Blogging Update: A Change of Pace

Hello, loves! This post is one I’m not super thrilled to write, but it’s a needed post. Don’t worry–I’m not leaving blogging or deleting the site or anything super drastic like that! However, after struggling to fit in blogging, amongst everything else, the past few months, I realized I needed to make some changes. So, this is a blogging update, where I share what those change are and why.

Let’s break it down.

Blogging Update

So, the biggest change that I’m making is that I’ll be pulling back on my posting frequency. My goal was always to post three times a week (MWF). This worked really well for me for the past few years. Traditionally, I’d plan my posts at the start of the month and then write the next week’s posts on the weekend, scheduling them in advance. I (slowly) learned to be flexible with this schedule, moving posts around or just missing a day altogether when I used to be so rigid.

This was roughly 12 posts a month. But, lately, I’ve barely been writing half of those posts. Three months out of this year already have less than six posts published. Blogging has become a bit of a stressor, because I feel like I’m letting people down by cutting my promised schedule in half without notice, warning or discussion.

Due to the rationale below, I’m going to cut back to posting twice a week. Hopefully, one will be a bookish related post OR a personal post. Discussions, life or emotional processing posts, book lists or tags, that kind of thing. Then, the second post will be a review (if I can actually keep up with my reading, that is 💀). I haven’t decided what days, yet. It’ll be two of the three I had before (MWF). And I’m still going to allow myself to miss days or add in extra posts, if I want.

The Rationale

So, why this blogging update, why this change? Especially when I’m actually kind of bummed to blog less, when I want to blog more? It comes down to a few key factors:

• Time (or lack thereof)
• Prioritizing my writing
• Recovering from burn out

Burnout

As longtime readers know, this year has brought me head-on with my burnout and mental health decline from my previous day job. As I start week four in my new role, I’m very slowly getting the hang of it and starting to put a new schedule together.

Yet, it’s a job that definitely causes my brain to become mush by the end of the day. So, the “ideal” schedule hasn’t come into fruition like I want. I’ve found most days hard to do anything creative after working all day, eating, walking my dog and showering. Part of that, I think, is that I’m still recovering from burnout and my mental health crisis. Part of me is still on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I don’t fully trust that I can be in a working environment where I’m not micromanaged, taken advantage of and manipulated daily.

So, I’m trying to be kind to myself and allow the breaks to happen, even if that means the creative things I want to be doing need to go on the backburner for a little while.

Time

Of course, my forever struggle is the lack of time. As I complete my MFA and am able to reclaim some of that time back, I’m finding that I want more time to rest. Weekends and evenings–time I usually used to write, blog, work on my Patreon and my newsletter, freelance edit; I’m wanting to spend more time as a couch potato, curled up in a blanket and playing on my PS5. Burnout is definitely factoring into that.

Yet, I think it’s also just the fact that I have to spend almost 50 hours a week working a day job. I don’t want to be working this much (especially when I’m still so financially stressed, taking a pay cut to escape toxicity). I’d rather use my time to do other things, but I only have so much of it.

Writing

The biggest stressor (aside from finances) this month has been the fact that I’ve written once. All month. I don’t like that. I want to be writing regularly. I’m starting to form some real plans for my writing career that I want to chase. But, you can’t publish if you aren’t writing.

Looking at all of my commitments, I knew I had to prioritize my day job and freelance editing, because they pay me. I can’t cut back on those (until I pay off my debt, an impossible dream). My Patreon also has paying supporters (THANK YOU). So, looking at other things to cut, blogging was really the most logical option.

Sure, I could cut back my time playing video games. But you know what? I just don’t want to. And I think that’s okay.

In Sum

So, the TL;DR version is this: starting next week, I’ll be cutting back on my blogging schedule, going from three posts to two. Yet it’s also going to be a bit more irregular, I feel. Some weeks may have two, others might have zero.

Blogging is going from one of my top prioritizing to the bottom, as I just don’t have the time (and energy) to support it the way I used to. Not when I need to use a lot of that energy to survive, keep my dog healthy and make writing a priority.

Thanks for your understanding, friends! I hope to still chat with you all and stay on top of blog hopping, too! While I’m bummed, I hope this is only temporary. But, if this becomes a more permanent schedule, I hope you’re still stick around, too. Your engagement gives me more serotonin than you realize! 🖤

Patreon | Newsletter | Editorial Services | Twitter | Instagram | Kofi