Nothing like that here. What is here: a significant tailing off of content over the last 18 months, as family issues and job issues have consumed an increasing amount of my available energy that used to go into this blog.
As a point of reference, the high point of the content production here was probably May/June 2010. Just in May that year there were nine posts tagged in the "Best Posts", and that's just because I don't like too many posts getting tagged that way. May 2010 is actually under-represented. The brain cells were firing on all cylinders then.
Today, not so much. A recent Slashdot poll asked how many tabs you had open. The average seems to be five or so (!) among Slashdotters. Between the work laptop and the Linux desktop at home, I may have 40 (!) open tabs. There are likely 3 uberposts brewing there, and I simply can't find the energy to get them actually posted. All would be as good as the May 2010 posts, but they're all stuck in my head.
Bah.
I don't think that this is blogger burnout, because I have 3 nascent uberposts that I can't get written. If I were burnt out, I wouldn't have the ideas. Instead, I find that Life does not leave me the time or energy to get the posts done as I would like them to be.
Oh well, mustn't grumble. Could be worse, could work at the IRS*.
They are telling me I need to take some time off from work. Maybe I should take a blogging vacation day. Man, that's a strange sentence to type. For those of you who have been blogging for several years, is this normal?
* Poster created by your humble host, using the amazing Keep-Calm-o-Matic.
Do whatever feels right for YOU! I get frustrated more often than not, but sometimes staring at the proverbial blank page is just NOT easy! I'm satisfied if I can get one post a day up... FWIW
ReplyDeleteI still think you don't post enough puppy pictures.
ReplyDeleteI dunno.
ReplyDeleteI do know that VFTP's monthly post count had peaked at ~110 posts a month a couple years ago and seems to have leveled out now at ~80, if that's any kind of data point.
Tam, it's not so much the quantity - I seem to be pretty reliable at around 120 posts a month.
ReplyDeleteIt's just that it seems that the quality is off. More specifically, it's harder work to get quality.
It's not lack of quality, it's lack of time to do any justice to it. I have posts bubbling all around and no time to do justice to them. So a silly sign or slap-dash writing has to make do. I think this is probably common, as is your frustration with it.
ReplyDeleteI shouldn't worry, were I you. My all-time peak for readership was Nov. 2012 ... still don't know why. But I've walked away from blogging several times recently, for breaks of varying length. If you want to take a break, do so. This is supposed to be a hobby, don'tchaknow.
ReplyDeleteI don't blog (yet), so I can't offer any particular advice.
ReplyDeleteBut I do want to say, remember that you do this for YOU. Not us (even though we readers enjoy and benefit from it). If you need a "blogging vacation day", take it!
I take frequent hiatuses (haitui?). I've even made the conscious decision to somewhat alter the content of my blog, concentrating on trying to sharpen my humorous chops. That last row just flat wore me out.
ReplyDelete