Friend Friday: Blog Time Management

This week’s Fashion Beauty Friend Friday prompt is about blogging stress, time management, burnout…  and I’ve definitely been feeling it lately.  

1. How many hours a week do you spend blogging? Has that number changed since you started blogging? 

I’m not sure, but lately I’ve been thinking about tracking it somehow.  Is there an iPhone app for that?  What?  I might have to write it down on paper?  Ehhh… It probably doesn’t help that I write content/edit photos/eat/reply to emails/type away like mad on gchat/watch Boardwalk Empire/Criminal Minds/Burn Notice all at the same time.  No idea how I’m supposed to get an accurate number from that.  

Also, I have a lot of free time.  It doesn’t matter for me too much if I spend like 30 hours/week blogging.  Which I don’t, but I certainly spend that much time with my computer.  Which I love, in case you hadn’t already figured it out (see #5).  

2. There is always more you can do, write, read, comment on… how do you limit your time spent on these tasks? 

I try to sort blogs by content type on bloglovin’ — personal style, street style, runway, ummm some other category I forget.  I never comment on blogs like The Sartorialist and Jak & Jill so if I’m looking for some inspiration and short on time I sort through those.  I also limit myself to reading a small number of blogs, and I’m more likely to follow smaller personal style bloggers although I do still freaking love Fashion Toast and What I Wore, been following them forever!  (Yeah, I know, Rumi and Jessica, could I have picked two more different bloggers to adore?)  I also generally limit myself to catching up on blogs and replying to comments on weekends.  And sometimes I just go off and play Wii by myself for hours for a distraction from the distractions.  

3. Have you experienced Blogger burnout yet? How have you dealt with that? 

Ugh, yes.  I just feel so uninspired sometimes.  And that I’ve worn everything before.  Which at this point I think I actually have… Also, this week, for example, I’ve barely posted because I went… four days? without taking a new photo (okay, lies, I didn’t photograph Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday but before that was Thanksgiving and I barely took any photos then).  And I posted three looks this week (although I only planned on two) so that doesn’t count as barely posting.  

I’m usually behind on when I actually get my photos to the blog.  I sort of have designated blogging times… in general I only create content after 6 or 8 pm, depends on yoga which is not negotiable unless I’m suffering particularly horribly from my injuries.  I try to keep myself on a sort-of schedule too, I almost always post on Mondays and Tuesdays, but rarely on Wednesdays and very rarely on Fridays, although now that I have FBFF I always post written content but hardly ever photos.  It also depends on my week, I’ve never revealed this before but sometimes I do all the posts for the whole week on Monday or Wednesday and queue them for different days. 

4. This time of the year is always a lot busier than any other time.  Will your blogging change as a result? 

Not sure.  My holidays are generally not that busy, actually.  Most of my family doesn’t much care about me and lives far away, and my more immediate family tends to travel the entirety of December (usually I travel in late December/early January).  But other times during the year when I’m busy it’s just likely that I won’t post.  I’d rather keep to my loose schedule but I don’t have panic attacks when I deviate.  And I do use the queue.  

5. Could you forsee a moment in which you are not blogging anymore?  How would you you identify that it’s time to walk away? 

I’m not sure… that it will ever come.  It’s likely that I would end up with a serious slowdown of posts but probably I wouldn’t stop completely.  Ever.  I love technology, computer and web in particular.  I’m a very connected type of person, I’m always going to adore my computer and camera and phone so I can’t really see a time I would give up regular use of my computer.  My friends from college are scattered around the U.S. (and the world for that matter) and my friends from study abroad… even more scattered :)  And I like to stay connected to them because I know for sure that there are some I will never again see in person, that’s how far away we are.  I think as long as I have my computer I’ll be blogging in some way, even if I’m not always taking photos of myself.  I have a separate blog for photos that are not of me.