Where I casually mention that blogging has taken over my entire life.
Hello friends, happy Wednesday! I hope your week was off to a great start. Today I’m back again with with feature I called Blogging Ways – meaning I’m here to rant and rave about everything blogging. Fun fact before starting: I had no idea what do write about this week. I’m still currently trying to work on some advice posts. I’m still currently trying to figure out this whole #SFATW business. I’m working full time and I’m trying to write a book. Basically, my brain is kind of fried – and well…BLOGGING TAKES TIME.
This is one of the things you’ve quickly noticed, whether you first started or are now an “old” blogger on the scene, blogging for months, year. Blogging takes a whole lot of your time, probably waaay more than you’ve ever imagined it would. Or at least, it does for me. I thought this whole business would be pretty easy, a fun, quick way for me to fangirl about books, and here I am, two years later, spending my weekends drafting blog posts because it takes oh so much time to do ALL OF THE THINGS.
So let’s break things down, get up close and personal -well, not too much there- and talk about what a book blogger really does. There is obviously the reading, the fangirling, the endless screams about the books we love to family, strangers, anyone, really. This takes way too much time to be listed, and it comes with overall being a bookworm. So there will be no talking about that. Instead, I’m going to break things down into a few key points. What do I really do when I am blogging – and just how long does it take? Let’s get started.
Please note that this does not reflect what each blogger does on their blogs, nor is it there to make you feel bad or good about your own blogging time. To each their own. JUST DO YOUR OWN THING AND LOVE IT, OKAY.
Blog-hopping
If you’re unaware of what that is, it’s very simple, it’s just paying a visit to other book blogs and leaving comments, sharing the love. I don’t know if this is weird that the first thing I’m thinking of when I blog, is blog-hopping. But, really, it’s not that weird because the community is my favorite thing about blogging, so blog-hopping is just as well, even if it can happen to be a chore, at times. Especially given the time I spend doing this…which is from about 1 to 2 hours depending on what I missed. Each evening most of the time. Meaning that I approximately spend 7 hours per week doing this.
Answering to comments
This one’s pretty self-explanatory, and the time I spend doing it really depends on many factors: how much blog-hopping I have done before (and if people answered to me and strike up a conversation), if I put up a blog post during the day, and so on…so this can either take me up to like, 10 minutes to 1 hour or more each evening – most of the time.
Brainstorming ideas
This should probably be the first thing I mention, but well. Brainstorming, finding ideas of new or old content, trying to think about this kind of post really depends on how I am feeling at the moment with blogging. There will be times where ideas are sparkling everywhere, and others where I’ll happen to feel a bit in a slump. Finding ideas for new blog posts take me from 5 minutes to like, a DAY or more. Oops.
Writing blog posts
This should be a blogger main’s activity, and the time-span I spend doing this kind of speaks for itself…or not (but more on that later). The actual WRITING of the blog post does not take that long, really, but when we’re talking about the formatting…it’s here that it gets tricky – and a bit CRAZY.
- A review approximately takes me about 15 minutes to write when I’m inspired, 30 when I really procrastinate about it.It takes me about 30 minutes to edit, format and schedule the whole thing.
- A blog post like this one takes me about 30 minutes.It takes me 30 minutes to do the rest until you see the post like you’re reading it right now.
- A book tag takes me about 30 minutes just as well – depending to the questions there are to answers. Here it gets crazy because it can take me up to one hour to have the right formatting for this post. BOOK TAGS ARE CRUEL – but we love them, right.
- The traveling blog posts take me about 30 minutes just as well. The formatting here takes me about an hour because WE NEED TO CHOOSE PICTURES.
Obviously, I procrastinate at times and I’m slow and take an hour to find the right GIF, so…I’d say scheduling one week of blogging from beginning to end takes me about 4 hours. Ooops. (Notice how it’s less than blog-hopping? Is something wrong here?!)
Taking pictures of books
Boy, I am SO happy I’m not on bookstagram, because I have no idea how I’d manage to do it. I take pictures for every blog post I do, except book tags where I do my own little graphics and I often procrastinate doing this because I have NO idea what pictures I could make…Fun fact: my sister and mom help me A LOT HERE, so, mom, sister, I love you and I’m sorry I’m such a panster when it comes to taking pictures of my books. This has to take me about 15-30 minutes approx.
Scheduling a couple tweets for the week days
Finally, I’m not promoting my blog on social media as much as I could, but it’s because I wouldn’t want to bother people too much about it – also I don’t have time or / and happen to be a bit lazy. But because Twitter is such a massive part of the blogging community and everyone will say what they want, including me, we all still care about people visiting our blog ; I schedule a couple tweets every week day, for my Twitter to still be “alive” while I am dying at work. This only takes me about 20 minutes so I guess that’s okay.
There are so many other things that could be taken into account here – the emails answering, though I don’t get that many at all, the ARCs quest on NetGalley, the Twitter chats when I happen not to forget them, and so on.
I think it’s safe to say that blogging certainly has taken over my whole life here. Or at least, my weekends. But despite this scary list and the crazy hours spent here, none of this feels like a chore – except when my brain refuses to produce ideas or when other life events make me feel depressed about everything. Like everything in life – except books -, we all need some kind of balance and I might not spend this WHOLE time EVERY WEEK on my blog, rest assured. Holidays, hiatus, evenings I spend working on my WIPs and ignoring blog hopping and commenting and doing other things are always here. But if you ever doubted that blogging takes time, well here it is. It does take an awful lot of time.
But I love every second of it, so no complains here.
