Blogging Burnout

It’s taken over eighteen months and more than 550 posts, but I have tired of blogging.

I have very little left to say and what I do have left to say is boring. I can only pretend to be interesting for a year and a half, I guess.

I probably would have lasted longer if I hadn’t posted almost daily.

I was so proud of blogging every single day between October 30 and December 4, but I was just shooting myself in the foot. I probably could have stretched my run out to three years if I had written every other day and even longer if I posted just twice a week.

So now what do I do?

I could take a short break, see if my energy for blogging returns after a hiatus.

But I posted every day in order to create a habit. It worked and I’m afraid that if I stop, I’ll never go back. Or at least I won’t go back to daily blogging.

I could whine about it here and wait for people to respond.

“Don’t give up!” “I read your blog every day and don’t know what I would do without it!” “We love you, Heather!” Things like that.

Of course, there is a slim chance that there would be no public outcry from the four people who regularly read my posts and the half-dozen more who find it each week by googling, “Did McDonalds change their milkshakes?” or “Honeybunch Kids dolls.”

Then I would be burned out and disappointed in my lack of popularity.

I could just keep blogging mind-numbingly boring content and hope that I’m just in a slump, one that I will come out of soon.

And that my mother isn’t the only one still reading by the time I’m interesting again.

At least I’ve gotten through another post. Now I have 24 hours to decide which tactic to try.

5 thoughts on “Blogging Burnout

  1. I love reading your posts with my morning coffee! But, maybe if you take a break from blogging you will have more time for your novel.

  2. There will be outcry from me!

    My suggestion is a combination of blogging and fiction. It’s what I do, and it works well for me. When I need a break from one, I switch to the other.

    There are also days when I have less to say than others, and on those day, I may post a video that I love or a cute photo of the kids. Sadly, these tend to receive more views than posts about my genuine thoughts! But that may give you a chance to take a mental break from time to time.

    Also don’t be afraid to post something short. Single sentences and single paragraphs are often more appreciated than longer posts.

    I also have about 50 half-written posts to turn to when needed. They are not-quite-fully-formed ideas, posts that I’m wrestling with, or just links to websites that might inspire a similar type of post from me or a reaction. If you can build a storehouse of these, it might take the pressure off.

    But quit? No way!

    There’s also nothing wrong with reducing your schedule. Many bloggers do not post on weekends, and others maintain a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule, which might be more doable.

    But quit? Outrage I say!

  3. Pingback: Blogging Burnout, Part Two | One Thousand Words Project

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