We’ve all been there: woken up one day and discovered that blogging has taken over our lives and that we spend more time writing about things we do than actually doing them. Insomniac Mummy perfectly captures the experience in this post about reacquiring perspective.
I stumbled upon the world of mummy blogging quite by accident.
At a low ebb, and feeling a little stir crazy at home with a newborn and toddler, I created a blog on a whim, in the summer of 2009. I’d never heard of British Mummy Bloggers, but a simple Google search led me there, and I was hooked.
Intoxicated by the writing, embraced by the mummy blogging community, and seduced by improving stats, everyday I ate, lived and breathed my blog. I relished being ‘popular’ online, felt emancipated from my four walls, and was excited by the small amount of success my virtual reality afforded me.
But with every high, comes the inevitable low. After the initial rush, I began to obsess over my stats. I became despondent if my daily visitors dropped, worried if my RSS subscribers fluctuated, and fretted over blog comments. Did I have enough readers? Was I posting the ‘right’ material? How could I increase my readership?
I began spending less and less time living my ‘real’ life and increasingly more time online. Blog fatigue set in and posting became a chore. Being a slave to the numbers was ruining blogging for me.
When I returned to work from maternity leave I got the perfect opportunity to get my blog/life balance in check. With my time split in half and the need to prioritise quality time with my children, something had to give. I could no longer sit and write until 3am. I had to be up and out by 8am with the children and in a fit state to earn a living.
So somewhat reluctantly at first, I let the blog slide. Gone was the posting schedule, along with the self-imposed pressure. I stopped religiously checking my stats and cut myself some slack. Yes, my ‘rankings’ suffered, but in the scheme of things, that had become far less important.
These days I blog more for myself, when I choose. If I want to write emotional waffle, I do. If I want to write a sponsored post, I un-ashamedly will, and if I want to disappear from the face of the blogosphere for a week then, hell! So what? I was probably busy enjoying life elsewhere!
Make no mistake, blogging is certainly important to me. I’ll gladly admit I still enjoy seeing small successes. I’m proud to have been involved with projects like Hadrian’s Walk. But where before I would’ve worried over not blogging for 24 hours, these days I know the real world that I can touch, hear, see, and feel is far more important than my virtual online presence ever will be.
If you’re struggling with your blog/life balance these are my top tips on how I began to re-dress mine:
* Spend less time infront of your computer. Live your life in the ‘real’ world.
* Reduce your posting schedule. Self-imposed pressure saps your inspiration.
* Prioritise your time. When my children are with me I very rarely post. Instead I have two or 3 nights a week where I blast through ideas.
* Don’t over think your posts. Sometimes, if I’m suddenly inspired, I’ll write a quick post from my iPhone. Often those are the ones that get the biggest response!
* Take a break! Have a bit of a blogoliday, go on, I dare you!
* Find a new hobby or re-acquaint yourself with an old one. It’ll refresh you and maybe even inspire you when you do have time to blog.
* Remember your blog stats are not the measure of your self worth. Delete the sitemeter and breathe a sigh of relief!
How do you maintain your Blog/Life balance?
What motivates you to blog?
Photo credit: Luminis Kanto
Great post Ellie. I had a similiar experience:the period of finding your feet, the thrill when you have a popular post, and then the lull. I blog now when I have something to say and when I have time — with no schedules. It’s liberating.
What a wonderful refreshing post. I too found that the more successful my blog had become, the harder I worked at it, especially with the addition of Twitter and Facebook to help publicise the posts. These days I very rarely look at my stats, blog far less than I used to and feel that I’ve finally found a much better balance.
I too thought this was a really good post – blogging can be very addictive, and it’s important to get it into perspective. There are enough pressures in our everyday lives without self-imposing any more. I still have to constantly remind myself of that.
Fab post, Ellie. I think the moment anyone feels ‘pressure’ to do something that’s supposed to be fun, it’s a sign you need to step away for a time.
Brilliant! I was guilty of spending far too much time immersed in blogging. It all changed for me in April this year when I returned to the world of full-time work freelancing from home. I’m the only earner so the buck stops with me, so to speak. At the end of the day blogging won’t pay the bills so I have to focus on my ‘proper job’ and keep blogging as a hobby. I’ve found it is a lot more enjoyable that way. So I blog once the rest of my work is done (and only when my daughter is at school or asleep). In fact, I shouldn’t really be commenting on this post at 10am on a Monday morning!
Just like it should be
Love it! A great article and very timely for me. I’ve been posting less frequently lately and loving the freedom which I think probably suggests I felt pressure to blog so often before. But with 2 kids, a job, another blog and book to write something’s got to give! Thanks for sharing your tips.
Great post Ellie! I think the blogs that I love the most are written by people who have very busy offline lives or who have jobs. It makes their blogs more interesting and less desperate somehow but I guess there are others out there who are looking to make blogging their job so having a very visible online presence is essential…xx
I’ve berated myself for not posting enough, variable content quality, not being ‘popular’ enough to have 100s of followers..and now I have cut myself some slack and reminded myself why I’m blogging.