OMG THIS POST DESCRIBES ME! Lol I spend wayyyy to much time on my computer blogging! The other day I was watching a movie and then I went downstairs and my dad asked me if I had been up there on my computer all that time. I said no and he said wow that’s good. hahahaha
Hahahaha, we really underestimate just HOW MUCH time we spend blogging. I guess we must really love it ahah 😀
Blogging is really time consuming! I am also trying to attend school and deal with other committments, enough that I don’t spend *enough* time blogging. But having a co-blogger helps to share the work, which is good. I guess writing and socialising (though I don’t blog hop enough) takes most of my time. Also formatting stuff ugh
Formatting takes SO MUCH TIME haha it’s crazy, sometimes I wonder why I bother so much, but…I’m a perfectionist a bit and I can’t help it 😛 THank you so, so much Shanti! <3
Love this post! I guess I don’t really think about it much because I’ve been blogging for so long that it just seems like a normal part of my routine, but it does take up A LOT of time. I’m more aware of it when classes are in session because I barely have time to blog-hop at all!
Oh thank you Holly! It does feel like part of a routine now, and in a way it’s good that it’s so, part of us ahah 🙂 It’s when we are forced to step away that we realize just how much time we spend here.
This is very accurate! I ADORE blog hopping so I’d say that’s how I spend most of my blogging time. It’s really weird how sometimes I can write four blog posts in an hour (without the formatting) and sometimes I’ll spend an hour on a book tag… This is somewhat frustrating because I never know how long it will take ?
Hahaha it is a bit frustrating – sometimes I start something, thinking it won’t take me that long, and then I’m three hours later just wondering where time went and how is this taking so long hahaha. Thank you so much! 😀
Right!!! IT TAKES A MILLION YEARS, BUT IS A MILLION YEARS I LOVE LIVING. seriously, though. That’s part of why I had to take a break for a bit. School got to be too much and even though I try, I can’t do EVERYTHING. ha ha ha i started bookstagram and now i have no life… it’s a good lack of life. Thanks for the post, Marie!
Haha, yes it’s so hard to do everything at times. I really want to do everything A LOT of the time, which makes me mad when something comes up or I just can’t. But I guess it’s a good feeling too, to have something that means so much to us 😀
I wish I could write a review in 15 minutes, damn, I spend 15 minutes sat their staring vacantly at the screen trying to figure out what to write before I even start!lol
Cool post, probably most of my time is spent doing reviews, when I post them, I’m slow at writing them they take ages to do and I try to create graphics to go with them for the featured image and also to end with if I have a quotable bit to say, add a graphic at the end to make it look better and to share on Twitter along with my review.
I struggle for creativity so don’t spend that much time attempting to write posts, if I have a spark and can figure what to write then possibly an hour for the post, I am a major procrastinator when blogging or anything blogging related! 🙂
I admit fully that I’m not one for comments, shy loner who sits in the corner but at times that can take up ages but it is always cool. I wrote a blog post on author harassing the other day and while the post didn’t take that long to write, damn there were so many comments afterwards that they took hours to reply to, certainly a good thing getting comments but it’s bye bye reading/TV or anything else time while you reply to them and try to give them all a decent answer – which I believe is something that I have gotten better at.
I didn’t realise that blogging would take so much time though, I wrote a post for my blogs 1 year anniversary the other day and in my what I have learnt about blogging bit my first thing was that blogging takes up your time!!! I think lots of us don’t realise how much time it would take when we started or how much it does take to maintain a blog, it’s fun but it does take time however that time does mostly fly by which is a good thing as it means you are enjoying what you are doing. 🙂
Hahaha oh I write it in about 15 minutes…once I started, but I didn’t mention that before, I do stare at my screen for a very long time trying to figure out how to start this hahah.
Answering back to comments really takes a lot of times, especially when you got a lot – I often don’t read or watch tv when I had a “good day” on the blog and people commented a lot, I spend my evening answering haha.
I didn’t expect it to take so much time, but…it’s great to know we are doing this because we love it, and don’t see the clock turning too much while we do 🙂 Thank you so much Drew! Also, I’m off to check these wonderful posts of yours you mentioned and I think I missed, shame on me.
Ah cool, please don’t feel like you need to check out the posts, that wasn’t my intention when I wrote about them in the comments. I just found it amusing that you asked about time in your post and my immediate reaction was, damn, that was the first thing I put in what I learnt about blogging as I really didn’t know that it’d take so much time, you soon learn it does though but it’s a fun sort of time taking as the time flies by.
I only mentioned the other post too as commenting is different for everyone, I read fantasy and fantasy bloggers aren’t that vocal and lots of other bloggers wouldn’t know the book or author I’ve read and so don’t often get that many comments as they aren’t hyped and popular books but when I write a discussion post, they get comments, it’s the nature of the post, to discuss which sounds sarcastic and isn’t meant to but discussion posts bring out the bloggers that follow but don’t normally comment and they comment, often they write quite long comments and you try and write a decent reply back to discuss and for me, with not reading/reviewing the hyped type of books when I do occasionally post a discussion and get comments I realise how long it takes to reply to them all and realise how much time and effort bloggers that always get lots of comments put in, if that makes any sense.
I doubt I’d even be able to write a review in 15 minutes even after I’d figured out what I wanted to write!?
Oh no, it was a pleasure to read your posts, as always, thank you for talking about it 😀
That does make a lot of sense,. To answer to each and every comment with a thoughtful response is something I try to do as much as I can, but it takes a lot of time to do so – I’m guessing there are days dedicated to answering comments for bloggers that always do get tons of comments on every single one of their posts? Haha 😛
I wish I had a whole day to reply to comments or even just a whole day to prepare blog posts, especially when wordpress and its formatting are playing up but I get your point. Just think I need to learn some time management skills.?
?? Oh yes, WordPress and its formatting is a nightmare at times ? Definitely could use some kind of class, time management 101 for book bloggers, if someone volunteers to do that? ?
Ah, but we’d all have to find the time!?
????
Blog-hopping is the most time-consuming! I try to devote an hour or two per day for it but I find myself stuck some days, meaning I need to catch up and it usually takes me an entire day…
30 minutes to write a review? I wish I could hate you xD It takes me at least an hour, without proofreading and tweaking…
Recently my blog has seen its number go a little up so it’s taking me more time to reply to comments and answer emails, I need between 30min to 1h in the morning…
Blogging is not a hobby, it’s a calling ??????
