August 7, 2013

Balance [Giveaway]

I'm going through a slight "blogging rut". I'm having trouble thinking of what to write lately. So I turned to my bookmarked idea bank page for inspiration and I saw the question:

How do you balance blogging?

Perfect! Sounds like a great topic!

It's actually a challenge to maintain an actual life & still be a dedicated blogger. You have to know where that line is and the line is usually hidden and blurred (Blurred Lines....sorry).

Do you come home after work to whip out another blog post? Do you go out for happy hour with your co-workers? Are you embarrassed by blogging?

These are all questions that have run through my mind in the last year that I've become more serious about being a blogger.

Here are my guidelines for balance (and I use the term guidelines loosely because my routine would obviously not work for people with certain jobs or families):

1. Scheduling is a god-send. Don't be afraid to use it. For the majority of the time I've been blogging, I had never tried to use it. Until 7-8 months ago when I found it was tough to find time in my school schedule to sit and write a blog post live. Irony is this post right here is being written live. Let's say you have 2 hours free and nowhere to be and you decide to blog. You can whip out a whole week's worth of posts, theoretically, in those 2 hours, schedule them, and not have to worry for a week. I usually schedule my posts 2 days in advance max.

2. Rule of thumb: happy hour > blogging hour. Go out for drinks with friends. Go have a picnic with your cousins. Day trip to a nearby city? Heck yes! My point is: don't put blogging ahead of social commitments. Otherwise, your blog writing will become dry. Blogging is all about life experiences and you can't have those life experiences if you don't go out and actually experience them!


3. If you don't have blogging material for that day, don't BS your way through a meaningless post. This is something I've only recently learned. I used to think I needed to blog everyday and, if not, I could only skip one day, not two or more in a row. No more. No ideas that day? Take it off & experience life. Have a Netflix marathon. Go shopping. Spring clean. Do anything besides think about your blog. After a little day or two break, you might be ready to come back with more motivation. If you force blogging, you'll come to resent it and it won't be a relaxing hobby anymore. Because that's what this thing is. A hobby.


4. "Blogging material!". My catchphrase if I'm out with friends or family and take a picture of my food or the place we're at or any other mundane thing. Really it just breaks the tension I feel for being weird and documenting random things of my life and writing about it online. I think most bloggers are somewhat embarrassed about what we do. People don't really get "blogging" or what it's about. If I do say I have a blog or whatever, I get bombarded with questions and comments like "What do you blog about?", "Wait, you just win all this stuff by being a blogger?", "I don't get it.", "You have a blog?", "Who reads it?". And ya wonder why I don't like to advertise blogging!

5. Don't make everything about blogging. I'm sure your friends don't want to feel like you're only doing something with them for blogging material. Put your phone/camera down once in awhile and just be. Laugh and catch up with friends over dinner & drinks. If you don't get a picture to use in that "Weekend Shenanigans" post, it's okay. You'll still have those memories and, hey, maybe it will inspire a post about friendships without technology or something.

Do you have any tips about balancing blogging with real life?

I'm helping out my fellow Minnesota blogger, Dawn, with her Blog-O-Versary Giveaway! There are 3 RAFFLECOPTERS OF AD SPACE!!! Seriously, you need to enter!







a Rafflecopter giveaway

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4 comments:

  1. It's funny because I was literally tweeting the same thing last night... I set this expectation up that I Needed to be blogging every day, but that just isn't fair to anyone!

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  2. it can get tough sometimes!! i am lucky enough to share the blog with my sister, so we don't have to come up with as much on our own!! these are good tips, though! thanks!
    ps, we found you via the mn blogger site...how great that there are so many great local bloggers!

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  3. Great tips!! I've never been a daily poster or felt that I needed to. If I did I'm pretty sure I would have burned out a long time ago. My blog is semi secret. I also find it kind of uncomfortable talking about my blog. Awkward!!

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  4. Ugh, lately I have NOTHING interesting to say. But like you, I feel like I need to blog everyday. My fear is people will stop reading! But I guess if I just say meaningless crap everyday, people WON'T read.

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