I love blogging! And now I’m loving facebook too and of course the network or all blogger networks, BlogHer. But lately, I haven’t been blogging much. I have been inconsistent about visiting BlogHer and only on Facebook do I carry on a semi regular schedule. The motivation to blog or rather to just write hasn’t been around in a while. I have been wondering if maybe I have taken on too much on my plate that’s why the motivation has waned. That could be partially it, but the more I read other bloggers, I see now what or where our ‘slacking off’ is coming from.
This article on BlogHer about being “intimidated to write on my own blog” caught my attention today because it said everything that I had been feeling and thinking. I do remember the early days of blogging when we just wrote about what came to mind or what we happened to step on that morning. No one cared about grammar or spelling much less image and brand. We didn’t even know what those were. We just wanted to document the mundane happenings in our life that only we would probably care about. We didn’t think about attracting anyone much less an audience. And we certainly didn’t think we could make money writing about poop and laundry.
But it happened. The mommy bloggers were born and so was blog monetization. Everyone realized there is money to be had in blogging and we all jumped on the wagon. We spruced up our blogs, bought our own domains and started hosting our own blogs rather be on the free platforms. All so we can make money. And we did. Everyone made money; some more than others, but we all made money and we wanted to make more. I wanted to be like the super bloggers who quit their day jobs to just stay home and blog. Now wouldn’t that have been heaven?
As much as I need the extra money though, I just never found the motivation to spend as much time as they did to write copy, promote my blogs and all the other things they tell you to do so you can make more money. Worst of all, I started feeling intimidated to write in my own blog too! I started second guessing myself whether what I’m writing about is worthy of being on my blog. I was now pandering to sponsors and advertisers and I didn’t like the way it made me feel.
So maybe that’s why I haven’t had the heart to blog too much lately. Maybe it’s not that I’m inundated with work and my daughters suck up the rest of my free time with their activities. So maybe it’s not just sheer exhaustion and laziness that if keeping me from updating my blogs. Maybe it’s because I just didn’t think my life is worth writing about anymore. Now if that was the case, that would be truly pathetic because I do love my life and I do love to write.
The solution? I have been thinking about this even before I read the article on BlogHer. Actually, I had already started down the road before I read the article. The road is the one that leads back to the early days of blogging when I simply blogged for my own pleasure. When I blogged to unload some of the junk taking space in my head. When I blogged just to relax and not to work for money. When I blogged for myself and no one else. And if I am too lazy to update or decide to go on vacation for a while, I don’t have to excuse myself or apologize for being absent. I know where I’m going and that’s all that matters. I’m going back.
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I can see that. I write because I love it. I truly love it. My blog is my heart. I am fortunate that for some reason it’s grown popular enough that I make a modest living off of it, but I was always writing, even before blogging. The review blogging is a sub domain and I of course love trying out new products and seeing how they would work in my lifestyle. The Wii Mommies community wasn’t born to raise money, because I don’t generate revenue from that. That was born because I’ve had so much success with my weight loss using the Wii, that I wanted to create and help support as many people as possible. I’m not saying I wouldn’t love someone to sponsor it and yes, there are ads and such, but that is about the community, not me. This is a fantastic post.
I totally agree with you Jeanette – when you do something for the sheer pleasure of it, it is something else that is driving you. I don’t think you actually beleieve that your life isn’t worth writing about – you proved that just by writing this post! I often weigh up whetehr something is worth posting about on my own personal blog – is that a bad thing? I think I am merely thinking about the readers and whether I owe them something. Anyway keep on blogging – you will regret it otherwise!