Catching up does take a LOT of time – when I was away for a couple days, I don’t and can’t catch up on everything and I tried to learn that it’s okay, haha, even if I do feel bad at times. Can’t please everyone and keep our own sanity hahaha.
IT IS A CALLING, DEFINITELY. Couldn’t have said this better hahaha. Thank you my sweechie! <3
I’ve been spending too much time on Twitter and not enough blog hopping. It’s all about an attempt at balance and I SUCK at balance!! ???
Twitter has a bad habit of just…well, making you stay there forever and doing nothing else ???
Love this post! Blogging definitely takes up a lot more time than I thought it would – but I think half of this is because I enjoy it so much. I would much rather write up a blog post or look through twitter tags than do uni work!!
I think, like you, I spend most of my time blog hopping. I try and do this once every two or three days, but it still really piles up. I’m also on litsy AND instagram, so that takes up quite a lot of time too! I’ll probably need to cut down when my exams roll around.
Oh thank you so much, I’m so happy you liked it 🙂 There are so many things in blogging that takes time, and catching up with blog hopping definitely is a struggle at times. Also, best of luck for your upcoming exams 😀
Oh, yeah, when starting out I thought blogging would be super easy. ? Obviously I learned my lesson, because you have to actually think up ideas, promote your blog on social media, read other people’s blogs and comment on them to gain exposure, make graphics, link articles and/or Goodreads pages, formatting, etc. And that’s leaving out posting on Instagram and Twitter. I only do the Instagram thing and I just joined Twitter and really only do it for promo and that’s it, but to all those bloggers who seem to be able to juggle ALL THE THINGS are talented.
I think I spend the most time writing my blog post, especially discussions. The amount of times I’ve realized I spent about an hour on a blog post and my eyes are glazed over is too many.
I really don’t know how bloggers can juggle it all without losing their minds – they must have incredible organization skills and / or just do that everyday without work or classes or anything. It seems impossible otherwise ?? Thank you so, so much for sharing your thoughts!!
I didn’t have a clue, but you’re right! Of course, as book bloggers we have to actually read books to! That takes time. I end up writing all of them on the weekend and then schedule them out. I go through phases and reading and writing on other bloggers blogs. I’m trying to get better because you’re right! That’s the fun part. I wouldn’t give it up though, I love it!
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts 🙂 I write everything on the weekends just as well and schedule, so I can spend the week blog hopping and focusing on other blogs 🙂 I love it just as much 😀
Before this post, I honestly didn’t pay attention to how much time blogging takes up. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m really surprised by how time consuming it can be! When it comes to blogging, at least for me, most of my time is spent brainstorming ideas, and then writing up the posts!
It really is time-consuming, I guess I didn’t pay too much attention to it either because it has become a habit. Writing posts takes so much time but we love it, don’t we? 😀 Thank you!
We definitely do love it 🙂
Bad at blog hopping circa late 2015. Trying to better at it though; but this comment is not proof of that hah. Likewise to answering comments in a timely manner. Aadasidhasudhad.
I wish my reviews took less than an hour to properly vomit. Geez, I average about 4-5 hours per (with obvious distractions in between) but ugh, I wish I could be quicker at it. Don’t even get me started with discussions that lack clear focus…those could take dayssss.
Hahaha, well anyone does blogging as they want to, as they can, and well, whether it’s work or extreme laziness, as long as there are replies to the comments, I’m not mad haha 😛
Sometimes posts are taking SO much time just to think about. For me the actual writing goes rather quickly, once I have the idea and know where I’m going with it. But if I have no idea or just a glimpse of something…It can take me a day to make this into something (a day watching tv shows and doing other things obviously, but still, where the idea is still somewhere in my mind). Thank you!
Reblogged this on Dr. Jes Goldstein: Fictional Blog Series.
Did you ever think that blogging would take so much time?: Erm, sort of? I mean, I knew it would be take some time, but I didn’t know how much, or how.
Are you sometimes afraid of how crazy time-consuming blogging is?: Yes! It’s gotten so out of hand that I’m just like AGH SCHOOLWORK WRITING READING LIFE. (But also I just do random blogging-related things that I really don’t need to do??? I also procrastinate. A lot. XD )
What do you think you spend your time doing the most: writing, brainstorming, formatting, blog-hopping, or something else?: Oof, I don’t know! Most likely… writing. Either that, or blog-hopping. Actually, I think blog-hopping. I follow like 80 blogs, so that’s a lot to keep up with, plus answering comments and working on my own blog posts and homework and writing and reading. So yeah. Blog-hopping definitely. But writing posts comes second, because oh goodness my posts are LONG! XD
Haha well you’re not the only one procrastinating, I do that A LOT just as well haha. Sometimes I just stare at my blog for like ten minutes ?! I don’t know why I guess I’m trying to figure out what I should do but there are so many things to do when you’re a blogger, haha 🙂 Thank you so, so much for sharing your thoughts!! 😀
I procrastinate SO MUCH omg. XD I know right! And then there are those moments when you know exactly what you’re supposed to be doing and what you’re going to do, but you just don’t do it haha.
Hahaha, yeah we just don’t do it, and I don’t even know whyyy. I guess we can’t help doing nothing at times? 😛
Or it’s doing everything but what you’re supposed to be doing. XD
I blogged casually for almost 9 years before deciding book blogging was where I was happiest and flip me to get more than one post a week plus the rest is mental how long it takes. I never posted on a regular basis but when I did it took a lot of time, probably the reason I didn’t do it regularly was because I felt like I was going through the motions. Also, I rarely checked other blogs but now that I have a blog about something I love I also love reading other blogs. Don’t get me wrong, I did somewhat like what I blogged about before – parenting, lifestyle, beauty and books. As you can see it is all jumbled and I just needed to find what made me happy and realised book blogging is what I loved and there was an actual community! It really feels like a second job the amount of time I put into it. Here is the reason my last blog was called Rambling Lisa and I decided to carry the name over because I ramble lol!!
