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Friend Friday: Blog Time Management

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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.  

Friend Friday: Copycat!

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The prompt from ModlyChic:

This past week I encountered the topic of blogger copying twice. The first time was as I scrolled through the numerous bloggers doing the 30 for 30 challenge. I realized that after one person poses with an umbrella dozens others will. Or as Kendi poses in a parking garage suddenly 20 other bloggers appear in a parking garage. And then I was talking with Kinsey about some of favorite blogs and she mentioned seeing a blogger post a DIY recipe and two weeks later another blogger posted a very similar DIY recipe complete with the same wrappings. That got me thinking… how much of blogging is coming up with your own content and how much is mirroring what we see others doing? 

1. What are the ‘unwritten rules’ about copying content that we bloggers should all abide by?

I think you should just always be sure to give credit and link back to the person’s blog!  I did exactly this in what I pretty much consider my first real style blog post: I bought burgundy tights because I was inspired by a post on What I Wore where Jessica wore a white dress and burgundy/red? tights (hers are definitely redder than mine and P.S. that’s still one of my favorite blogger photos ever).  

If I one day decided to go to one of the dirty and dark (and full of cars that might run you over) parking garages that are around here then I would definitely note in the post that I was inspired by Kendi Everyday.  But I’m not likely to do that.  Getting run over = bad.  And Kendi’s parking garage looks really nice and beautifully lit.  Parking garages around here are just don’t look like that.  I pose with an umbrella all the time too but only when it’s raining/snowing.  And I actually like to see recipes on blogs (I follow a log of food blogs) but I wouldn’t post one myself

2. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. But when it a post imitation and when is it copying?  

I think it’s fine to take inspiration from someone else, especially another blogger because fashion editor and magazine looks are not always accessible to all of us.  Taking a color combination or silhouette after you see someone else do it is perfectly fine but I would also link back to the blog/photo/whatever as well.  But it’s definitely copying if your outfits just look a little too similar though, you know?  I would definitely change it up with different colors, patterns, or shapes.  

3. Taking another blogger’s idea (perhaps for an outfit, or DIY tutorial) is pretty common in the blogging world. Do you think it is necessary to credit the original source?  

If I did a DIY from another tutorial I would definitely tell everyone that I did the DIY from _____’s blog, and this is how it turned out!  But I personally wouldn’t include a tutorial because I’m far too lazy/impatient to take all those photos. 

If I am inspired by one of my blogger friends I definitely credit and link to her blog, even if I was inspired by a color combination.  After two blogs I follow wrote about wearing faux fur in their posts I decided to examine my feelings about fur ( I wear it) and linked back to both blogs and posts.  I also told everyone those posts were why I decided to write about fut.  

4. How have you improved your blog by comparing it to other bloggers? Have you made changes due to something you have seen others doing? 

I decided to start taking some closer-up and detail photos (although I often still forget) because many bloggers do and when was posting regularly on chictopia I got a lot of feedback like “I can’t see your necklace/bracelet/shoes/whatever as well as I want to, can you take a closer picture”.  I also made a facebook page for the blog because most people seem to have them.  And I added AddThis to the blog, that’s pretty much standard on every blog hosted on Blogger and WordPress but not on Tumblr.  

5. Have you ever had one of your posts copied by another blogger or publication? How did you handle the situation?  

No, I’ve never had anything copied (at least not that I’m aware of) so I’m not sure what I would do if that happened to me!