimist. You can see it come out rather often and I’ve been told by many that they don’t want to read about that. A few people even stopped following me when I came off as too ‘whiny’. So I keep a lot close to the vest.
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I have to watch myself on that also. The whiney part. Being pretty much homebound is a challenge. The RS is working all day. The daughter is occupied with her little ones and I don’t really like to go out and about town by myself. I’m trying to make myself do more of that though. Get some pics of local attractions and happenings. There’s a lot going on that i could blog about if I wasn’t glued to this desk chair.
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Yup. That’s the boat I’m in. There aren’t many local attractions to go to and I tend to stick around the house in case my son’s school calls. I never think about blogging when I’m out too. At least the fun stuff, which happens occasionally.
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You just reminded me of a post I planed to do about downtown and Lake Eola. I guess I should do that tonight and post it tomorrow. Every once in a while I get out.
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I wish I had some areas like that around here. Though I tend to have a lot of ‘you had to be there’ moments.
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I post about my writing, but all kinds of other things too. I get more interaction when I’m posting about things other people can do too. My foraging, sourdough cooking, and nights out are just as popular as my writing posts. Sometimes more popular. I never intended to have a schedule, but kind of fell into one. I won’t feel bad if I change it. You shouldn’t feel bad either.
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I think part of it is that I had a good run and I feel like I’m surrendering in a way. Pride and ego are stupid, but it’s hard to let it go after being at it for nearly 2 years.
If I ever get back into cooking dinner around here then I might mention it. I kind of stopped since I cook for 2 diabetics and someone that eats so little food that I always feel insulted. That and it’s like pulling teeth to get feedback around here.
What’s a night out? 😛
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Comments are hard to come by. I have a few regulars that I can always count on. We’ve also become friends beyond the blog.
I give very little personal data out on my blog, but I still keep things friendly. Those I exchange email with get a bit more.
You should do what you think is best. Stepping back 50% might not be a bad thing if it prevents burnout. I wish you the best, whatever you decide.
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I have a few regulars too, but I found several kind of faded away. That’s why I started wondering if I went in a ‘wrong’ direction.
That personal data thing does create a problem. I know people have mentioned talking about favorite shows, songs, and movies. That might be a good place to start. I have a few funny stories from my youth, but I wonder if I should save those for an emergency.
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That sounds like a plan too. I also benefit by commenting on lots of other blogs. People like it when I say hi on occasion. If I stay at my blog and wait, nobody shows up.
Taking your show on the road might help.
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I do try to comment a bunch. Though I’ve hit a point where I no longer know what to say in regards to poetry and that seems to be what I run into more often.
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I’m laughing now, but not at you. I am not a poetry fan, and there are a lot of WordPress poets. They’re very creative though, so I stick with them.
You never know when a creative person will give up some bit of important knowledge. When they post about things other than poetry, I try to comment.
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I agree. It’s just that I can’t always get a deep thought to comment with. Maybe I’ll go back to ‘good poem’ or trying with something.
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I’m enjoying these interactions, for what that’s worth.
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Thanks. They’re fun when they happen. Interactions are what I love the most about blogging.
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You always make me laugh. I enjoy your posts. Fear I’ve nothing new to add or helpful, but I surely enjoy your blog. Maybe my fear is that I have horrible advice and ideas. I promise to be better about commenting, if you promise not to leave. I enjoy your sense of humor.
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I won’t be leaving, but I definitely think it’s looking like I’ll be limiting my weekly outage. At least with planning stuff. If I feel like posting on the off days then I will. Any comments can work though. You never know what can suddenly work.
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I get it. Step back a bit and leave’em wanting for more, I say. You have a point. We never know what will come up in conversation. 🙂
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Hopefully they want more.
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I admire you for posting every day for 2 years. That’s quite an accomplishment. However, I think it’s a good idea to cut back a little. Give yourself a breather. I’m a fairly new blogger, and I struggle to come up with ideas for my infrequent posts. I don’t have a schedule. Some posts get a few hits; others do not. I hope you don’t give up altogether. Keep at it, just make it a bit more manageable for yourself.
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Thanks. I’m still going to keep the post a day for the rest of the year, which gives me time to figure out the new schedule. I kind of need one or things will just go haywire. Sad fact of my life. 🙂
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Schedules scare me a bit, so I make no promises. I reckon that if anything is stressful enough that it could bring on a burnout, then taking a step back is the only way to go. I always enjoy your posts, whether they’re about your wips or your life – especially loved the pasta pizza one, and I’m amazed at how much work you get done. I don’t know what I’m going to blog about generally on any given day – which is why if I gave myself a schedule I probably wouldn’t be able to stick to it.
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I kind of need the schedule. Personally, it helps me stay focused and gives me the ability to post ahead. Also it helps keep other people at bay because they know I have stuff to do. If it’s whenever I can then people tend to get in the way and act like it isn’t important.