I’m so happy you found your happiness in book blogging – the community really is fantastic, but once you commit to it, it takes a whole lot of time to write blog posts and keep up with everything we want to do I guess ahah 😀 Thank you so much, Lisa! 😀
It really does take up alot of time. My husband tells me I spend more time reading and on computer than I ever did lol
Hahaha, well I guess he’ll get used to it ? 😛
I think the issue is that he was the one always using the computer ? poor baby!
Hahaha, well…now it’s your turn? ?
Oh my god yes this post. When I first started blogging I had no idea how much time it would actually take, and sometimes I do struggle with time management I’ll admit.
I always make time for blog hopping and replying to comments but I dedicate most of my evenings, so about three hours after work, and pretty much most of my weeks, maybe seven hours each day, to blogging if I can. I do have breaks every now and again. I’m kind of in awe you can write posts that quickly, most of my reviews take me around an hour to write, and its the same with tags and TTT and discussions and pretty much everything. I also need to get around to Instagram which will be more time spent on blogging.
This is kind of why it’s taking me so long to get around to my other social media profiles.
Great post Marie, I’m glad you decided to talk about this because a lot of bloggers mention time issues but I haven’t seen many talk about it in a post like this. 🙂
Time-management is something I fear I’ll never, ever get haha. I don’t know how you manage to blog every evening after work, I’m too exhausted to do anything else but blog hop ahah 🙂
I never tried Bookstagram and I don’t think I will, it already takes me a whole lot of time to think of a simple picture to take for the blog…can’t imagine the time it takes for some bloggers to take pictures of their books? It’s crazy – but also, very, very in awe.
Thank you so, so much Beth, I’m so happy you liked it 🙂 <3
I seem to be terrible at time management at everything else but for some reason this blog seems to be an exception. Not sure how, I think I’d just gotten used to being permanently exhausted! 😀
I think it does take a lot of time. I need to try and get back into it again because I haven’t posted in ages but soon. It’s going to be part of my massive blog design/Goodreads account re-haul.
That’s all right! 😀 <3
Hahaha, well as long as you can live with being exhausted and taking care of your blog that much and that well…all is well I guess? 🙂
At the moment I can live with it, who knows things may change in a month of years time. 🙂
That sure is a crazy amount of time right? I have no idea how long I spend. But I found myself nodding to each of the specific tasks you have listed. Yikes! But I do enjoy doing it alot. So no complains.
It really is crazy, when you think about it – but…well, who’s really caring about how long it takes when we love it? 😀
Love this post! It’s so honest about a bloggers life and the time element. When I first started I came into blogging thinking ah this will be easy, just write a post get it up and done. But gosh no, creating headers for each post and even making them the right size takes so much time then writing the post, editing and like you said blog hopping. There is so much effort and time and I truly appreciate everyone who blogs because it is a great deal of hard work and dedication that goes into it
I love that you chose to do this because I think it will also be an insight to those people who do still think its easy 🙂
Thank you so, so much, Hannah, I’m really happy you enjoyed reading it 🙂 Everything takes so much more time than I initially expected it to – from writing to formatting to just, trying to keep my blog alive by commenting and everything, it’s crazy. But also, I love it, and it’s so good to see just how many bloggers are doing this and are passionate enough about it not to stop because it takes so much time 🙂
Exactly! Its a factor which makes the book community such a strong group of people because we all know how stressful it can be for one another and the effort it takes. I definitely wouldn’t of continued if I didn’t have wonderful people commenting and becoming friends making me want to keep coming back and do more! 🙂
Oh yes, it’s the same for me. I think I would have given this up long ago if it weren’t for all the wonderful friends I made here <3
Agree to this! I love how u just describe the pains all of us are going through. Its suoer hard to blog but its also satisfying so… ???
Thank you so much! It is hard at times, but we love it, so that’s what matters the most 😀
Yeah
I totally agree with this post! Blog hopping and writing posts are definitely time consuming. Sometimes, I literally spend my whole day on blogging!
Oh thank you so much, Raven, I am so happy you liked this 🙂 I could spend my whole day blogging just as well…wouldn’t be a bad day I guess ahha 🙂
OH MY GOSH yes. Blogging takes up a lot of time! I love it, but I do wish it wasn’t as consuming as it is. I have a ton of school and studying, all my other hobbies, actual reading (I think I spend more time blogging than reading??) and socialising so it’s quite hard managing all that and my blog. I do love it, though, so I can’t complain really. XD
OH YES, sometimes I wonder if I spend more time reading or blogging?! It’s a good question ? But yeah, you’re right, we love it so we’re not really complaining, just stating facts over how much time we spend…doing what we love ? Thank you so much Kyra!
It really does take up an INSANE amount of time! I’ve been trying to strike the balance between blogging and writing in my free time, and since I don’t have a TON of that lying around, I usually end up doing WAY more of one than the other. Like, if I start blogging one evening, I won’t ever get to writing. And vice versa. But I DEFINITELY spend more time blogging than I do reading/listening to books.
I have exactly the same issue, and more than often it’s writing that’s forgotten, especially since I’m exhausted most evenings to do anything else other than blog hopping or something ahah. I guess we all need to find how to manage our time better, at least I do. I just want to do it aaaaaaaaaaaaaall haha. Thank you Michelle! <3
Awesome post- no, I’m like you, I never thought it would take up so much time, but it is worth it! Hard to say which one I spend the longest on cos it all varies so much!! I really should try to keep track at some point tbh- just for curiosity’s sake!
