It’s Time For A Course Correction
I am working on my fourth year of blogging. When I began blogging I started a blog called “An Anthology of Thoughts” and I blogged like crazy. I was a posting virtually every day and often times I would post multiple posts. I was a blogging machine.
Although my blog was anything but focused it ended up acquiring a fairly nice audience of people who were just interested in talking about life.
I ran “An Anthology of Thoughts” for a year and then shut down shop to began ”24/7 Life” and have been blogging here ever since.
I began this blog because I wanted to be more intentional, more focused.
I wanted to find my proverbial “niche,” and at times I did.
I would begin shifting my blog in a particular direction convinced that this was what my blog was supposed to be about, only to realize that there were other topics that I wanted to share thoughts on.
Truthfully, I kind of feel as though I am at one of those places now. There are some great topics that I would like to write about but I can’t decide what specifically to focus my limited time on and that has resulted in a lack of inspiration.
I know that may not make sense but it almost is as if there is so much that I want to talk about that I don’t know where to start.
Moreover, I have been incredibly busy and trying to post a certain number of times a week, comment a certain number of times on other blogs, etc. has because a burden. Not because I don’t want to do those things, but because I feel as though I HAVE TO in order to continue growing my audience.
Truthfully, that’s stupid.
I am not a professional blogger, nor to I anticipate that I will become one through this blog.
What I am is someone who enjoys writing, sharing thoughts, building relationships and engaging in community. And so I think I am going to spend some time evaluating what that means for this blog.
I fully intend to keep blogging, even while I wrestle with this dilemma, but I make no promises on frequency, topics, etc. I also fully intend to stay engaged with other blogs, but I make no promises as to the number of comments.
Blogging should not feel like a burden, but currently it feels like one and so it’s time for a course correction.
I hope that those of you who have been a regular part of this blog’s community will continue to read, you just might find yourself surprised with the things I end up posting.
Posted on June 17th, 2011 by David | 14 Comments »
Nothing wrong with a gut check and a re-evaluation of intentions. I’ll be here waiting on what’s next….
I appreciate that Dustin. I definitely won’t be stopping my blogging, but I’m going to allow my self more flexibility in terms of the content I write about, the frequency, etc.
I think part of what I have been struggling with is the fact that I am pretty eclectic in terms of my interests and passions and I have felt, confined to write about certain things, when I have thoughts on so many other areas of life.
I also have such a busy schedule working two jobs, grad school, a new baby, etc. and blogging was simply becoming an obligation because I wanted to post a certain number of times a week, on certain topics.
So I’m going to step back and just blog on life. Which when it comes right down to it, is something everyone can relate to. Haha.
I appreciate you reading, and I truthfully really enjoy Abraham Chronicles, and still plan on featuring you at some point, in some fashion.
I wholeheartedly agree with blogging for the joy of blogging and not because someone expects something of you. I have had times when I hadn’t written a post for some time and felt pressure to come up with “just something” to throw out there. Silly! Hope you enjoy the direction this course correction takes you…I know that we, your readers, will.
I definitely was feeling that pressure to post and it was taking the fun out of it. I really enjoy blogging, but I just need to take a step back.
Thanks for reading Mom.
Haha! Good for you David – if it’s a burden – why do it? Have fun – do what God lays on your heart and it will be okay
I will always be a fan whether you post, comment or do or say ANYTHING at all – your tops in my book 
Hi Cindy, thanks for the encouragement. I definitely will still be blogging and hopefully quite regularly. I’m just not going to beat myself up if I don’t post for a few days.
You are the 5th blogger I read that has voiced his frustration with blogging regularly. I guess it can easily become a burden. Good for you David. Take care of business. Life is more than blogging.
Hey Moe, I appreciate the encouragement. I definitely still plan on blogging (in general) a few times a week. I love blogging and I think the community is incredible. I’ve just felt a lot of pressure to make my blog something that either I just don’t have time to do and/or something that’s just not what I want to make it.
I understand the value of focusing on a particular topic or subject matter and building that readership base, but I have found that I am most happy blogging when I’m just blogging about life. So, that’s what I plan to do. I will blog on life and not allow myself to feel pressured to post 5 times a week or about a particular topic.
Agreed. Blogging should not be a burden, & the moment your workflow becomes a burden because of a bunch of “have to’s” is the day you need to stop and recalibrate why you’re doing it. I wrote about stopping an reflecting recently after I took a week off of publishing. It was very freeing.
I really enjoy blogging and would love to be able to blog more, but life is just incredibly busy right now. For that reason I’m not setting any real expectations on how often I will post. Plus, I want to be able to write about whatever topic I feel like rather than a specific set of subjects. I think making these changes will again make blogging enjoyable.
Sounds like we’re in the same boat my friend.
Like John (@TentBlogger) says: If it’s not fun then you’re doing it wrong.
I’ve been surprised that after graduating I have less time to blog and comment as much as I’d like too. Don’t really understand the math on that one.
Definitely think I’m coming to the point of realizing I am not a professional blogger and right now don’t plan on becoming one. I want my blog(s) to be a platform for community, creative expression and conversation. I think focus is important and will continue to have multiple blogs, but am trying not to get hung up on “professional” best practices.
Great stuff, David. Hope you enjoy the start to summer! (now that it might finally be here in Seattle)
It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one!
I definitely feel the same thing about my blog. I want community, I want expression and I want fun.
Perhaps we should grab coffee again and talk about our new blogging realizations.
I think it’s awesome to reflect on exactly what it is you want out of anything in life. When you lose sight of the reason you’re doing it, you easily get off course. It was really important for me to have a solid mission for my blog when I started out. I don’t have a lot of time to blog and I wanted my {time} investment to be worthwhile. I knew that I had to be specific about my niche, otherwise, it would be too hard for me, as the blogger, to know where to draw the lines. That’s what works for me and I’m not saying it works for everyone.
Thanks for sharing your heart, David. It’s nice to share even the behind the scenes stuff with others.
I appreciate your honesty, here.
I appreciate the encouragement Keri. I think that I found that trying to fit into a niche made things more stressful for me because I felt like I couldn’t just share want was on my heart. So while this in many ways goes against good blogging principles, I’m going to keep the ol’blog wide open. I’m sure there will be certain topics that I will focus on more than others and there will be certain undertones, For this blog in particular I’m okay with it because melting pot of my ideas from various areas of my life.
I do think that at some point down the road I will start a more focused blog on a particular subject, but now is definitely not the time for me to start that up.