Man, I really should blog every day. I made a commitment to my readers, and if I miss a day then maybe I'll lose them. I don't want to lose my readers! I love my readers. I want to live up to their expectations. But hey, blogging is supposed to be about me - I'm supposed to do this for me, aren't I? So then I shouldn't have to blog if I don't feel like it. Right? Wait, maybe I can blog about that! Yes, that's brilliant. I'll blog about the pressure we place on ourselves to blog. Awesome!Okay, yes, I am poking fun at - well, at all of us, really, because that's basically exactly what this post is today. Except that I'm going to stop here and leave you with some outtakes from the #OOTD photos my mother kindly took of me (and Charlie) on Monday. Happy Thursday, dear readers! We're almost to the weekend.
By the way, I love Alyssa's ideas here and here on what to blog about when you're uninspired; if you really want to get your juices flowing, try one of her suggestions! At this point they're more original than these types of posts... but those of us who have done one are certainly in good company!
I think blogging every day JUST for the sake of blogging every day is stupid.
ReplyDeleteSome bloggers have things they want to share every day, and yay for them! But as someone who reads quite a few blogs, I'm totally okay with a blogger not posting every day (it gives me more time to read other blogs!). Plus I'd rather read one quality post a week than seven half-assed attempts.
Says the blogger who wants her readers to know they're lucky if they get one post a week out of her!
Cute pictures! Charlie is so handsome and that dress looks so good on you!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about whether I had the funny pictures do a post like this, and then I realized that I think I've trained Ike to be my model! When the camera comes out, he automatically behaves.
For the record, even your "filler" outtakes are better and more thoughtful content than what some people put out there daily.
me too, in general, but I know that I personally enjoy the challenge I've set myself to blog 6x/week because it does force me to try to be creative regularly. the thing is, you have to recognize when it just can't happen and that's okay!
ReplyDeleteHE IS SO HANDSOME! he makes the dress look good on me :) (thank you!)
ReplyDeleteand that's a really nice compliment, so thank you again! pictures of puppies will do that every time...
I'm totally guilty of writing about my lack of posting. I like to blame it on blogger's guilt. Thanks for sharing my links!
ReplyDeletehaha we all do! we're all guilty of feeling the guilt :P
ReplyDeletei usually don't blog on the weekends but i pretty much consistently blog during the week. not sure if thats a good or bad thing! your dog is so cute!!
ReplyDeleteYour far right "bad dog" picture reminded me of when I took a bunch of pictures at Sloan's obedience class "graduation", and our favorite is one post-certificate where she's on her side wagging her tail and it looks like Paul is rubbing her belly in praise. Really, she was refusing to leave (doggy school is FUN!) and he was trying to get her to stand up and walk!
ReplyDeleteI realized that during my sporadic posting I was spending a paragraph each time apologizing for not having been more consistent, and those apologies were wearing thin, even to me- so I quit. I do have about 7 drafts written that just need polishing and pictures added, and I'll get to them, I'm sure.
I am insanely jealous that you've got your style down to a T. I am just not good at dressing for my body, or at making an effort for the added polish. Want to play Stacy London and revamp my closet, or do you just do your own? ;)
I've been blogging off and on from my current blog since 2005. Last year I tried keeping consistent by blogging once a week. With the business of life I came back to blogging after a move this February and have been blogging every day since. So far I havent really run into a 'oh snap what will i post??' but I'm sure that will happen eventually. I've sorta made each day a certain theme and if I feel inclined to post about something not for that day, I dont fight it because like you said we also blog for ourselves, not just our readers. I think blogging should be more organic like that and less stressful.
ReplyDeletehttp://betsytransatlantically.blogspot.co.uk/
Hahaha! Brilliant! I love it! My monologue is basically, "It's okay to do a week where your posts aren't photo heavy!" I was thinking about Elembee's post the other day about just trying to force herself to spend some time blogging each day. It's interesting though, because as a blogger, we force ourselves to be creative. So I guess the new thought I'm pondering is: are we more creative because we often practice creativity or do we need a break to be creative? What do you think?
ReplyDeleteAlso...LOVE the outfit. You look amazing!
i honestly feel this way a lot! i think there is a lot of pressure to blog every day so that you aren't losing your readers (although if you take a day off every now and then you really dont lose anyone!). i think we should just remember that if one of our favorite bloggers takes a day or two off ... we dont unfollow them! ;)
ReplyDeleteHah it is hard to decide when to blog and when to take a break! I try to blog at least 4 times a week, preferably 5, but if it doesn`t happen, it doesn`t happen! In general I am way to lazy to unfollow a blog, so a blogger would reeeally have to piss me off to make that happen ;)
ReplyDeleteSome Snapshots Blog
Jess
Lollll well for the record, I enjoy not blogging everyday and frankly like it when other bloggers don't blog daily either (because it does overwhelm my reader sometimes and I just end up clearing it all out with one click). But yea, I've definitely wrote an post a filler posts, which was ironic.
ReplyDeleteAll these bloggers taking time off and thinking about quality posts make me wonder if I'm not taking enough time off to really think about the quality of stuff I put out on my blog - am I taking enough time to do some quality checking? I just get so dang excited about things that I have to write!
