Blogging is one of my favorite activities. Whether I’m reading blogs or writing them, or tweeting about them, I feel like I’m learning an incredible amount from the process.
I blogged daily from last May until late January (when I started opening up the blog to guest posts). So now I’m blogging on average about 6 days a week.
The good thing about blogging daily, if you can swing it, is:
It’s a good writing exercise.
It’s a great way to establish a writing discipline.
It’s excellent for developing a readership.
The bad thing about blogging daily:
It’s time-consuming. That’s really the only downside I see.
Blog Reading:
I’m completely addicted to blog reading. Yes, I do have a problem. And I would love to be able to read everyone’s blogs every day…because they’re that interesting! Even if you have nothing to say I think it’s interesting because it’s a window into another writer’s world.
But I don’t have the time I wish I had.
I subscribe to 700 blogs in my Google reader. I know…it’s a little crazy. I didn’t think I had that many, so I double and triple checked, but I do. I have them divided up in folders to help me keep track of them.
I have some that frequently feature really excellent resources for writers. I file those blogs under “Tweet Sites” because I’ll tweet the contents—but I frequently don’t comment on the blog…it’s a time-constraint thing, since I do send out a lot of tweets in a day on Twitter. But I tweet the link to the post and sometimes the poster’s Twitter tag, too, if I have it handy.
I divide up other blogs by days of the week to help handle some of the reading and commenting. And I tweet many of these posts, too. 98% of the time, if I’ve read a friend’s post, I comment. My comment may not add much to the discussion, but I want to be a part of it anyway.
If you start dividing the blogs you read by days of the week, you might want to make sure you haven’t put a blogger in a Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday folder when they only blog on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. There usually is some tweaking that has to happen until the method gets smoother.
Why blogging is fun:
There are so many benefits to reading blogs and blogging that it’s hard to know where to begin. The biggest for me is the support, friendship, and inspiration I get from the writing community. Next are the ideas and resources that are in such great supply online.
Promotional benefits of blogging:
Yes, they’re definitely there. First of all, you’re getting your name, and your book’s name out there on the internet daily. This really helps when someone is looking you up on Google.
It does help to introduce potential readers to your book, too. There are so many books out there. If you can help increase awareness of your own novel, then you’ve really helped your publisher out.
There is definitely some networking that goes on in the industry between writers, editors, and agents. And networking, in any career, isn’t a bad thing.
Blogging Tools:
I use Microsoft’s free Windows Live Writer application for writing and saving blogs. It’s easy to learn and is an organized way to write blog drafts, organize pictures and text, etc.
WordPress vs Blogger? Well, Blogger is free. :) Blogger completely infuriates me several days out of the week, but at this point I’m not planning a move. I’ve heard lots of good things about WordPress, though.
What do you love or hate about blogging? And do you have any tips to add for managing your blogging habit? :)
Please come by and visit tomorrow as Hart Johnson, AKA the Watery Tart, will be guest-posting on pre-writing!
Elizabeth – I’ve become a big fan of blogging. As you say, it’s time-consuming, but I’ve found it to be a very effective way to practice writing, to discipline myself so that I write every day, and to communicate with people I could never meet in any other way.
I’ve learned an incredible amount, too, from my favorite blogs (yours is one of them). I’ve learned just as much from folks who are kind enough to stop by and comment on my blog. The communication that I’m privileged to have with all of you in the blogosphere have taught me so much.
You’re also right about the blog as a promotional tool for writers. I try not to go overboard with that, because peope don’t read blogs so they can “click here” to buy one’s latest book. They read blogs for content. Still, blogs are strong promotional tools. I’ve made several very valuable professional contacts through mine.
I would say that one thing I’ve learned to do to manage my blogging habit (love that term : )) is that I try to put a particular block of time aside for writing my blog posts. I don’t always succeed, but if I plan that I’ll write my post between X time and Y time, it’s already built into my day’s plan. Same goes for visiting my favorite blogs.