Thank you so much!! <3 Really, it's hard to keep track and sometimes we're more in a blog hopping mood than in a writing mood. Still, we spend lot of time on this hobby ahah 🙂
You’re welcome!! ❤ Yes absolutely!! Haha very true!!
I definitely think I spend the most amount of time on blog hopping – especially on days when I am participating in weekly memes because I want to make sure I show people’s posts love too; mainly people I don’t already follow. I check my reader quite often throughout the day and read posts and leave comments when I see a new post.
The way I take my pictures it doesn’t take me too long per post, especially because I always take the same picture and just exchange the books. I have no idea how the bookstagram community does it! They sometimes have pictures with so many cool props and arrange things so nicely – I wish I were at that level of photo taking skills!
I don’t think I knew what to expect when I started this blog and I’m lucky that I’m sharing it with a friend, so we each write posts and that obviously reduces the time each of us has to spend overall. I don’t think I would be able to post 5 or 6 times a week if it were just me!
I used to have a blog a couple of years ago and back then I would usually spend most of my time on formatting and ‘designing’ the blog. Writing was quick and easy – I used the blog mostly as a journal and wrote about whatever was going on. Book blogging definitely takes a lot more time out of the day but I love doing it so I don’t mind! Let’s hope it stays that way for a long, long time!
I have no idea how the bookstagram community does it, either, to have both the patience and imagination to think about all of the different pictures and decor and everything going with it, I am so in awe, really.
I hope it stays that way for you too, as long as we enjoy what we are doing, it’s the most important thing 😀
When I first started I was like that too. It won’t take to much time to write a review and post it on a blog. But now, I don’t know where the time goes. Sometimes I can be there all afternoon and still nothing seems right.
I dipped my toe into the bookstagram world and yes it is addictive. But I love it so much
OH are you feeling uninspired to write, is that why? :/
I’m so happy you’re loving bookstagram – I don’t think I’ll ever have the patience to do that ahah 🙂
Again, lovely post as always! ?? I was actually thinking of making a post like this haha but it never happened.
But oh my gosh blogging takes up so much time?! Blog hopping especially aha, I start and then soon over half an hour has passed and I didn’t even realize? For me, my ideas for posts come and go, I have a ton of drafts though that I choose from when I’m trying to find something to post, but it takes me a good 20-30 minutes to come up with a new idea. I’m also so jealous of the time it takes you to write blog posts! Aha for some reason it takes me so long, one of the reasons why I don’t post as often lately (and also life happens and I have zero time *cries*) But at the end of the day, I never regret the time I spend on blogging or blog hopping aha. ❤ Amazing discussion!
Thank you so much!! <3 Hahaha I don't know just how much time it takes, it's CRAZY. I guess sometimes it takes me so little time to think of an idea and write the post when I'm feeling super inspired, but other days I can just feel mad at myself because I have NO IDEA what to do hahaha.
Oh my gosh same trying to come up with a post idea when I’m not inspired… oh boy. SUCH A STRUGGLE. ?
Hahaha it really is, I can spend hours staring at the computer screen haha.
When I first started blogging I had NO IDEA how time consuming it would be. I thought it’d be something I just did casually. Blogging actually takes up the majority of my day, haha. It doesn’t help that I have really poor time management skills either, haha. If I don’t blog hop it can be a bit quicker, but I feel like if you’re blogging without interacting then it kinda becomes a bit pointless. I’m so glad I started blogging though so the time it takes up is definitely worth it, but it can get a bit overwhelming at times too which is why I’ll take breaks so I don’t get completely burnt out.
Oh yes, I thought that too. That I could just do that once in a while, that writing a blog post would take me what, an hour here and there – and here I am, two years later, spending SO MUCH TIME doing this haha, it’s a little crazy to think about it, but also really rewarding. Because yes, I completely agree with you: blogging withuot the interaction is pointless and I wouldn’t want to be blogging this way. This is why blogging takes so much time, to blog hop, to find new bloggers, to interact, really, but it’s time well spent for sure 🙂 Thank you so much! <3
I have to agree with you blogging indeed takes a lot of time and effort. I find it a little bit hard to balance especially now I’m graduating from college with all the requirements needed to be finished but nevertheless I always make sure I can brainstorm ideas for when I can make a full comeback to my blog but right now I just post book reviews for blog tours.
Maybe after grad I can finally BLOG!
I think it’s so great that you manage to brainstorm ideas for your blog even if you are quite busy – that means you’re still passionate about it and that’s what matters the most 😀 Best of luck for graduating and everything! <3
Great post! I’ve only been blogging fairly recently, but I’m already starting to see it’s going to take over my life in a couple of weeks or months time 😀 I should probably try and figure out some kind of schedule so I don’t keep procrastinating (aka blog-hopping and messing around with fonts and colours and such) but that hasn’t happened yet. Oh well. I’ll figure it out somehow 🙂
Thank you so much! 🙂 Having some kind of schedule definitely helps making blogging less overwhelming, I hope you’ll manage to figure it out 😀
Ahhh the relatability factor of this post!!! Love it! I am actually impressed how quickly you can knock out posts (like book reviews) as it takes me much longer than 30 minutes. Kudos to you! The blog hopping and commenting is such a HUGE time commitment that I was NOT anticipating when I started my blog… that being said, I do love it. I just wish I had MORE time to discover new bloggers and read more posts… I need an assistant lol
Hahhaha oh yes, we all should have an assistant, that’d be awesome :p Finding new bloggers, commenting and just being part of the community takes a huge amount of time, but it’s one of the best things to do, so it’s worth it <3
70% of my time in the blogosphere comes from just writing up posts. I actually don’t spend time brainstorming because I usually go with the flow and type whatever comes to mind; I know a lot of bloggers don’t do this and have a journal of ideas instead. The other 30% is replying to comments (which I have not being doing as of late evidently), visiting and reading other blogs, and commenting on posts by others (which I have sadly been failing to do as well). But, YES, blogging is so time consuming. I’m still surprised that I’ve kept up this hobby for as long as I have. It is enjoyable but it takes effort. XD And I am so terrible at keeping up with my Twitter; it’s still a platform I haven’t gotten used to even having had that account for almost two years now. I prefer Instagram, as you probably know.
