Conversations (3): Juggling Blogging and Real Life

Corralling Books and Fiddler Blue have begun a meme to inspire bloggers to engage in conversations.  Participants answer the question of the week and then discuss!  Even if you aren’t participating formally, feel free to leave a comment.  This week’s prompt is:

How do you juggle real life duties + blogging??

I think this question is perhaps less pertinent to me than it would be if I did not have Briana as my co-blogger.  In the past, there was a time when I couldn’t read or review for months; Briana covered my review days for me.  Later, Briana had less time to blog so I tried to cover for her.  And, in general, I have not found blogging detrimental to my real life.  Here are my secrets:

I don’t allow the blog to take priority in my life.

So the review archive hasn’t been updated for awhile or I missed a review day.  Oh well.  My health and well-being come first, as do my real-life commitments.  I am sure no one noticed, anyway.

I schedule in advance.

I currently have reviews scheduled through most of August.  I also have some events planned and a few others started, most of them occurring in August through October.  I do this by planning strategically.  I know that each year I like to do a week of Halloween reads.  That means if I read a book about witches in May, I’ll schedule the review for my Halloween week in October.  When fall rolls around, I’m not panicking trying to read and review a bunch of spooky reads.

I don’t procrastinate.

If I read a book, I try to write the review within the week.  I don’t want to forget the book, meaning I can no longer use it for the blog.

I prioritize.

Major posts like reviews and discussions come first.  Memes and features like our If You Like, Then Read series come next.  No one’s going to miss Top Ten Tuesday if we don’t do it and I’d rather have quality content filling the first page of our blog rather than twenty memes.  I also take care of our blog first.  I answer all our comments before I go to comment on other blogs, and I usually comment on other blogs in waves. I might not comment for awhile because I don’t have time, so when I do have time, I try to visit everyone.

I don’t sweat it.

Blogging is supposed to be fun, not a chore.  If I don’t feel like doing Top Ten Tuesday this week, I don’t.  If I start a review and am having writer’s block, I walk away. I’m not on a real time table here; I’m allowed to give myself a break and be productive in other areas of my life.  And after I write a post, I generally don’t obsess over revising it.  No one’s grading me on this.  Maybe the transition between paragraphs was a little rough in that last review, but life goes on.