Six months ago if someone had told me I would enjoy blogging, I would have told them they were crazy. Today, I’m the one crazy – crazy about blogging.
It is so interesting. I have learned a great deal from the various blogs I visit (such as yours). In addition, I’ve “meet” a lot of great people through blogging.
It is time consuming and learning to manage my time is my latest goal.
Great post and tips.
I love blogging for the sense of community and the tremendous amount of helpful advice. As you said, the only downside is the time it takes. But 700 blogs! You must have some hidden superpower that involves being faster than a speeding bullet or able to stop time! Once more, you leave me open mouthed with awe at your organizational abilities.
I really like the way blogging daily pushes me to keep coming up with ideas. I’ve adapted to the schedule of writing on a regular basis and making sure deadlines are met (even though they are self-imposed deadlines). It is a great exercise in writing self-discipline. And it is especially cool when someone is actually out there reading and they leave a really fine comment.
Lee
I didn’t know you can file and organize your posts in folders. I’ve been on blog spot since last June, looks like I’ve still got a few things to learn. I could easily follow 500 blogs. I thought I followed a lot, but when I run through them and still have blogging time left with nothing to read then I know I need to add more to my list!! I have to limit my blog time though or I could do it all day.
I love blogging – I just passed my one year anniversary for The Conscious Cat. Yes, it’s time consuming, and it can be challenging to come up with fresh content day after day, but the rewards far outweigh the benefits.
As for the reading blogs side of things, it can get out of control. Some days, I manage it better than others. I have a list of “must read” blogs that I visit every day (which includes yours) and that I try to comment on frequently. I have another list of blogs that I visit at least a couple of times a week, and I won’t comment as frequently. And on days when I have extra time, I’ll cruise around the blogrolls of my favorite blogs to discover new blogs. Of course, then they have to be added to the lists, too….
I enjoy blogging too. I’ve “met” so many interesting new friends. I’ve learned so much in a short space of time as well.
Time is an issue for me as well. I follow well over 100 blogs and try to comment on most posts – but it’s tough. I like the ideas of organizing by folders – I think I may try that. Right now I just use my blog roll that is organized from newest posts.
In my opinion, Elizabeth, you are the queen of blogging and visiting and commenting. You are super organized to visit and comment like you-not to mention write your own every day.
I love blogging. I love writing them. I love reading the comments and I love reading other blogs. Yes, it is time consuming and a headache at times, but the friendships and new knowledge I have gained (to quote a commericial) is priceless.
I shouldn’t be surprised seeing as this is you we’re talking about, but MAN you’re organized – even in your blogging routine! I am VERY impressed!
I was able to keep up my daily blogging routine for a while, but at the moment there are two problems: 1)I have less time on my hands; and 2)One of the main purposes of my blog (“reporting” from a foreign country) disappeared when I left the US. In the future I should be more than content if I am capable of writing 2-4 blogs a week.
I do love reading blogs, though. No better way to procrastinate! I don’t always have the time to comment, or I can’t think of anything clever to say, but I really should try to do this more often anyway, because the blogosphere is such a great place to meet creative minds :)
In the beginning, I didn’t like it. It was something I felt I had to do. Now, I love it. I love the freedom of expression, I love the blogging friends I’ve made, and I love that window into other writers’ worlds. I also read blogs of non-writers–I guess I just like to know what’s going on with others.
Karen
I don’t follow nearly as many blogs as you, but I still have a problem. I have no new suggestions to add either. Like you, I days of the week I visit certain blogs – usually because that’s when that blogger blogs. And like you say, I find I’m always tweaking this. I don’t always comment, though, and I probably should say at least something. And yes, sometimes blogs get lost in the shuffle only to pop up again and I’m like the X-rated version of ‘oh my, how could i have missed this’.
I would love to be Half as organized as you are….
I love setting aside little pieces of my day to check out the blogosphere…. though I could definitely sit here for hours
You are right- there is a wealth of information and comraderie here
Blogging is the second best part of my writing life! It fuels my creativity and feeds my craft.