Anyway, it’s been a good while since we’ve had a real chat. I miss reading your posts and talking to you, Marie! I hope that you are well and that you’ve had a nice March so far. 🙂
– Summer
OH yes, I’m still surprised I’m still doing this after so long, keeping up with it, and most of it all, enjoying it. It takes lots of time and effort but it’s still something I enjoy, which is the best feeling ever <3
I guess not every social media is for everyone, and you are doing awesomely on Instagram, your pictures are always stunning! <3 <3
I miss you too, Summer! I hope everything's going well for you with classes, your internship and everything? Sending you lots of love <3
Aww, reading this reply has really made my day, Marie! Thank you. T.T Yes, everything has been busy but also great on my side, thank you! <3 <3
That’s good to hear, Summer! <3 Sending you loads of love <3
I love this post so much Marie! It’s so relatable hahaha when I first started I also thought blogging would be a fun hobby that I will do on my spare time, but let’s not kid ourselves. It’s a second job. Every day I come home from work to blog, which in some ways is just equally exhausting because there are so many things to do hahaha I love it, so much, but we can’t deny the fact that it’s time and energy consuming ?? it doesn’t take too long for me to write a post. I think it comes with practice because I write faster now than I used to haha but boyyy the formatting takes time! That’s why I can’t just write a post and post it immediately… I need to format it to my liking and preview it a few times until I’m satisfied with the result hahaha and I do brainstorming before sleep while I’m already in my bed so it doesn’t take time haha great discussion! 😀
Thank you so, so much! <3 It really is time-consuming, I do the same thing so it's like we have another day of work after the actual one – except that, well, that one I really love, so it doesn't feel like too much of a job 🙂
The formatting takes SO MUCH TIME it is crazy, I always schedule because I couldn't post anything right away ahah because of that mainly.
I can relate so much to this! Everyone has probably said something similar but when I first started blogging I had no idea that it would take so much time. In fact, in the beginning it wasn’t as time consuming as it is now but I think that was because I was still getting the hang of everything and hadn’t really started blog hopping yet. Now that I have and do it takes a lot of time. Which, I have to admit, can be a bit overwhelming at times because it takes me hours to reply to comments and blog hop and it can take me equally as long to write, format a post, and make a graphic or find gifs. I’ve had times where it takes me days to write a review. I’m a bit jealous that it takes you so little time with writing posts. Show me your ways, Marie! ?? Mostly I blame my own lack of concentration lol. And I probably spend most of my time blog hopping. Which is fine by me since I love it! Great post!! ??
Oh yes, it can so easily take one whole day to blog hop and answer to comments at times, it just takes hours when you’re trying to gather up your thoughts about a post and share your thoughts about it in coherent writing haha 😛
Honestly I have no idea, I guess once I got the idea and inspiration, I can write very quickly these kind of posts – but sometimes don’t worry, it does take me hours to find the idea or…to begin writing the post ahha. Thank you so much Melissa! <3
Right? It can definitely take me a little bit to get my thoughts together for a comment after reading a post. With replying to comments sometimes too. But it’s always worth the time. ?
I think it’s review writing that I have the most trouble with. It can be hard to gather your thoughts after you’ve finished a good book. ?
You’re welcome, Marie!! ?
Oh I agree with you – that’s why I don’t write the reviews right away…And usually don’t write it until like a week later at least, I’m awful like that ???
I’ve tried to do that a few times but end up forgetting too much even with my notes. ?
Hi Marie,
I’m new to blogging and it never occur to me at first it will be time consuming and also takes a lot of motivation to follow up lol. I like to procrastinate a lot. I’m sure most of us are. I don’t want blogging to feel like work.
So usually I blog when the spark of inspiration hits me so hard. When it does, I write a lot that I sometimes have to stop myself because it might become a novel lol. But well, most days I’m lazy of course.
‘Coz I’m new I didn’t know about blog-hopping until just recently. I created a blog about my new life here in the USA. I am from Philippines originally… so it is why I wondered why my blog was like an island. I was wondering where are the other bloggers? lol.
Anyway, one blog entry usually takes me 4 hours to write. Also, I still don’t know how to organize the pictures (for the blog) which looks like a million of the same thing. Lol. I still have to remedy that. More organization…
Thank you for posting this. It gave me loads of insight how most bloggers do blogging… 🙂 It is a nice feeling to be finally a part of this community. It is nice meeting you, Marie. 🙂
Hi Anna!
It’s so nice to meet you just as well, and I hope you’ll have loads of fun blogging! At the beginning it kind of took me a long time to write my blog posts and just think about what I wanted to do overall – what kind of posts, how, when, and so on. It took me a while to get organized and figure out some kind of schedule, and this really helps me in terms of not feeling pressured to write all the time, having moments to dedicate to each thing 🙂
Thanks for the tip. Yep, I have ideas what to write.. and every time there are new ones. I just collect them (taking notes) lol. Takes time to finally get into writing them. It is really fun blogging. It’s like having a journal online but well presented and pretty to read lol. I will work on a schedule. Being organized really helps.. ?❤ Hope you are having a blast.
Haha I agree, I’m glad for the online layout of websites and everything you can do with it – if I had a journal I did myself, well…I cruelly lack artistic talents so it’ll be a mess haha. Thank you so much Anna <3 <3
OMG!! I do everyone of those things and your right it is does take a lot of time sometimes I feel like I have no life, the pressure you put on yourself to be better and exceed. Sometimes I just curl in a ball and cry or just have chocolate and read. Other times I neglect blogging. I had a really bad burn out and I guess still feeling it. Sometimes life just gets in the way and nothing ever goes to how you want it *sighs*
Great post!