Not sure if I’ll be doing many more posts about cooking since I don’t do it very often. Also most of my dishes don’t allow for step-by-step pictures. If anything, I’d post a final product. Maybe do it at the end of the week and become that type of person who is always posting about his food. 😛
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Sometimes, less is more. 🙂 It’s hard to keep up. And it’s hard to find time to write, blog, tweet, FB, edit, read, support others. Then where does family time fit into this. Gosh, there is negative time left for ourselves. 🙂 Being an author these days requires being a superhero…
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The social media isn’t so hard as far as timing. I prep my Tweets the day or two beforehand, which takes a lot of pressure off. I’ve basically been shown that FB is a dead zone for me. So it’s really the blogging and emails that take up the time. Writing/editing is possible for now because it’s mostly editing these days. Honestly, it’s become a lot harder since my son started Kindergarten and I’m the lone parent for most of the day. Him being home sick on Friday really drove home the fact that I can’t get much done around him. Makes me fear for the summer.
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I can understand completely. I haven’t been quite as religious as you to post every single day, but I do post at least once a day on most days. I know that I don’t comment as often as I probably should, but I’m finding it harder and harder to comment while trying to get through my emails and reader. I honestly hope that you don’t decide to leave in the future, you really do provide great posts and although I don’t comment so often, I do read what you write. Hang in their my friend.
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For now, it’s probably going to be be cutting back. There may come a time where I fall down to once a week because I have too many things going on. That’s probably if I ever get a contract or some major traction with my books, so don’t worry it happening any decade soon.
At least the cutting back will give me 2-3 days where I only have to worry about writing and commenting on other posts.
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That Simpson cartoon is hilarious, Charles:) I hope you’ll find a way of blogging that is more meaningful to you.
Ellespeth
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Thanks. I hope so too. 🙂
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I am not a fan of blogging – I certainly couldn’t do my own blog – I am always reluctant to ‘comment’ on a blog. However of the many facebook connections I follow the only one I actually read automatically is yours. I admit I scan each and every blog looking for clues about the next book, as well as the writing processes you go through before and after a book is released. I am equally sure that many others like me, read and enjoy your blog – we just don’t feel qualified to ‘comment’. Do you need to blog every day – probably not. Does it help you cope with life or cause you more stress? I hope you will do what is best for you!
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Thanks. I never considered that I have people reading and watching without interacting. Maybe I got caught up with the numbers. Blogging does act as a stress relief for me, but you’re right that I probably don’t have to do it every day. That might even add to my stress because I struggle to find a topic. Thanks for the input.
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I dont think you should ever close down the bar, that stands and you should know already, ofcourse.
Its hard to get people engaged and I feel terrible I cant give you any ingenious ideas or somment more myself on the more important book related posts so often. I do hope the situation improves and people get pulled out of lethargy and just engage more!
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Thanks. I know this week is a book-focused week because I’m investigating my main heroes. Yet, I get a little confused when I post about aspects of writing and nobody reacts even if someone requested the topic. That’s probably a reason why I’m stepping back in January. I try to set up conversation-causing posts and end up sitting around getting nothing. It becomes a distraction when I’m trying to write too because I keep checking. I’m editing now, but when I get back to the books, I’ll need to clear my head a bit.
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I’ve been a bit disconnected from the blogging world lately because I’ve so much taking up my time, so I can’t really comment on whether or not it’s one of the usual lulls in blogging/WordPress due to the time of year, but I can tell you this:
The same as you would do at the start of a blog, you must question the reason for your blog. If it’s to promote your books and bring in readers, you have to assess if it’s doing that or not. If it’s not doing it to the standard that you would like/expect, then you need to assess this and either make the appropriate changes or plan a new way of doing it.
If you’re blogging for you, then by all means keep going.
If your blog is continuing purely for the frequent readers then you should let it die out. If you write purely because you don’t want to let them down, it’ll show in your writing. You’ll feel attached and almost forced to do it because you don’t want to disappoint them and, unless there’s enjoyment in it for you without them, it’ll never translate into good writing.
Also bear in mind that some of your most frequent readers you’re probably in contact with on some level outside of the blog (or can at least begin to be, should they miss your blog / you if they were taken away). A blog is an outlet for the voice, it’s not the voice itself. 🙂
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It feels like an extended lull, but I see other author blogs having a lot of activity.
As for the reason that I blog, it’s a combination. To promote the books, establish support, make friends, and maintain some level of social contact since I tend to be home bound. Letting the blog die out is rather extreme though. Especially since there are a lot of frequent readers that I only interact with here. In fact, there’s only a handful of those that I talk with outside of WordPress. So the blog will be staying.
Besides, it maintains my on-line presence, which is important.
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Two YEARS? I can’t believe you made it that long. I have trouble finding time to do one big, original post a week. MAYBE two. You’re a machine. 🙂
I’m glad you’re not closing up shop, and I hope you find that a less-frequent posting schedule is just as rewarding as posting every day.