Thanks for sharing the Microsoft link for organizing blog posts! I hadn’t heard of this feature. Yay!
700 blogs! WOW! You truly are superhuman. (I follow 120 and thought that was excessive.)
I second your Windows LiveWriter recommendation. It is very easy to use (although, inexpicably, I lost a lot of my previous post archives).
I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. It’s fun and it’s great for meeting other writers, but it’s time-consuming and distracting.
I love blogging. For me it is like the old days when I kept black journals of my thoughts – now I do that when I’m on a trip and mine them for my novels. Of course I am not as free with my emotions on the blog as I tend to be in my private journals but I’m pretty free! My dad would say too free!
I don’t like the time it takes. I know everyone is busy and I’m one of those people AND I’d like some fooling around time. But the good definitely outways the bad. I try not to comment on postings that I don’t care about just so I don’t feel like I have to say something. I’d rather say something of substance once in awhile than comment on every post I read.
I also try and remember why I blog – it is a writing practice and I know immediately what posts resonate and what ones get ignored. I am trying to have a platform for when my book gets picked up (notice I said when not if!) I have a lot of family and friends that are far flung and they like to see what I’m up to.
And it is fabulous having new friends that I feel quite open and close to that I wouldn’t know otherwise. And you are one of those for sure!!
What an exceptional post, Elizabeth! That’s saying quite a lot, since your posts are always excellent, and yours is one of my favorite blogs to follow.
I love blogging. It is an addiction, but what a great addiction to have! I’ve met some of the most inspiring, supportive and truly wonderful people in the blogosphere.
Your post today has been especially beneficial to me in regards to organization. I’ve known for some time that I have to somehow find a way to streamline! I’ll definitely be looking into Microsoft’s Writer! I do currently have a system of sorts, but it needs improvement. Thanks for providing the link and for sharing a bit of your process.
I’d also like to wish you a delightful day – for me it’s a holiday! March 4 is National Grammar Day! Is that exciting, or what? LOL! Well, for all the grammarians out there, it truly is a special day! ☺ I just want to spread HAPPY everywhere! LOL!
Wow you are devoted!!! I love how you have broken the blogs up, what a great idea! I don’t subscribe to near as many but I do have a lot and reading them is time consuming but I love it!
Blogging is awesome, to think I just started this a little over a month ago and I have already learned a ton!
Great post!
Margot–That’s a great idea–to set aside a block of time and not to go over it. I think I need to get my timer out for writing blogs. Some of them are written really quickly (like today’s) and some take a little longer than I needed to spend on them.
Mason–Who’d have thought? I really hadn’t planned on being a blogger, but I got prodded into it from a promotion standpoint. Hard to imagine life without it now!
Lee–It’s like a daily writing prompt, isn’t it? A nice warm up for novel writing.
Karen–Folders works out well for me, or I’d spend all day reading blogs, too! :)
Lorel–And I do a LOT of skimming. I’ve gotten so I scan down the blogs as I scroll down and then stop on the ones that seems to have the best content.
Sally–I think for me that I *had* to get it organized because I was losing so much time by the haphazard approach I’d been taking..organizing it took a while, but the old way I read took hours.
Ingrid–It can get out of control, can’t it? I’m like you…I’ll add links from other people’s blog rolls to my Google reader…and have even MORE blogs to read! My favorite is when I’ve discovered a whole pocket of blogs that don’t connect to anyone I ‘know’–this usually means a good 15-20 new blogs to check out. Like I need more! But I really can’t stop myself.
Jan–Great point about the platform part of it! I know of 2 different writers who got agents through their online presence (or, at least, they attribute it to that.) And having a platform means you have some name recognition and built-in readership and an online home to promote from.
Jemi–I used my blog roll for a long time but then it lost its usefulness to me–I subscribe to so many more blogs than I can list in the sidebar.