Aneesa @ A Crave For Books
Hahaha, I feel like I have no life A LOT of the time just as well…Well, I have a blogging life? Haha. It’s really important to remind yourself to take a step back though, because if it takes a lot of time, it shouldn’t be a chore either, you should enjoy it 🙂 And some other times yeah, life gets in the way and we don’t have a choice and need to step away for a while. I really hope you’ll feel all the blogging enthusiasm and frenzy again soon, Aneesa! (Also, you have such a gorgeous name!) Thank you so much! <3
Blogging is so time consuming and then throw in all the other social medias like insta, twitter, goodreads and it explodes. I’ve found the more time I spend blogging the less I have to spend on my other socials because it just gets to much sometimes.
I went into blogging pretty blind and it’s time consuming but I love it, I haven’t had a serious hobby in so long (I usually stick to something for a month xD) but it’s been a year now and I can’t see myself stopping anytime soon.
I agree with you, there are so many times when I feel like it’s too much and I can’t keep up. Probably why I am not as active on twitter as I could be, but I guess we can’t do it all?
It’s the best feeling though, having this little corner of the internet we love, and don’t want to give up 🙂 Thank you so much! <3 <3
Yep when I try doing it all I end up overwhelmed and not doing anything xD Having this book community is the best though!
Haha, same. Can’t help procrastinating at times, I guess :p
This is so incredibly helpful. I just came across your blog and this post, and it felt like fate. I’m new to the book blogging world, and essentially have no idea how to start. This has given me a good framework and better understanding of the time and commitment I need to be willing to put forward in order to improve. Thanks for the tips!
Ohh you’re welcome, I’m glad if you found that helpful 🙂 However, really, just follow your heart and do it as you feel, I’ve been told that I write reviews pretty fast and that other people don’t blog hop every day, but prefer to do it every week or something. I guess we all need to find our own rhythm 😀
OOOOH I feel this post SO MUCH. It takes me so much time. I find that the blog hopping/commenting situation takes up an inordinately large amount of my time too! And I enjoy that aspect a lot but… it IS hard to maintain! As for posts, I can usually get a review done pretty quickly, unless I feel “meh” about the book- then I just sit around looking at the wall thinking “WHY do I have nothing to say about this book?” 😉 Discussion type stuff always takes longer- as does anything with graphics because I will end up with an idea in my head, and if I don’t achieve that EXACT idea… well I keep trying until I get too tired and give up 😉
I agree though- you don’t realize when you start that it will be SO much time! And I don’t think it was- before blog hopping and commenting and graphics and… you know, whenever we started obsessing about stuff hahah. Love this post!
Oh thank you so, so much Shannon! <3 I enjoy blog hopping a lot but it's really the most time-consuming thing ever, and there are so many bloggers so…at times it feels like it never ends ahah, it's hard to maintain a right rhythm or feel like we are doing enough? I don't know, that's the feeling I get at times.
Hahaha I tend to obsess about things as well, and want them to be perfect to it can take me ageeeeeeeeeees to do some kind of formatting or anything ahah. Thank you! <3
I could only nod my head in total agreement the whole time while reading this post, Marie! 🙂
Yes, blogging takes up an insane amount of time, much more than I ever thought possible… and still I couldn’t imagine my life without it anymore. I agree that blog hopping and commenting takes up the most time, but it’s such a crucial part of blogging and the part that gives the most satisfaction I think.
I’ve been having a slight blogging slump lately, because of the time mostly, so I’ve been posting a bit less and commenting a bit less and though I’m ok with it because everybody needs to take a step back sometimes, I do feel most guilty about the lack of commenting. Makes me feel like a bad blogger, even though I know it shouldn’t… But then the community is so great and understanding so I know I shouldn’t feel guilty about it. I guess I’m still working on the balance thing 🙂
I agree with you, if blog hopping takes so much time, it’s one of the most satisfying thing about blogging and I love it 🙂
Oh I understand the feeling – I have it everytime I can’t blog hop as much as I’d love to, or feel in a slump. But there’s nothing wrong with it, and everyone will understand, there is no need to feel guilty. Worse thing would be to force yourself, and then lose the pleasure of blog hopping and having fun while blogging as a whole 🙂 The balance thing is the HARDEST THING EVER. Let me know if you find out a solution haha.
AHHH I wrote a post like this one a couple years ago actually. I calculated I spent about 18.5 hours per week on blogging – which included reading. That’s changed a lot now, especially because I’m addicted to Instagram and can easily spend six hours a week just taking photos. #obsessed
But I wouldn’t change it! It’s so much fun 🙂
Haha, I just asked myself this very question today: how much time do bookstagrammers actually spend taking pictures of their books, it takes me an hour just to THINK of an idea for ONE picture for my blog hahaha. As long as it’s a lot of fun, I guess we don’t mind spending so much time doing it 🙂 Thank you Emily! <3
You and I have similar blogging habits. Blog hopping is part of my routine as well, though it takes me longer to write posts. I’ve spent up to two hours on posts. XD Thanks for sharing!
storitorigrace.blogspot.com
Thank you so much! 🙂
Aaah, I’d better not think about all the time we spend blogging. 🙂 As our blog grow and grow, we have decided to share the work; Klausbernd writes our post together with Siri, I do the photography together with Selma, Klausbernd and Siri and Selma answer the comments on our blog ( a lot!) and I visit our followers. Still it’s time consuming alright. We have reduced posting to twice a month to spare us some time. I’m surprised how fast you prepare your post! Wow ? ? We start with an idea, we get more ideas, take photos or vice versa, write the text in German, then comes the translation (because we post bilingual) and formatting and reformatting.
Stay a happy blogger!
Best regards from the Fab Four of Cley,
Dina ?