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Guess the machine finally broke down. 🙂 I’ll admit that I have days where I want to close up shop. The social media aspect of it all keeps feeling like it gets in the way of the actual writing.
I’ll have a post about what I plan on doing going up later today, so I hopefully get some insight. The response to this post was clear and confusing at the same time. People want to know about me and my writing and my process and my future ideas. That always felt like most of what I was doing. The personal stuff was the only place I had really stepped away from.
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Not sure how I missed this post :-(. Anyway, I’m glad you are going to stick around. I’m a Windemere newbie and I would miss you!
I read through some of the other comments, and as far as not knowing what to write because you “don’t have a life” (neither do I, by the way)… what about trying flash fiction and/or short stories? When I know I need to get a post out there, but nothing interesting has happened lately, I will usually go to my Pinterest board of “writing inspiration” and write a flash fiction piece. Or I’ll dig up an old short story that hasn’t seen the light of day in a decade and I’ll rework it so it’s suitable for public viewing.
Just some thoughts. Please don’t go anywhere :-).
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The challenge with flash fiction and short stories is that they require a catalyst. Also more time than other types of posts. Seems silly for me to write something like that while I’m complaining that I never have writing/editing time. I can toss out a poem, but those are becoming few and far between these days.
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Why not just take a vacation? Recharge the batteries. Think about what’s going on in the news. Once you come back, you can change your schedule, too. I think people get overwhelmed trying to read a daily blog so they hit on it when they can and when the subject intrigues them. (I think that’s what happens with me.)
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I considered that, but I wouldn’t really be going anywhere. I’m still writing and editing away at the laptop, so the blog would be right there. I’ve taken days off at times while leaving a poem or something on the blog, but I always came back to a few messes. That seems to be a big flaw in vacations for nearly every job. The gathered energy is used up really quickly playing catch up. As you said, the daily blog is rather overwhelming. So I’ll cut it back once I hit my 2 year mark. 🙂
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Social Media has lots it’s appeal to me.
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I’m getting there. If not for a few people I chat with there, I’d probably ditch Facebook.
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From what I’ve observed, you’re doing really well with your books. It looks like you’re building a nice readership. 🙂 I think the key is to be consistent with posting. There’s nothing wrong with scaling back. Sometimes you have to change the way you do things. It can be exhausting to keep up the pacing after awhile.
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Thanks. It is getting exhausting, especially a recent change to the home life. The only reason I’m pushing for the end of the year is to satisfy my pride at making it for 2 years. I probably need my head examined for that.
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I just put up a post when I have something to say. There’s so much to read ob wordpress and the like, that I should only add something of note to it.
Don’t give up. Oh yes, to add to your long list No 57. coffe shops who ask if you want medium or large when they don’t do small!
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Thanks. I’ve been scheduling posts for a while because I can never tell if I’ll be able to get to the computer. But I should probably just carry a notebook to jot stuff down for when I do have time.
I’ve seen a few of those places and it always confuses me. Wouldn’t that system make a medium a small?
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prexactly! Medium is midway between two points/sizes. When I point this out to them, a glazed look comes over their faces and I worry they might burn themselves on the coffee machine.
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I know that look. I used it when I did retail and food jobs. The ‘they do not pay me enough for this’ stare. My favorite was when people wanted stuff exactly like the picture.
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Charles,
Everyone experiences burnout. I say that because I’ve known authors who were at the top of their game, yet, because of some personal circumstance, lost muse/mojo/whatever, they decided to call it a day.
I once had a blog a long, time ago, too. I tossed it and went into hibernation for eight months trying to figure out what I wanted in life. I was only posting once a week at the time, but I was posting about writing and nothing else. Burnout. Then, I came back in December 2012. I’ve been blogging since, never missing a deadline. Love my blog now. I really do. I get excited when I write about my topics. I love doing the background work, the photo hunting and adding in the references. To get to that point, though, like I said–and not to sound redundant–I had to blow away any form of what held me back.
Anyway, seeing how you’ve recently posted a plan of action is a good thing. It will reinvigorate your creative juices and give new life to your already-fabulous work!
Keep it steady, keep it real!
Jack
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Not really sure if I would call this burnout. It’s more that life has changed. I’m responsible for a lot more around the house, so I lose my afternoons and part of my mornings. I can’t depend on my wife having a weekday off to take the pressure off, so it’s more that time is not on my side instead of the desire being there.
Though I will agree that I’m running out of topics to talk about. Maybe pushing for something that would last a week was too much. Smaller topics could work better.
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Just want you to know I have always appreciated your blog. And I completely understand the need to slow down. Things will work out.
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Thanks. I’m heading into two days of the kid not being in school, so we’ll see what happens. Might rain too, which means we’ll be going stir crazy.
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