Now it's Monday.
I'll be honest. I'm feeling "blogscouraged." (Yes, I just made up that word. It's an adjective. It means "a feeling of discouragement about one's blog.")
I don't want this to come off as whiny, and please know that is not my intention. I just want to be open and honest, and so here it goes.
I'm feeling blogscouraged because I feel like things have come to a screeching halt. In February, Tarole invited her sponsors to participate in a giveaway. That giveaway really grew my blog in a hurry, and I'm SO glad that I participated. I know, though, that some people just followed me to gain an entry. I totally understand that. I've done it. I've also unfollowed blogs after the giveaway has ended. So when the giveaway ended, so did the growth.
I decided to turn my own weekly "Dinner Time Tuesdays" post into a link-up. It's often just me. Kinda defeats the purpose of the link-up, doesn't it? Even though My Harry Potter Fix doesn't always have a ton of people linking up, at least I'm not alone. I know that Kim and Tarole will be there, too, and I love reading their answers and interacting with them.
I'm also not sure that my number of followers to comments ratio is good. Let me explain. I know that I don't have time to follow and actively read tons and tons of blogs. When I follow you, it's because I found something I really liked about you, your blog, your story, or something I learned about you from your blog. That means I want to get to "know" you. I'm able to do this through reading your blog. That also means that I try to comment often....on each post I read, if I can. What I like most about blogging is the interaction with other bloggers. I understand that getting comments isn't what blogging is about. But as I just said, for me it's about interaction. That happens through the comments.
I started my blog to share the recipes I've tried in my kitchen. I want to share the good, the bad, and the delicious. I want to share how I did it, if I made tweaks based on things I had at home, etc. I want to hear people's thoughts. I am looking for your feedback and suggestions. I haven't been doing very well at recipe sharing because I haven't been very good at making things lately. So that part of my blog has been a vicious cycle of insanity...which I can pretty much blame on Insanity, the workout.
I've also been blogscouraged by the lack of people willing to sponsor my blog. It can make a person feel a little "blogconscious." (I'm on a roll with made up words today.) I definitely know that is not what blogging is all about, but you do question why people aren't sponsoring. (Am I not funny? Do people find me boring? What else can I do?) Silly, I know, but true. (By the way, thank you to my two awesome sponsors Ashley & Elizabeth.)
I know that some of you have gone through this before, and I know that many of you understand. I just wanted to share why I've been missing since Wednesday.
I also wanted to let you know that if I'm a follower of your blog, I am a devoted reader. It also means I think you're pretty awesome. :)
7 comments:
:( don't feel blogscouraged. I read your blogs. I don't know anything about sponsoring and I don't always comment, but I read them <3
I'm sorry you're not feeling so good about your blog : ( If it makes you feel any better, you inspired me to start my blog back up! I was clicking on your pins on Pinterest all the time and finally I was like... I gotta get in on this! I love your posts and I will try to start commenting more often. Most of the time I can blame my lack of interaction on checking the blogs from my phone - typing out comments on my phone keyboard quickly turns into a hot mess and I get frustrated, fast.
Discouraged feelings aside, I enjoy how you just "Bring it On"-ed your blog entry, but instead of adding "cheer" to the prefix of each word, you added "blog." : ) LOVE YOU!!!
Like K above, if I read from my phone, I probably am not commenting. (I try to just read some of the bigger blogs from my phone, since they don't usually reply etc.) I think everyone gets in a blogging rut everyn once in awhile. I find myself taking breaks or just posting a couple times a week instead of everyday. That usually helps me :)
Group giveaways, in a way, are so not good. I've only done ones I've been specifically invited to do, by bloggers I like to think I have real relationships with. I like the idea of "organic" growth, not this fertilized group giveaway stuff. Also, while I'd like to make money from my blog, I don't want to mess with sponsorships. I don't sponsor blogs because I had a crappy sponsor experience and I don't like that some of my favorite blogs have become all about sponsorship posts. I really don't read those posts on any blog. That's why I thought, "Swapping is more my style". We can benefit each other "organically" without bring money into it. If that makes sense at all...
I used to obsess over that but then I realized that sometimes I blog just to get things off of my mind. The right people will read it. We don't need thousands of fans, the few who know you and read your blog will be blessed.
I know what you mean, dear. Sometimes blogging becomes a competition and that's not what it should be about at all. I think you should just keep being you and the right people will read. :-) If you do want to make changes, I would suggest looking at the blogs you read the most and figuring out why you like them so much and then emulating them while putting your own spin on things. Hope that helps, love!
I'm SO behind on reading/commenting, and I'm sorry that I didn't see this sooner! First, I love love love your blog and if I'm not reading/commenting...it's seriously because I'M a slacker, not because I don't love you. :) For me, part of the "getting behind" directly correlates to the switch from Google Reader to Bloglovin. I loved Google Reader, because it "forced" me (in my OCD-ish mind) to read every post of certain blogs every day. I only put my FAVORITE blogs in Google Reader, so that I would be sure to see every post. I wouldn't comment on every one, but I was much more willing to click through to comment than I am now to click through and read. It's something that I'm really struggling with. Anyway, I love your recipes and I love your posts and I hope you break your blogscouragment (I like that word!) soon. :) I totally know what it's like - I've been there for the past few months myself.
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