Looking for advice. Blog comments, stats, ranks, and wondering how to deal (or not) with them.

I could use some advice, peeps. I’m in a quandary involving this here blog and time and balance in general. I’m trying to juggle my life and this place is suffering for it. I feel bad about that because this blog and you are VERY important to me. I can say that it helped save my life without one ounce of exaggeration. I love the friendships I have made and so I am not happy with how I have been treating Looney Tunes and the lovely people around it.

What (if anything) to do? What (if anything) to change?

It’s a puzzlement.

I am usually very vocal out in the blogosphere. During my almost three years of blogging, I have been pretty consistent in this, though obviously my blog list has grown and some of the blogs are not stalked quite as heavily by me as they used to be simply due to time. But usually, my presence on blogs is still usually big, loud, incessant, and totally HAWT. (Ok, you’ll just have to take my word on the whole, “Hawt” thing.) I have also had a history of trying to talk back to my peeps in my comments section, either by posting a reply or emailing.

Anyway, as some of you have noticed or commented or emailed, I have been a whole lot less active in the bloggity world as of late. I am quieter on your blogs and even though I read every link and comment and treasure, and jump up and down on my sofa like Tom Cruise hankering hardcore for Katie Holmes about every single one, my poor comments section has mold and cobwebs growing in it. I know, I know, but dude…I have been loving being domestic, making my new house just how I like it and spending time with my family. Plus, I have been trying to open a show that is 2 hours of commute time and there is just a lot going on that requires my focus.

Besides, it’s summer and the available time for blogging is cut down to a fraction of my previous time. I DO check in a read blogs as much as I can but I do not comment nearly as much as I used to, which means (in my opinion) that I comment more like a normal blog reader instead of a hyper-vigilant, typing spaz that must have an opinion on everything and make it known to the world.

But for the time being something had to give, ya know? (And yes, it makes me feel like a freaking ingrate. Here I am being quiet on the internet and I’m asking YOU to pipe up with advice. What a hypocrite! “Hi! I am the pot!!! You’re the kettle!!! I’m calling you black!!! Oh, and nice to meet you!!!! I am a lame, lame, weenie. Or boobie if you want to be all anatomically correct n’ stuff. Ok, I am now leaving this increasingly weird tangent now.)

Another quandary I’ve been having is about my Google Reader. It is about ready to beat me up and choke me out. I am seriously considering dumping it in the garbage. Here’s why…I cannot read anyone else. Which means that I will very rarely be able to visit new people. While I love the posts my friends share, OMG it is upping my unread posts by a freaking TON. I am having a really hard time managing it and the guilt factor is legend.

I KNOW that a ton of other people have these same issues. So? What do YOU do about it? Have you just dumped all your subscriptions? Do you just read the people who comment to you? Have you gotten to the point that you only read people you have met in person? Is it a combination?

I know that my days will not always be this crazy. I know when the kiddies go back to school and the weather turns icky, the internet will get a lot more of my focus. I know that I am not the only blogger to be in this place.

My quietness and less frequent posting does come with quite the price tag traffic wise. I know I have lost readers. I worry about that at times, but at the back of my mind I kind of wonder if I would want readers that only read me if I’m reading them, you know? Still…nobody loves it when it happens. I do not have the subscription level of some of my peers and while some people I have talked to have steady, even traffic, mine is a lot like my personality-erratic. Unless I am uber-active and on top of things my traffic can go from being in the thousands of hits and plummet by hundreds in mere days.

I’m not really sure what to think of that. Or how to fix it. Or if I should even care. Truthfully, if it didn’t effect my check every month, I am not sure if I would. It’s only taken me three years, but I’ve kind of gotten over the whole “Traffic” thing and living and dying by my stats.

So, here is my question…would you rather someone READ your blog more often and rarely (or less often, or never) comment or would you rather someone periodically check in and then pipe up when they read? I never know which to do. Of course, I never do anything with stunning regularity, but I can at least attempt it, right?

I’m afraid this has turned into quite the brain dump on you all. I just need to write out some of the thoughts and questions that have been swirling around in my head. I am just trying to find some balance. I could use some advice.