There’s a lot of pressure in writing. Well, I correct myself, there’s a lot of pressure in writing with the goal of publication. And even if you aren’t a writer working toward a deadline for an editor or agent, there is still a lot of self-imposed pressure.
We all have expectations of ourselves: New drafts, revisions that make things perfect, keeping up with social media, blogging, etc. It can be overwhelming at times, for sure.
Something I’ve noticed though (and have seen several other bloggers say the same thing) is that sometimes blogging pressure is higher than anything else. I think because blogging is so very public it ratchets up our expectations times ten. I mean, if you screw up, the repercussions will be swift and fierce. We’ve all seen it happen. Then there’s the added worry over followers and page views, comments on your posts, replying to those comments, and commenting on other people’s posts. There’s the marketing and the linking, and oh my goodness at the contests and blogger events!
It’s a lot to keep up with.
But there’s something all of us (including myself) need to remember:
The writing comes first.
Before I decided to cut my blogging back to three days a week, I was in that place where blogging had become the number one writing priority. And, um, not that I don’t love you guys, but that’s not how it’s supposed to work. Now, instead of freaking out about how many followers I have or if I’ve responded to every single comment, I tell myself to chill the heck out. I’ll respond to the comments when I have a free moment. And the followers? Well, the number doesn’t matter. It’s the fact that some people out there find my posts interesting, and they want to read and comment on them. That’s really all that matters.
Which is why I added the “subscribe by email” option over there on the sidebar. Because as useful as the friend connect widget is, it’s easy to focus on the number and nothing else. And let’s all be honest, eliminating unnecessary pressure from our lives is a good thing. Not just for the writing, but for our health.
I’ll be honest, since I’ve gotten this blogging thing under control, my creative drive has zoomed into overdrive. It’s amazing the difference I’ve seen.
Tell me, have you found yourself in the grasp of over-pressured blogging? What do you do to keep the focus on your writing where it needs to be?