I’m blogging as a means of self expression, to create a kind of ‘family diary’ I can look back on in years to come, to share ideas and tips to help others enjoy their own family and outside-of-family lives more. Most importantly, I blog because it’s fun. Thank you for reminding us all to just enjoy our blogging without trying to be perfect bloggers.
I too became obssessed with my blogging schedule and reguarly building contacts using twitter to the point that one day I suddenly didn’t want to do it anymore. I now try and blog at least 3 times a week, don’t keep going on twitter and have released some precious time. I realised that unless I was going to earn an income for the amount of time I was spending blogging, I could no longer justify the amount of time it was taking. Sometimes we just have to take a break and work out what we really want.
First of all Ellie, it sounds like you are in a really good place now and I am truly happy to hear it.
Thanks.
I think btw that your blog was what got me into blogging.
And i too am learning to find that balance.
Love this post and it’s exactly what I needed to hear right now. My kids are in danger of becoming blogging orphans! Right – step. away. from. the. computer….
Excellent post Ellie and rings very true! I think it was Carol at New Mummy who said something along the lines of ‘Live first, blog later’ and I couldn’t agree with her, and you, more. Here’s to balance. x
It’s definitely liberating. Nothing worse than self imposed pressure! It’s one of the pitfalls of being a perfectionist I guess!
I can’t remember the last time I logged into sitemeter or Google Analytics. In feact I’m not sure I can even rememner the passwords LOL!
I’m all for the ‘lazy’ approach, which suits me and mine just fine!
Go get some work done Scribble!
It was returning to work that was the turning point for me. Before that, without any real direction, I was becoming a tad consumed!
You’re absolutely right Deb for those for whom blogging is their living then it’s an entirely different kettle of fish.
x
It’s so easy to get swept up in the tide isn’t it? Especially when you have that first sniff of success and realise people actually read your internet ramblings!
Oh and since there are no rules & regulations and no official manual then I hereby declare there is no such thing as a ‘perfect blog’. It’s all subjective, so we can all be as ‘perfect’ as we like!
Ah thanks Susie, I’m all embarrassed now! x
Ha! Poor things. Don’t you have anything better to do. Like shop on eBay maybe……
Live first, blog later sounds like a good motto to me!
Fab post, thanks. I was having a chat with myself just this lunchtime, putting things back in perspective. I started doing a few reviews in Sept and then I have just done a couple of giveaways and boy they feel like a lot of work. I will think next time before just saying yes ‘me, me, me’ to a PR!
Mich x
I really enjoyed this post. As a new blogger, i’ve felt myself slipping into an obsession with the blog and this has helped me to check myself! It’s important to live life in the real world and not get too sucked into the virtual world. I really want to try and keep blogging for my own enjoyment, and not turn it into a chore.
This really struck a chord I’m new to blogging and admit I’m prob more than a little obsessed. I blog every weekday so of course the time with my OH is suffering. I tell him he’ll see the benefits when the business kicks off, but you’re right, what if he can’t wait till then. You’ve put things into perspective, the twitchyness I get if I don’t post can sod off. I need to chill. I like the idea of blogging via your iPhone, I need to do that more often. Thanks again. Marie x
great post! I think that work life balance is very important. I love to blog. What’s worse is I think that other people love to read my blogs! Sometimes they can’t be as interesting as I think they are and yet I’ve seen them out into web space! what I need to do perhaps is make my life more interesting, and then blog about that! That would surely keep readers ( hopefully) LOL!
I love reading your blog — please keep blogging! Even if just now and then…..;-)
Great post. Yeah it does become an addiction doesn’t it? I only write these days when I truly have something poignant or hilarious to say.
Arrghhh am I there already, blogging is definitely an obsession, I am not quite there on the pressure front, it is like a drug once you start you just can’t stop! Great piece of writing.
Blogging is like being part of an anonymous secret society where you can say what you want. It is fabulous.
Tracey
http://www.tracey-confessionsofamother.blogspot.com
That is exactly what I needed to hear right now. I am quite new to blogging and to running a website, and its easy to see how you can get sucked in.
After three months of soaring viewing stats, of course things have dropped a bit in December. There is less to see on the site and mums are either running their businesses or running their families right now, not idly surfing sites like mine.
I was starting to obsess about it, but I think I will take your comments on board and go and get a life…..
I have just let my bath run cold while reading this post and all your comments! There has to be a lesson in that. I am now going to bed but I think there’s just time to have a little flutter of nerves about my stats!
So please go to my blog and try to comment – you probably won’t be able to due to my insane decision to go it alone and use iweb. But please do try – or join me on my facebook page.
Is that desperate enough? I’ve only been doing this for a few weeks but am already surrounded by peers with brilliance in blogging stickers. Very frightening. Obviously my problem is I am not obsessive ( or brilliant?) enough!
I find that, with both my blogs, when I try too hard, you can tell and it doesn’t come across as genuine. It’s teaching me something valuable about my life -always be truthful and speak from your heart, even on the humorous posts. It really does reflect in the stats.
Absolutely right. Mummy bloggers know that we are often too tired and that size doesn’t always count. It’s what you do with it when you use it that matters.