Teresa–And it’s surprised me how much I’ve enjoyed it. I guess I started out in late 2008? And I was basically told to blog by the powers that be. :) But it went from an assignment-type thing to something that I really love doing.
Crystal–Grammar Day! I didn’t know that. Grammar was always one of my favorite subjects…cool!
I really do recommend the Microsoft program…it’s just easier to use than Blogger’s blog writing program. And I can save drafts really easily to it. Or what passes as drafts for me…usually just random sentences that I think I can string together to make a post one day.
Jen–It’s a good way of organizing them so that you don’t accidentally leave any out. Then if you HAPPEN to have some extra time, you can read posts from a different day in your folder. Although lately I have been really short on time…hopefully that will change in early April, post-deadline.
My reader is out of control too! Folders definitely help on those days when I don’t have the time to read all of the posts.
I am always amazed at the amount of fabulous information you manage to post every day! I’ll just call you Super Blogger from now on :)
I think what we’re really craving is connections. It’s not a waste of time. It’s time spent with friends. I read blogs with breakfast and lunch, and a few before bed. I save the best ones for bedtime, the ones that tell a story or offer comfort. I read the information blogs at lunch. I read my favs as soon as I see them in the reader.
I was just thinking this morning about your daily blogging and wondering how/why you do it. Thanks for reading my mind and answering my thought question!
Good post, covering the pros and cons of blogging well. I have most of the same experiences and feelings about it, as another confirmed regular blogger. And my book sales have risen commensurately with the rise in popularity of my blog. That’s the biggest benefit – plus all the wonderful peeps you meet in Bloggydom.
Marvin D Wilson
I don’t make it every day, but I hadn’t realised I ought to commit to *particular* days of the week… apart from one bookish thing I do on Tuesdays, I’ve never been that disciplined so far! :)
I keep wondering if some of you wonderful bloggers ever sleep. I love writing posts and I love visiting other blogs to read posts and leave comments, but I never seem to be caught up.
Excellent post! You always have such great stuff (I even Tweeted you, which I am a novice at).
I love the blogging too, and while the FB and Twitter stuff is nice, this is the social marketing tool that I feel like has some depth to form real friendships (systems we can really use and count on) because reading other peoples stuff you really get to know them, and they get to know you. it’s a bigger investment, but definitely worth it!
There is nothing at all I hate about blogging (well, the spam comments, perhaps), but I try not to spend too much time on my “blogging addiction” because it is the same hours I should spend on writing fiction.
I don’t write a blog daily but I try to visit as many as I can everyday. I enjoy the humor, insights and general information. I love the tips I pick up, such as dividing the blogs I follow into various folders. That had never crossed my mind, but it makes such good sense.
The only downside I see is the one you mentioned, it’s time consuming. I need to spend less time blog hopping and leaving comments so I can spend more time on my manuscripts. Sigh.
I’m in my third month and kinda enjoying it. You’re right, there’s a lot of good info out there. I need to learn how to divide up the blogs, though. Some are just for sci-fi news updates, and those occasionally fill up the posts.
I’m four days a week posting, though I try to get online and comment every day. It has taught me to stretch in my writing.
Wow! I follow over 200. Thanks, Elizabeth, I don’t feel so bad now.
I love blogging! I learn so much.
But it’s the people I love most. All the friends I have made here in the bloggy world.
And you are one of them! Thanks for always taking time to visit my blog. We WILL meet in person one day soon!
Mary–It IS like visiting friends, isn’t it? Fun, informative, and–yes–time-consuming! :)
Marvin–I’ve seen book sale spikes, too. It’s really a big help with promotion and, as you mentioned, with making friendships!
Cruella–Thanks! :) I think I try to keep it organized or else I’ll really be in trouble, time-wise. And everything I’ve read says that updating your blog twice a week is just fine–especially if your readers know what days you’re going to post. Although I just use the blog reader so if there’s a new post, I’ll see it, regardless of the day. Apparently others go, “If it’s Tuesday, I’ll go by ____’s blog.”