ReplyDeleteOh, you are soooo making fun of me. :) It actually was a conversation with my husband:
ReplyDeleteMe: I didn't write a post today.
Him: So? (pause) What are you writing now?
Me: A post about not posting.
Him: Why? Because you didn't post today?
Me: Yea.
Him: (inner eye roll, because he never actually rolls his eyes but I know he wants to)
Anyway, it's tough to post every day and I think what I determined from my post on Tuesday is that it's ok as long as you are somewhat consistently posting good stuff that people want to read, and if you are connecting with your readers. Most people commented that they stopped following a blog once there were huge gaps in posting, if a blog became too commercialized, or if the author stopped being authentic. Sometimes, it's nice to poll your audience. :)
you can't really tell because he's all so black, but in that photo Charlie's looking at my hand like, "hey, that's not necessary. cheater."
ReplyDeleteas for the style thing... I'm pretty lucky in that I gain weight evenly, so I can dress basically the same at this current weight as I could 25 lbs ago and as I will be able to 25 lbs from now (I hope!) which means I don't have to be as creative :P
SO true! there's totally a double standard for how we should blog v. how we accept how others blog.
ReplyDeletehonestly, I think one feeds into the other! I know that I like forcing myself to be creative, but there has to be a break point if nothing's coming where I go our and find creativity - it can be detrimental if that point comes too late in the process, you know?
ReplyDeleteand thank you :)
haha yes there's that - I think I've only unfollowed a blogger for not blogging if she's not posted in months. we should give ourselves a break!
ReplyDeleteYES sometimes when I;'m really behind I just think, ' CAN'T YOU TAKE A DAY OFF YOU GUYS?" haha :)
ReplyDeletehaha SEE it's true! Jon actually does the eye roll, so I understand :)
ReplyDeletelike I replied to Jess, it would take something serious for me to unfollow a blogger who didn't post regularly. I'm much more likely to unfollow a blogger whose posts are almost all filler! we should respect that not everyone can be creative and original every day. and we should have the same standard for ourselves! in theory anyway... haha
Oh - the dreaded blog guilt! It gets the best of us sometimes. I try to not pressure myself, or make myself feel guilty for not posting. (Which I've been admittedly bad at lately!) I just *hope* that people understand that things have been busy, and that I'll get back to regular posting after the craziness of wedding planning + life thrown on top of it. (Because sometimes I just can't stare at a computer screen all day, to just come home and continue staring at one!)
ReplyDeleteI've definitely seen some people unfollow, but I figured - hey! If they don't want to stick around, that's cool... the ones who are loyal and interested in what I have to say will. Because there's no point in making myself feel bad about something I can't control. (Unless I want to become insanely sleep deprived and stay up all hours of the night blogging... but um... I wouldn't be a very pleasant person, haha:)
P.S. As a side note, I'd rather not read somebody tell me how sorry they are for not posting. I automatically assume that they've just been busy, or haven't been inspired to write. I would just prefer to read good content, rather than reading some lengthy apology. (Maybe that's my own personal pet peeve though...)
you & charlie are just about the cutest thing i've ever seen!
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he makes everyone look good :) but thank you!
ReplyDeleteyeah, that's why I like having an editorial calendar - it helps me keep track of themes or recurring topics, which does help me when I'm stuck. but then sometimes... you get a post like this!
ReplyDeleteyou write wonderful honest post about such a wide variety of things - it's no wonder your blog cup runneth over! Don't let our angst get you angsty :)
ReplyDeletehonestly, I doubt most people who unfollow do so because you missed a few days of blogging! (I don't know why they would because I love your blog, but I guess everyone goes on a purge every once in a while...) But I totally agree with your postscript - I mean, personally I don't mind a "hey, sorry, I've been busy! now on to the real thing we're here to talk about!" but I'm not crazy about entire posts that are apologies.
ReplyDeleteI haven't yet missed a day since I started blogging close to two years ago because I want to write something every day, if possible; however, I will admit that a handful of my posts have been mediocre...the result of struggling to come up with something.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to worry about me unfollowing you, regardless of the time you take off. I'll be here; I love your blog. :)
Love the pictures of you and Charlie!
Thanks - that means a lot! :D
ReplyDeleteI've been telling myself to get over the not every day thing when I'm feeling uninspired or just feeling like spending my time on something else... but it's weird how I put pressure on myself for a hobby like this! Cute puppy pictures always make a post in my book though. (And thanks for those links - love Alyssa's ideas - and the rest of her blog, which I now just spent a bunch of time browsing - too.)
ReplyDeleteI'm always impressed with the dedication you show your blog! and thank you :)
ReplyDeleteAlyssa's the best! glad to spread the inspiration :)
ReplyDeleteGreat photos of you and Charlie! He's a beautiful boy :)
ReplyDeleteToday was my first post in four days! I was feeling guilty, and the pressure, but I reminded myself that if I don't take the time to live my life, I won't have anything to blog about.
HE IS SO HANDSOME.
ReplyDeleteand true! what will you blog about if you only blog? go live!