You know it's an interesting day when "how to quit blogging" is in your Google search box. And not for the reasons you might think either because no, I'm not quitting my blog! And who actually Googles that?
Me. ;)
What I was wanting to read were anecdotes of burnout, the consideration of quitting, and the turn back to blogging like one once loved to do.
I found lots of those stories. I also found a lot of "goodbye" posts as well. The funny thing was looking at those goodbyes and then seeing new blog posts showing up again after 6 months or so.
Have I contemplated quitting? Sure. I think that a lot of bloggers, if they were honest with themselves, would own up to those thoughts as well. But as soon as I start writing that post in my head, the 6 month-later-I-missed-you-so-much-post is written even faster. So instead of wasting my time with that I figured I could be more productive looking at what is driving these recent thoughts...
1. I'm-not-good-enough syndrome. I could be wrong but I think that most bloggers feel this way from time to time. I sure do. Sometimes it's tough reading polished blogs with amazing pictures and projects. It makes me wonder where they get all their time and then I'm left feeling less than great.
2. Time. As I mentioned above, I simply do not have the time in my days to accomplish a quilt a week... unless I want to stay up super late. Now I love doing that sometimes because I'm a night owl but it also tends to hurt Steve's feelings if he goes to bed by himself too often. So there's that priority... I'm a wife first.
And then there's Chaney. As she is branching out and sewing more and more. I may have plans to work on one thing in my studio only to be derailed by her or her best friend and her who want to make other things... like American Girl doll clothes which involves tiny seams and me not even being able to swear because there are eight year old ears right there with me.
3. Pressure. I put a ton of pressure on myself to be perfect. Perfectionism sucks, BTW. It's not a personality trait you ever want to aspire to. But sometimes the pressure builds up and leaves me paralyzed... something to the effect of "if I can't do it perfectly then I can't do it at all".
4. Identity. I'm a quilter. That's my automatic answer when someone asks me about my hobbies. But sometimes small projects appeal to me... sometimes large projects are great... and sometimes just writing is the perfect activity for me; like my Wednesday Words posts.
5. Transparency. I have always said that my desire here is to be real. That's not always easy in the online community but also in real life. But I don't have regrets here either. However, where is that line between being transparent and over-sharing? That's a tough one.
So given those 5 points, what do ya'll think? I value my friends and readers opinions greatly.
What do you like about the blog? What do you not care so much for?
What do you want to see more of? I.E. tutorials... my quilting process... finished quilts... smaller projects... writing about our craft... fabric talk/industry talk, etc. Your input could even be making suggestions for the layout of my blog!
What do you want to see less of? And please don't be mean. I sincerely value your opinions and honest is fine but mean is never alright. ;)
You may even have something that bugs you about the blogging world in general and I would love to hear those things as well. But again, there's no need to be mean while claiming "honesty".
I'm hoping that having some feedback will give me a fresh perspective and even take some of the pressure off of me if it turns out that something I stress about isn't all that important to a reader. I realize that I'm opening myself up here but I truly believe that new ideas will always spark creativity.
I'm not going anywhere though... this post is just an attempt to have a conversation and freshen things up a bit. Thanks so much for your feedback!