What’s a blogging slump?

A slump is a slowdown in an activity. I always imagined a blogging slump to be that cosy, lazy process when you simply don’t want to focus on your blog and choose to focus on something else. Turns out, it’s not always true. I simply had to do other things, but I was really missing my blog and the community. So hi guys, how are you?

The other end of the tunnel

Now when I’m back I thought I’d turn this experience into a positive one summing up those things I noticed while trying to return. I’ll also ask you some questions and if you want to reply to any of them, please, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. My hope is that both the post and the comments will be helpful to other people who are going through similar situations.

Here is how it was for me

I dreaded returning to a project that remained untouched for so long

I think it was one of the main obstacles that kept me away for longer. I felt as if I’d been neglecting a hungry monster and it could now eat me up when I’d finally turn up at the doors. Luckily, it was a mistake. No monsters behind the doors, just dear old blog and lots of familiar people in the comments and Twitter replies.

Replying to comments and messages

This has been my main priority because it’s the people I’m here for. They did help me get back on track.

Something super exciting happened while I was away

I’ve been featured in an article called The 19 Best Book Blogs to Read in 2019 by Scribendi!!!

Of course, I’m over the moon about it, and it also encouraged me to come back here sooner.

My genius plan on how to avoid such long breaks in the future

I’ll try to schedule several posts ahead so that if the trouble does happen again I will be able to still stay connected with everybody while not having to spend time on writing new posts.

Questions to you

• What’s your experience with blog slumps or any other long breaks in your projects?
• Do you dread returning to a project after you have stayed away for some time?
• What is the thing you try to address first once you do return?
• Has anything exciting ever happened to the project while you were away? Did it help you return?
• Do you think there’s a way to avoid slumps?

Hope to hear back from you! Wishing you inspiration and enough time to do what you love doing!

If you want to chat more, here’s my first post with blogsitential questions.

1. Setting reading goals

Goodreads is the largest platform for all book loving people. There are book reviews, ratings, discussions. It’s like Facebook but with a higher purpose. You can also set your goals there, but they are only about the number of books you are hoping to read in a year. Thus, people try to reach goals of 60, 100, or even 300 books a year!

When people started sharing their end-of-the-year presentations made by Goodreads, it looked very appealing. There were stats, collages and some fun info about the books. I got really excited. I thought, that’s it! Next year, I’m definitely taking up the challenge! I was thinking of 120 books a year, maybe? But then I picked up The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry… A few days ago I said that reading ten pages of Perry’s novel takes the same time as reading a whole young adult novel. I wasn’t exaggerating. It takes time to unravel all the beauty of Perry’s novel. Hurrying through the lines is simply robbing yourself.

And what about Patrick Melrose, the character from the novels by Edward St Aubyn? I’m really interested in his life, I can’t let him go. I also can’t read these books fast. They are short but I have to take breaks, to recuperate from what I’ve just read. Will I have to give up on all this just because I want to read a certain amount of books? I don’t think so … It’s a nice feeling to have read many books, but if there are no Perry or Patrick among those books, I don’t want to be reading at all.

2. Book review posts

Obviously, I’m not going to give up on writing book review posts. I love writing them, people love reading them. Although, according to my statistics, people love reading some other posts even more. My Why I Love My Book Blog post and Notes Of a Newbie In The Blogosphere one are the most read ones, while my review of Melmoth didn’t receive that much attention.

So, is just a review alone enough, or should it be something more than that?

3. Praising a book

Of course, I will continue raving about the books I loved (as well as criticising those I didn’t). But tell me, how often did it happen to you that you picked up a largely praised book and were just as largely disappointed? How much of this disappointment came from anticipation and excitement?

I absolutely loved The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt by Andrea Bobotis. (There’s no review yet, but I wrote a bit about the book.) I can’t keep the excitement to myself, but I do wonder if I will be responsible for someone’s too high expectations.

Am I overthinking it all or you also have blogsistential questions once in a while?

There have been fifteen titles altogether! The reviews of all of them except one are already in the blog. Five of the titles are actual books and ten of them are audiobooks. I’ve never done so much concentrated work with books before. I love the process! Writing book posts is one of the most rewarding activities I have ever done. I always loved analysing books but the possibility to share what I think is even more thrilling.

The review I like the most on my blog is probably about Trevor Noah’s book because it has lots of outdoor photos.

The best book I read this month is The Air You Breathe by Frances de Pontes Peebles. I’m still missing the characters.

Other books that I consider definitely worthy of attention are A Man Called Ove, Everything Under and Born a Crime. The books that I would have easily done without are all the thrillers I listened to. They are in falling stars and thrillers categories in my blog.

My favourite non-review post is about Kindle vs print. I feel like this topic should be explored even deeper.

Right now the blog has 64 followers. I’ve had conversations with some of them. I love staying in touch with an amazing artist, my friend from many epochs, the author of Neowatercolor blog. Her paintings are unique, beautiful and emotional. Thanks to my blog I was introduced to another awesome blog called Same Scene Different Story. It has an idea I’ve never met before. Several writers compose their stories based on the same photo. I find it very inspirational. I loved staying in touch with Nsfordwriter, Ova and Umut. Nsfordwriter is also a new blog. Its author reviews books and sometimes posts examples of her own writing. Ova and Umut always have great book suggestions. It’s priceless to know people who can suggest good books to you.

That’s a short summary of the first month. I’m looking forward to the next month, new books and more interesting people to meet.

Happy Birthday dear Blog!  

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I guess I don’t have many readers yet, but if you are out there, I’d love to meet you. Drop a line in the comments, if you feel like it. Let’s keep in touch!