Dear friend with a blog,
Have you been getting the feeling that you are a little bit too invested in your blog. You fret and worry about it. You’ve set up all these imaginary goals and now you feel bad when you fail to reach them no matter how unrealistic they may have been.
Do you feel like you owe your blog something? I know you feel lazy and a little ashamed when you haven’t posted in a while. You’re not going to lose sleep over it but, still. You feel bad if you don’t deliver on projects you may have teased. You feel a little let down when you pour your heart and time into a post that goes ignored. You have some emotional attachment to your work, I get it.
Ok I know a few of you are super cool. You can just throw out these amazing, insightful, perfectly crafted masterpiece posts whenever the spirit moves you and the art is its own reward. You neither worry about nor pay attention to anything else. You are the coolest! I wish I was like you. I’m not. I get a thrill when readers seem to be enjoying something I’ve done and I long to recreate that. I want you guys to have as much fun reading my posts as I had writing them. I feel some sense of accomplishment when I stick to my timetables and follow through on my projects. I absolutely love when I hear from one of you personally. It doesn’t matter about what. You should probably know that if it’s about “How Do I Create a Successful Blog”, you will find me enthusiastic but unhelpful. If you manage to get an answer from someone else though, I would love to know! If anything can be taken away from this little randomness – it’s that I’m not cool. At all. I do care, ever so much.
I’m not complaining mind you. This lack of cool on my part is what has allowed this entire experience to be so heartwarming. Do you like how I’m playing with the whole temperature theme here? See if I was cool I wouldn’t need to point it out. But I know that the price we all pay for getting that feeling of solidarity and pride out of a blog is a certain insecurity. I know that very well. And today, to my fellow not too cool to care bloggers, I want to tell you, you are not alone.
If you have ever wondered why your blog isn’t getting followers as quickly as you thought it would. Most of us have been there. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a lot of you are missing out on masterpieces. There are blogs out there that have fewer followers than I do and it’s mindboggling. I would gladly pay for their content. In my opinion their posts are better than mine but just so I don’t have you guys flooding my comments with support (because I know you, and you are all just the sweetest), let’s say our content is equal. The point I’m trying to make is that a smaller follower count doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong and increasing that number shouldn’t necessarily be an objective. But if it’s bothering you, you are not alone! There are some tricks you can use but honestly, it takes time! That’s all. No need to worry. We’ve all been there.
If you have ever been a little disappointed to see that your favourite posts don’t do as well as some things you’ve written a bit more carelessly and with a lot less conviction. You are not alone. I shared once or twice the fact that, as a rule of thumb, all the posts I truly love, tend to generate much less interest than my average offerings. Since then, I’ve heard the exact same thing from other bloggers, over and over again. It seems to be an unwritten rule. We just have to accept that some posts are just for us and that’s fine. You are going to spend hours on something and be terribly proud of it and no one else will notice. Don’t be discouraged, you are not alone.
Maybe you feel like you don’t do *enough*. Maybe you watch in amazement how certain bloggers seem to have unlimited time reserves and energy. You marvel as they publish several posts each and every day of unwaveringly fantastic quality, while you struggle to get one out every day/week/month. You start asking yourself what exactly are you doing wrong, how is it even possible? You question the rational laws of space/time and give yourself a headache. I get it. I sometimes wonder how exactly am I supposed to WATCH anime if I have to spend all that time WRITING about anime. Look, some people are magical. We just have to accept that. And if you’re not and you have a though time balancing it all out. I understand, you’re not alone.
For those of you who aren’t that confident in your writing skills. Those who worry about your typos or think that your grammar leaves something to be desired. I have resigned myself to having lost that particular battle most days but once in a while, I still feel the sting. As for those who would love to be able to write those poetic proses you see on other blogs. Those who wonder why anyone would put up with your sad little offerings when there are so many better options out there. You are wrong, and also not alone.
I know that you’ve been staring at that blank screen for what seems like an eternity. Sleepwalking through hallways as you desperately try to find a new and interesting theme for your next post. I once literally walked into a glass door as I was trying to figure out the wording for some random review. I know that you are starting to get a little out of breath from desperately chasing after those muses when all around you, bloggers effortlessly come up brilliant innovations one after the other. It’s mostly admiration but occasionally, just a little jealousy sneaks in. I know all this, and I know you are not the only one.
If you are still frustratingly grasping at the perfection you perceive in other people’s work. Seemingly just out of reach of your outstretched fingers. If you are starting to think that maybe, you’ll never quite get there. That maybe the issue isn’t effort but talent. Let me tell you for a fact, you are echoing the thoughts of legions, there is no one that is beyond doubt.
And tell me, do you sometimes write a post, edit it and get it all scheduled for publishing just to have another blogger coincidentally beat you to the punch with a post similar in content and/or structure? And even though it’s a complete coincidence you now feel awkward about publishing your own, so you push it back but you still feel a bit out of sorts and can’t help but think their post may have been better. Been there! So many times!
If some days you ask yourself why you’re still doing this. You could be playing games or just enjoying shows for the fun of it. I’m not going to make you keep going if you don’t want to, but man, I’m going to miss you!
Some days just seem to be nothing but hesitations and questions. Some days you’re just not feeling it. I don’t have any answers for you. The only thing I can tell you dear friend is that you are not alone. We all feel that way sometimes. At least, I do.
But other days, are just fantastic!
