Tuesday 11 October 2011

The dreaded blogging slump....

Since September, you may have noticed I've only posted a few times and that's because I've been experiencing a dose of the dreaded blogging slump! Over the past year I've seen other bloggers fall victim to it but as I was sat there happily tweaking my layout and writing a new review, I never imagined it would happen to me...

From the beginning of the school year, where I was planning to write up some new post ideas I'd had over the summer, I found myself busy with adjusting to more work for my GCSE years and instead of heading to write new posts, read other blogs or read I just wanted to relax in front of the TV and chill out. It sounds crazy for someone who loves reading and blogging so much, right?

Slowly I began to realise that despite the fact that I love blogging and all the other lovely bloggers, I sometimes felt that I *had* to read a book by a certain time to get a review up or that I had to update even though that might not be something I wanted to do. Other times I'll struggle to even write a review or I'll just feel like reading for the sake of reading instead of knowing that I'll probably be writing a review for it at the end. That's definitely not what I want my blogging experience to be like because then it becomes work when it should be fun. So that's why I decided to stay away from posting for a while until I fell in love with it again.

Don't get me wrong- I have missed it! I was lucky enough to the Bloomsbury launch of Velvet by Mary Hooper in London and met some UK bloggers whose blogs I really enjoy reading, one of whom was Becky from The Bookette and that reminded me of how much I missed ave missed the wonderful bookish community and particularly getting and giving comments and recommendations.

Whilst I haven't posted in a few weeks, I have still been reading, most particularly The Hunger Games series, which got me out of a mini reading slump too. I've been meaning to read them for absolutely AGES but all the praise they get made me just want to put off reading them incase they didn't live up to expectations and I'd have something to look forward to. Now I'm so glad I've finally read them because yes, I'm now another fan who thinks they're AMAZING! Thank you to everyone who's recommended them to me =)

I think that a brief slump happens to every blogger at some point but hopefully I'll gradually begin posting more frequently again soon and come back with refreshed creativity. Thanks for sticking with me!

Have you ever experience a blogging slump/burnout? How did you find inspiration and get out of the rut?

12 comments:

  1. Glad your back! I am kind of having a lack of posts too, but I am determined to post more now. I keep on reading great blogs and e-mails for books to review and I felt that I needed to return. I am (sort of) back now ;D

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  2. Yep, I've had the blogging/reading slump happen to me too! It's no fun :( In terms of inspiration, well, sometimes trying something different on the blog helps me - like hosting an event, or starting a new feature, etc. Or reading a really fantastic hooked-to-every-page book that makes me want to review it to share it with everyone else - but that's part luck! Hope you get out of the slump soon :)

    Also, so glad you read the Hunger Games series!! It's amazing :D

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  3. Thanks for sharing!! I've felt this way too at times!! I'm glad to know others feel the same way!! I really appreciate you posting this! Grin!

    Nora St.Laurent
    The Book Club Network
    www.bookfun.org

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  4. I understand you completely. It happens to me a lot from time to time. Think that i write movie and tv series too, so i have double the work :P
    Right now, i have a pile of 20 reviews to write or something, but to tell you the truth i can't force myself to do it. So what if i will do them a month later. Books don't have expired time. So i just take my break.
    The whole September i had exams and i didn't even read a thing. I'm also not accepting review copies anymore. I have tons of books here so no reason to push myself more.

    I think the best is to remember that reading is fun. You read when you want, and post when you want. You can just you know schedule some fun posts or memes for your break, so your blog doesn't die too. Thanks god,i'm writing with another 5 people so we can keep up. Still there are times, like the last days, the blog is completely dead. So i just scheduling some cute memes which don't need much thought or effort :P

    Take your time. The people who love your blog, will be here even a month or 2 later and start commenting again. It's understandable.

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  5. I've definitely been there. I was (and still am a bit) behind on reviews and kept reading, building up a backlog that I was too overwhelmed to tackle. Now I'm reading a rather long book, am really loving it, and am now relieved to have time to catch up on reviews. I second the comments here--the people who truly enjoy your blog will stick around & keep checking back. Hang in there :)

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  6. We miss you Steph! But I totally understand what your going through only earlier this year I was going through a really bad one and only over the last few months have I gotten out of it! Take your time, enjoy what your reading and hopefully the urge to blog will come back soon :-)

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  7. I think I'm kind of on one of those at the moment... I know how you feel/felt! I think I might take a bit of a break.

    BTW, am I the ONLY person in the UNIVERSE who doesn't like the Hunger Games?!

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  8. Blogging is fun but it's work too. And sometimes I just want to read to relax -- I don't want to think about how to review a book. It's just one more thing to add to the to-do list. But reading other blogs reminds me why I want to keep doing it, even if I can't always keep up the pace I thought I would when I started. Hopefully reading great books will get you inspired again!

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  10. I just came out of a "mini" blogging slump! I think the big blog slump hasn't happened to me yet, and fingers crossed it doesn't!....At first I tried to get out of my mini blogging slump by starting up a new blog, but that didn't help because I found myself missing Page turner! (My original book blog) And the annoying thing is...I WANTED to post I really did but I had... "bloggers block" which is probably what started my mini blogging slump.

    I got out of my slump by looking at some other brilliant book blogs and I got inspired! I started by creating a new page of my blog called "reviews" listing all the reviews I had done and then I remebered I had just finished a blog and I did a very smal review which got me back into the swing of things and then...Im mostly cured! But I think the main thing that got me out of my "mini slump" Was setting up an "about the blog" page I dont know why but it worked! So its worth a try :-)

    B:-)

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  11. I just wanted to stop by and say I miss you :)

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  12. Thanks guys for all your comments and tips! They mean so much to me and knowing other people have experience blogging slumps too makes me feel better. I'm really busy with school and my job right now but I'm hoping to start off with a few mini reviews to get me back in the swing of things :)

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I love comments, they make me smile! So thank you for taking the time to write one, I read all of them.
I try my best to reply here or on your blog :)

Stephanie x