9.27.2009

SS - Reflections on Blogging

Hey there Saloners.

I'm still tackling my GReader. I actually went nearly four days without turning on my home computer (this is a rarity, trust me) which led to a shockingly large amount (over the thousands people!) of unread posts that left me boggled, stressed, and overall feeling incapable of keeping up.

What I've realized is there are a lot of blogs that I've added to 'monitor' to see if I'm interested in adding them into my "regular reading" folder. Unfortunately, some of these blogs have not been recent additions. I'm looking at blogs added six months ago. I skim, but trying to figure out what caught my attention in the first place is fairly pointless. So it got me thinking about a couple of things.

(1) I want to make sure that I'm following all of those readers who are following me. I'm all about showing the love here people. If you're taking the time out of your schedule to check me out (even if it's merely skimming to see if the post/book holds your interest) then I want to have you on my radar. So, if you think that maybe I've overlooked you, please comment here - I will make it a priority to add your blog into my regular reading if it's not already there.

(2) Is there some sort of web site that catalogues all of the book bloggers out there? Not just in the "hey, I'm a blogger too" so we should be friends sorta website, but more like "hey I read these kind of books" and we should be friends because you do too website. Have I overlooked it? There are just some genres that I'm not going to find fascinating - historical fiction - for example. So, even if you are an incredibly talented book blogger and your writing rocks, I probably won't be too into commenting or reading your blog. However, I know that there have to be noteworthy blogs out there that I should check out.

I guess my goal over the next couple of weeks is to eliminate the book blogs that are not meaningful to me.

This should be fun. Work is already too stressful.

(Oh and finally, my last side-note: I have been terribly with comments. Even with responding to the comments on my blog! Yikes! Please know that I am still here, reading and thinking. It's the responding that's on hiatus.)

So, if you read and are unsure that I read your blog - comment. :))

And if you know of a website that catalogues book blogs based on genres (eclectic included) then PELASE point me in that direction.

Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday. Football, reading, and Wii will be in my future. I'm looking forward to a restful break. Cheers!


12 comments:

  1. I don't know of any websites like the one you've described, but it WOULD be useful. Probably a lot of work to put together, but worth it.

    I've been struggling also, and thinking of curbing my reader. The thought makes me feel guilty, but I don't want to get burned out just because I can't keep up :/

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  2. I hear you about getting behind! I did turn my computer on every night this week, but I did not have time to read blog posts every night. Once you get behind it is so hard to catch up!

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  3. I've realised I'm going to have to cull my reader soon, and it makes me feel guilty. :( But I'm glad I'm not the only one!

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  4. The closest thing to that sort of website that I know about is the Book Blog Guild (http://bookblogguild.com/), however, I don't think that one took off as well as the owner would have liked. :(

    I always add new blogs to a new blog folder and then evaluate after awhile if they've said anything to keep my interest. I feel guilty if I'm not following everyone who follows me, but there are just some blogs i'm not interested in, and I don't want to feel guilty for skimming and not commenting on a daily basis. I try to follow commenters' profiles out to their blog, and I always respond to people on my comments, but if my google reader becomes overwhelming, I reevaluate and drop blogs I never comment on.

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  5. BBAW really put me in the same boat. I was quite happy with my 40 or so blogs before BBAW and now I have so many to read, I'm barely comprehending the words. Good luck refining your reader to a more appealing and manageable state. (I find using pretty words to say a negative thing is a good idea; so much better than to say weeding out the boring ones...)

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  6. I am/was a manic blog hopper. I haven't been blogging long but now that I've had a great, very active year blogging and interacting at Color Online (I publish 2 blogs), I know it's time to cull.

    Like you said, there are some fantastic bloggers out there with great content and great writing, but by now I know what I'm really interested in.

    I, too, believe in reciprocity but I've come to realize that doesn't mean I have to have the blog in my reader. When readers comment at BES or CO, I'm in the habit of going by your place then. That is how I'm going to move forward with blogs that I have been following primarily because they follow me.

    Going forward I want to read a lot more and write more and I can't accomplish that blog hopping.

    Thanks for the post and the nudge.

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  7. I have too many blogs in my google reader. That includes poetry and writers blogs. I agree, it does get maniac but yet it keeps me abreast with blogs. Better than going blog hopping via blogrolls or follwers. Give me google reader any day. I star those post which I like to visit ot re-read. Initially it might feel like mad house but it has kind of worked for me. Considering I have 400+ blogs in my reader!

    :D

    And yes, you are one of them!

    TSS: The past week in retrospect and on to the next one...

    TSS: The Locked Room by Paul Auster

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  8. You are a relatively recent addition to my Google Reader and I think your blog is great. I also need to take the time to manage my Reader. Glad I'm not the only one!

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  9. I freak if I miss a day. Mine was up to 200 and I am panicking. It is so hard and I will have to cull mine too.

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  10. Every time I cull my reader, I end up adding just as many back in later. I do keep separate folders for blogs that I mostly skim (starring posts I want to come back to later) and blogs that I want to read thoroughly and comment on regularly.

    I've mostly come to terms with the fact that I can't be everyone's bloggy bosom friend, as much as I might like to. I'm trying to spend more time on cultivating relationships with those whose book taste and blogging style is closest to my own. For me, that's more rewarding.

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  11. I think many of us can relate to "MY GReader is out of hand!" but as Gautami said in her comment, I think it beats blog-hopping for keeping up.

    I use several different folders to organize GReader, and it helps. The posts in some folders just get skimmed most of the time, but at least they don't get totally overlooked. But I've also been working on feeling less guilty about hitting "mark all as read" and starting over when my unread posts get up over 500.

    Your blog is a relatively recent addition to my Books Blogroll, and I'm not sure I've commented here before...so, hello :-)! (Also, we have the same template!)

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  12. That does sound stressful. I used to have 40-50 blogs in my reader at all times. Now I'm at 100. I can't keep up and it sucks. I'm not sure if it's better to be "intimate" with a handful of bloggers or have little interaction with a lot of bloggers. I've always been for the first route, but then I feel like I'm not as much apart of the community as some of the other bloggers. Ahhhhhh!!!

    So, um, good luck. :) I think I'll be doing the same over the next few weeks...until read-a-thon when my reader gets crazy again. Sheesh!

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