I Have a Confession: Blogging is Hard, Man

This sort of like a topic post except it sounds more like me thinking out loud. Which isn't always pretty. Or organized. This is me blabbing. That's why I'm calling this The Confessional.

When I started this blog last year I had no idea there was this HUGE book blogging community. I basically posted whatever I liked, reviewed books whenever I liked, and I didn't care how my layout looked (it was hideous). Heck I didn't even know what GFC was! But then I discovered the big world of book blogging and I got sucked in. The first few months were fine. I was getting blog followers and quite a number of pageviews. It got me excited. I decided I wanted to be a blogger-blogger. Not just a blogger-whenever-I-feel-like-it-blogger. I was able to post almost everyday, sometimes I'd post more than one entry in a day. Things were great. But then senior year rolled in and things got pretty messy.

You see, I've never really been the type of student who'll diligently read her notes every night after a day of learning. I'm not the type who'll do advance reading so I'll come to class in Hermione mode (I find that advance reading rarely works in college because professors don't always follow their own timetable. It helps, but come on). I'm the type of student who'll cram even if we were given ample time to prepare. Don't get me wrong, I get good grades but my studying habit's... hah! I don't have one. I had a system that, up until this semester, was working.

I wish I look that nice when I'm stressed.
Photo from Caliber Magazine

This semester I had to clean up my act a bit. That meant devoting a lot more of my time for my schoolwork and extra-curricular activities (I have a lot). Even if my schedule's wide open (I only go to school three times a week. Wuhoo 12 units), somehow I still don't have a lot of time to accomplish everything. I feel like I'm doing a whole lot of stuff (blogging included) and yet I don't accomplish a lot at the end of the day. Now this blog isn't about me and my lack of focus. This is about life getting in the way of blogging.

I know how it sounds - life getting in the way of blogging.  It's like life is such a party pooper. LOL

I used to think that I'd only do this as a hobby but now I feel like I can't go a day without doing any sort of blog work and it's getting pretty hard to maintain that. Aside from the books I have to read, there are reviews that have to be written...and I have about 14 drafts right now (it's a scary number). I know exactly how I feel about the books but somehow I'm having trouble putting them into words. So I end up procrastinating. Even topic posts like this have been drafted for so long now but I have yet to post them. My blog's not in any way inactive because you can see that I update it regularly but I feel like the quality's declining. I'm missing interviews, random blog posts, anything that's not a promo post or a review. For so long now, I could multi-task and still keep up. But recently, I couldn't anymore. There's school (thankfully I'm nowhere near failing so, yay), home life and this. I try to do as much as I could in a day but I am just soooo exhausted, man. Sometimes just seeing the list of things to do is tiring.

So what am I getting at? I honestly don't know anymore. (See? Lack of focus) KIDDING.

All I'm trying to say is this: Blogging, in general, is hard. A lot of bloggers aren't doing this full-time, myself included. But we try to make the most of what little time we could fit blogging into. (Trying to make time for reading is a whole different story, believe me.) People start their own blogs for different reasons but I think the commonality is we want to be heard. I mean you wouldn't make your blog public if you didn't want anyone seeing it, right? (Unless you're like Jenna from Awkward thinking no one will find her page) Just the idea of people checking out my posts or returning to see what's new keeps me going.

So to everyone who's been to my blog and went through my blog entries, to those who keep coming back, to those I talk to and help me promote on Twitter and Facebook - thank you. You make blogging fun. It's a lot of work but at least you guys make it more meaningful for me. :-)

P.S.

If you read all this... here have a cupcake.