Discussion: The Blogging Conundrum

In the past two weeks I've shared exactly two blog posts. Was I too busy to post? No. Was I on vacation? No. Was I trapped under something heavy and couldn't reach the computer? Nice guess, but again, no.

The simple answer is: I haven't felt like blogging.

The more complicated answer is... well, a little more complicated.

The real answer is what I have come to think of as The Blogging Conundrum. 

I started blogging for the same reason as most book bloggers: I wanted to have an outlet to share my love of books and reading with others. A way to discuss all things bookish. Easy enough, right?

But blogging is a time-consuming beast. There's drafting the post, proofing the post, finding or creating graphics, formatting, creating hyperlinks, replying to comments. And on it goes. 

Of course it doesn't stop there. Naturally, I want to visit my book blogger friends and read their posts and see what they're up to. And all the reading and commenting takes a lot of time.

But whether I'm blogging on my own blog, or blog-hopping and commenting on other blogs, I'm not reading. 

And I miss it.

So I can spend my time reading (and maybe even *gasp!* write a review now and then). Or I can spend my time blogging. There are several elements involved here: reading, reviewing, creating blog posts, replying to comments, and visiting/commenting on other blogs. I can do one of those things... I can even do two... but I simply can't keep all of it going all the time. 

So what to do?

I've managed to keep up a (semi) consistent schedule of posting for the last five years. But over the last couple weeks I just didn't worry about it. I shared a review last week of a lovely book (Broken Rebel by Lora Richardson) but otherwise all the time I would have spent blogging has been spent reading. I've read three books in the first week of September and I'm in the middle of two others. That's a lot for me. And I've loved it.  

Do I actually have a point? *shrugs* I'm not looking for advice on how to balance it all. Frankly, I'm tired of trying to balance it all. Blogging has always been a hobby (it's not like any of us are getting paid for this, right?), but if I'm spending the majority of my time blogging instead of reading, then what am I even blogging about? 

If there is a point, it's this: I miss reading. I miss picking up whatever book captures my attention and reading it without giving a single thought to getting a post up. I miss not having to make the choice between reading and blogging. 

So for now, I'm going back to what I love and miss: reading. And I'll post when I feel like posting. That may still be 2-3 times a week, it may be once a week, or maybe another two weeks will go by before I feel like writing a post. But the end result is that I want to be intentional about how I spend my time.

Have you ever faced The Blogging Conundrum? Do you find it easy to fit it all in - blogging and commenting and reading and visiting other blogs? Do you have a schedule, set aside a certain amount of time each day for things, or just fly by the seat of your pants? :) Let's chat in the comments... I'd love to hear about your own experience.