Bloggers have cycles that range from smokin’ hot, to frustrated, to apathetic. Any blogger that cares remotely about their blog or web page will understand what I’m talking about. I have yet to talk to a consistent blogger who doesn’t go through these cycles. While it is helpful to not be isolated in this feeling, it doesn’t make the down times any less frustrating.
Here are my big challenges. Keep in mind that this list reflects my own personal frustrations, not a list of what I see wrong or flawed about blogging in general.
Technology Suck
I have a hard time grasping the technical ins and outs of web design and computer related things. Oh, I guess I do well enough and I read and read to try and understand and make it work, but it is just really difficult to wrap my head around. There are so many things that I would like to add to my blog (Like a sideblog archive) that I am not able to do without causing a power outage throughout northern Utah.
Statistic Obsession
This isn’t a huge problem for me, but like everyone else who has a blog with a stat counter, I am quite concerned with my stats and where they are at. Anyone who professes to not care about their stats is either lying to everyone or themselves. It’s died down a lot over time, but I still check my page quite often.
Comment Worry
I am much more concerned with comments than I am with my statistic counter. While there are few things that annoy me more than reading blog posts that whine about why no one ever comments on their blog, it can be discouraging sometimes. There have been times when I write a post that is difficult, embarrassing or just way too honest and I sit and worry and worry about if anyone will comment. There is nothing worse to have a post that no one comments on. It means it sucks, is too boring or no one wants to be associated with “That” subject.
It does have its plusses, though. Don’t think of this segment as me whining that you don’t talk back enough, because I am looking at it as a clue that I need to blog better. So, low comments aren’t always a bad thing. It often just encourages me to think of a fun project to post or to sharpen my wit or sense of humor. I don’t just look at these frustrations as bad things, people.
T.M.I.
I’m sure that a lot of you have noticed my lack of ability to keep my freaking mouth shut. I started this blog at perhaps the worst time of my entire life and while I am so much more constrained about what I write, I still put out way more personal information than most people in the universe. It doesn’t help that I made a LOT of mistakes at the beginning driven my total naivety. You know, things like putting my ENTIRE name on my blog. The point is, while I am doing better about what I put out there, I still have to work on keeping my mouth shut. TMI still bites me in the butt on a fairly regular basis.
Censorship
While I just said that I love comments, very few people enjoy negative comments or emails from their blog. It is really difficult to walk the line for me. It’s hard to allow people to disagree with me or my life.
Posting Pressure
You have to post regularly if you want to have anyone read your blog. You just HAVE to. Sure, you can take breaks and vacation, people get sick, there are huge crises, but all in all? You just have to stick your butt on the chair and type a post. It can be a lot of pressure when you don’t really feel like writing.
Inferiority Complex
Tons of bloggers are heading out to BlogHer in Chicago this week. I will not be one of them. I highly doubt that I ever will be. I would love to go to the classes and learn more about this passion of mine, but I have a feeling that I would end up feeling inferior. I prefer to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. I feel pretty inadequate around some of my blog reads as it is.
Unrealistic Expectation
I expect a lot from this little blog. I started it as a form of therapy. Soon, it became a tool to help me get my life back, now it is more of a passion and a substitution for the music career I walked away from. It has become a source of validation for me. That is ok, except that sometimes I expect too much from it. Part of it stems from my personality flaw of REALLY caring what people think of me. I carry around every bad word and hurtful comment for a very long time. I’m working on it, but it is one of my worst flaws.
This ties into the next subject:
Meanness, hostility, trolling, haters, smug people, or when blogging just makes you feel bad and gives you emotional ‘OWIES’
Mean people suck.
I used to just let trolls and sucky people just walk all over me and trample on my blog. No longer. When nastiness happens on my blog now I am a lot quicker to delete comments that are spiteful or vicious, and right now I have a list of about 35 ip’s blocked from ever viewing this blog again. I have let a few people back in with good behavior stipulations, but there are some that will never be allowed back.
It really isn’t hard to deal with blatantly mean people for me anymore.
This leaves the category of people who just hurt my feelings, and are even often telling the truth. You know how it goes. 50 people can say you like your new hair cut and one person says you look like a Vulcan. Guess which one you carry with you all day? At least I do.
And finally, my last category:
Fresh Material
I am in awe of those with average lives that can create interesting blog posts day after day. I don’t know how they do it. I have a freaky, crazy, jam-packed life full of things that pretty much write themselves and there are SO many days that I have nothing to say. Nothing to write. But you have pressure to post regularly when you get higher into the readership count. It’s hard to be original or funny sometimes.
Luckily, these challenges aren’t obstacles that are too annoying or commonplace to really interfere with my hobby too much. At the worst they cause a few tears and a couple of days of mood suck and then I get over it. Mostly.
So, did I leave anything off the list? While I appreciate the huggies n’stuff in the comments, so far I would love to discuss some of these and find out what issues you all have. Do your feelings get hurt if your stats fluctuate too much? Do you have difficulty keeping up with the technology? Do others get intimidated like I do with other blogs?