You could always re-purpose your blog and find a different connection than foreign correspondent. You really still ARE a foreign correspondent…for those of us who don’t live in Norway.
Karen–I love it, too! I follow a couple of mom bloggers, but probably 98% are writers.
Hart–Thanks for the tweet! I do use Twitter a good amount (I really just tweet links…and with 700 blogs I have a lot of things to tweet), but I’ve gotten so busy in the past month that I haven’t been able to Facebook as much as I had. I like blogging best of the 3 social media.
Carol–The tweaking continues because I guess we’re looking for a better way! Not that I think there is one. But hey…look at all the great information we’re getting from reading these blogs!
Tamika–It’s got a much easier user interface than Blogger (which has always seemed on the DOSy side to me.)
Alan–I lost some of my drafts, etc, on LiveWriter, but that’s because I forgot to back it up when I reformatted my computer. ARRGGHH! That was not a happy moment for me.
700 blogs, yes. Superhuman or really asking for trouble, I’m not sure which! I’ll skim really quickly through my folder every day and stop on what looks most interesting. And of course, the 700 blogs don’t update daily (says Elizabeth, justifying herself. :) )
Jane–The manuscript comes first, definitely…from a bread and butter standpoint! But it’s so easy to forget that with all these great distractions.
Alex–So you could have a Google reader folder for general writing blogs, a Sci-Fi folder for new releases, a folder for Sci-Fi genre writing tips, a folder for publishing updates for the genre (like Publisher’s Lunch or something)…it’s definitely time-consuming to set up, but I think it’s worth it.
Janel–Even if we still have a lot to read, at least having it in folders makes it look manageable, doesn’t it? Super Blogger! :) I like that.
Diane–Over 200 is a LOT of blogs. 700 is actually on the weird end of things! I’m looking forward to meeting you one day, too!
I’ve sadly become addicted to blogging and reading blog articles. I’ve haven’t got the hang of google reader yet but I want to spend some time getting it set up properly. I like you points.
ann
Hampshire Flyer–I think it does help develop a feeling of expectation from your readers. You can even put it in your sidebar–that you’re a Tues/Thursday blogger or a M/W/F blogger.
Ann–It did take a little while to set up Google Reader the way I wanted it–an hour? And then some time tweaking it after that (which I’m still doing.) But it works pretty well for me.
Patricia–I think we’re all in a constant state of playing catch up. :)
Dorte–Ooh…spammers. And they’ve gotten so clever now that half the time it’s hard to tell if it’s spam or not!
I enjoy blogging and learn so much, but the time it takes is difficult.
This post will help me organize my time for visiting and for writing. As always, your site is a wealth of information.
Now, if someone wants to share how I “tweet” posts, I would love it. Went to your Twitter site and saw all the tiny urls. Finally ended up retweeting your tweet.
Kathy–I do use a lot of TinyURLs. :) Here’s a link to a story I did on Terry Odell’s blog on Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/y8rp3xk
Very interesting, as always. I find daily blogging worthwhile, though it does create time management challenges. I would like to read and comment on more blogs, and more regularly, than I do at the moment, but I’m not sure I’d ever write any fiction at all if I did so…
Martin–That’s always the problem, isn’t it? Never enough time!
I’m late reading this but I wanted to comment. You are so consistently helpful with your blogging, ESCRA. Thanks again for your good-hearted sharing.
Thanks for this wonderful post. I’ve been wondering how to organize the blogs I follow. Dividing them into days is an excellent suggestion. And blogging is an wonderful way to get your name out there when you have a book coming out. I’m still dragging my feet about Tweeter. I know I need to do it, I’m just feeling a bit overwhelmed writing, blogging, and then there’s the family. Gotta keep everyone happy.
Thanks for the link, Elizabeth. I’ve been having a tad of trouble with my PC and emails and couldn’t get back sooner with my thanks. I’ll be tweeting with more confidence soon!