Ohh well it’s so great that you manage to divide all the tasks between all of you! Blogging definitely takes a lot of time and it’s good sometimes not to feel the heavy burden of doing it all on your own, I guess! 🙂
Thank you so, so much for sharing, Dina! <3 <3
I FEEL THIS POST SO MUCH! Blogging has somehow taken up more and more of my time, though I somehow used to think that the longer my blog was around, the less time it would take XD It’s ironic haha. However, I’ve gotten more and more organized about it, so that does help me work more efficiently. Wonderful post! 🙂
Brittany @ Brittany’s Book Rambles
Ohh thank you, Brittany, you’re so sweet <3 Same feeling ahah, I thought it would take me less time when I got used to it, but it does not. Organization definitely is the key to not losing my mind hahaha. Thank you! <3
Yeah, I had no idea how much time blogging took until I started blogging regularly either, and discovered blog hopping. I don’t get to blog hop as much as I would like to, but I really enjoy it when I get the time! Most of my time is pretty much spent reading and drafting posts, not to mention editing youtube videos. It is all worth it though!
Oh yes, I can’t imagine how much time it takes you to do and edit the youtube videos just as well. HOW do you do it, Jeann? You’re doing awesome. <3 Thank you so much <3 <3
I usually spend the time I’m struggling to write a review, or lacking inspiration, blog hopping. It’s not always “two birds one stone” but I’ve found it’s better than staring at my blinking cursor, hoping for inspiration to strike!
I’d also have the hardest time assigning timing to anything. A review might take me 15 minutes if I’m feeling inspired. It could take me hours, and several revisions over several days, if I’m not digging what I’ve written. Same goes for writing a discussion post – I can bang out the post in no-time! But adding some graphics? That could add an hour if I can’t find/create exactly what I’m envisioning.
The crazy part is not how much time I spend, but how I don’t notice how much time I spend! I’ll open my laptop after dinner and before I know it, it’s time for bed! Haha
Hahaha, yes it’s crazy how time flies when you are blogging, I don’t even notice how much time I spend doing it sometimes, I’m just so into it I forget the world ahah. Thank you so much for your comment lovely! <3
Oh my, blogging takes way more time than I expected. I do admit that blog-hopping is the first thing to fall by the wayside if I’m busy. I can spend hours and hours going through the blogs I follow and then I see a blog they follow that might be interesting and – well – you get my drift.
Ahah yes I get it, we can spend so many hours blog-hopping ahah 🙂 But I guess if we love it it’s good, right? 🙂
You have summarized this so perfectly! I have had a few days away from blogging and it takes forever to get caught up with commenting and blog-hopping. I totally agree with you on Instagram. I really want to be able to post those pictures and I tried, but in the end I would rather just read. Love this post and thanks for making me feel less alone in the amount of time I spend on this. 🙂
Right? Whenever I’m away for a couple days, it takes me so long to catch up again haha. Thank you so, so much! 🙂
i know blogging took soooooo much more time then i expected i was like wut who said you could take over my life? and i STILL spend HOURS replying to comments. i love chatitng, but–
HALF AN HOUR FOR A BLOG POST? i might still be blogging if you had told me your secrets
Yes haha I spend so many hours answering to comments and finding new bloggers and everythign but… I REGRET NOTHING.
#noregrets yes i still spend like 3 hours replying to comments XD
hahaha well…it just proves how much you love it and that’s BEAUTIFUL dedication 😀
Er…I dream of blogging! I have a site and all…I just dream. Lol. No seriously I have a lot of good ideas to write about but I just love to procastinate unfortunately! And yes, it takes time totally agreed. I’m working on writing a freelance article and omg I’ve been working on it for weeks. It’s not that hard even. I know exactly what I’m writing about but somehow can’t seem to sit still for like 3-4 hour and hammer it out!
Haha, well procrastination is the hardest thing to avoid ever, but you can do this! 😀 Just really focus on the task at hand, leave your phone, the internet, everything to focus on your writing and it will go smoothly <3
Good idea, thanks for the tips about the phone and internet!!!
You’re welcome, I hope this helps! 😀
Blogging does take up so much more of my time than I ever thought it would – and I also have a bookstagram account – which eats up all of my free time! I’ve definitely neglected my Twitter account, I just don’t have the time to concentrate on another platform.
Ohh wow, well I bet that bookstagram has to take a lot of time. I have no idea how you do this, it takes me hours already just to figure out what kind of picture I want to take for my blog…Can’t imagine how I would be on bookstagram, haha 😀
Thank you so much for stopping by, Emma! 🙂
Gosh, 30 minutes?! I take FOREVER to write posts. I usually can only get 2 done in one day because I take so damn long haha Blog hopping takes the longest for me. Probably 2-3 hours if I’m sitting down for a FULL hop. I usually only do it once a week so I have tons of posts to go through. Blogging is such a time commitment! Who knew lol
Molly @ Molly’s Book Nook
That’s when I’m inspired ahah, it takes me an hour to GET started on the post, really hahaha. Once I get the idea, I’m pretty quick to write it all down 🙂
Blog hoppin definitely takes MOST of my time, never thought it would! But it’s really good to read other bloggers’ posts and connect with the community 🙂 Thank you, Molly! <3
I am brand new to blogging and I am finding that time puts on wings when I sit down…this article spoke to me!
Haha it really does, doesn’t it?! So glad you liked this post, thank you! <3
I am new your blog, and WordPress, and I find both very fascinating.
Thank you 🙂
hi Marie..blogging is a new experience for me..yes, it is true that time spend grows every time you get deeper into it with every tag added. But, surely it is a great source of knowing the world.
Thank you so much for your comment 🙂
. Once I get the idea, I’m pretty quick to write it all down ?
Blog hoppin definitely takes MOST of my time, never thought it would!
Right? Crazy how much time it takes, but it’s lots of fun 🙂
. […] I already said it before, blogging is much, much work, and a big part of it is writing the blog posts.
Yes, definitely! 🙂