1) Addressing that niggling conscience:
You know what disappoints me? When people don't read posts but comment saying "lovely post". What actually hurts more is when bloggers you care about and respect leave such comments.
I've seen this world of bloggers evolve and morph into different forms over the years and at different times, my priorities have been different. I wasn't on my A-game for a long while and when I finally resurfaced, I didn't like how commercial and plastic the blogger world had become. Forget the back-scratching that has always been the backbone of blogging, now people blatantly write utter nonsense just for a chance to win contests and other freebies. What I don't understand is that, the topics for contests are mostly decently thought out, one could write actual posts instead of a promo for the company/ brand.
The blog started as an outlet for my creative leanings and somewhere along the way my people helped me believe that I could become a writer. I used to dream of getting published at some point, but now I'm not so sure anymore. Why? Because now, writing has nothing to do with language, skills, imagination, plots, weaving magic.. Everything has been reduced to who has the better marketing strategy. Therefore, this blog is no more my stepping stone toward becoming a writer. It is just my blog. As for seeing my name on print, that's a call I will choose to take at some point in the future. I'd rather write something I am proud of than something that I'm part of because someone had a quota of some kind to fill.
As for the blog itself, I decided to not care about the numbers game the day I closed down Confessions of the Chocolate Obsessed. Now I've decided not to care about readership as well. I will be closing down the comments section from this post on; if anyone needs to get in touch with me or tell me that my posts suck, they are most welcome to via social media (all the buttons are right up there, working and shit).
I'm shutting down my reader as well; I'd rather read those who I love reading rather than read because I have to leave a comment to drive traffic to my blog. If you want me on your blog only as part of your stats then consider this as one tiny, inconsequential stat's goodbye.
At some point in 2016, I might also make this a password-protected blog – if there is anyone that wants to read all the nonsense I write, they can mail me for the password. That way, even the two people (including me) that read my blog will mean more than when I have a 1000 followers and 75 comments on each post from people who simply need their backs scratched.
Making life simpler for everyone involved. Most of all, for me.
Book hoarder confessions:
I think I’m slowly growing out of my commitment issues; not only have I finished NaBloPoMo, I also managed to squeak by the last book on my Goodreads challenge well before the end of the year :)
YAY me :O
In all fairness, I went on a YA spree towards the end of November; it is the second easiest and the second most dissatisfying genre to read for me (the first being romance). I’d always kind of felt guilty reading YA novels considering how much fluff they seem to have but, guess what, I found some dark YA work as well!
Thank. You. Goodreads. I’m like a kid in a candy store when I’m on that damn site.
Signing up for the challenge really, really worked for me – the key, I’ve learnt, to staying on track is accountability. I’d already decided to amp up the number on the 2016 Goodreads challenge when I found the Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge on Sanch’s blog. Thank you, Corinne.
Aiming to be on fire in 2016 (‘un’literally). Nothing less that the most challenging target for me, is there :P
Moar reading! 2016 already promises to be very interesting and more productive than the last five years of my life :D
You know what disappoints me? When people don't read posts but comment saying "lovely post". What actually hurts more is when bloggers you care about and respect leave such comments.
I've seen this world of bloggers evolve and morph into different forms over the years and at different times, my priorities have been different. I wasn't on my A-game for a long while and when I finally resurfaced, I didn't like how commercial and plastic the blogger world had become. Forget the back-scratching that has always been the backbone of blogging, now people blatantly write utter nonsense just for a chance to win contests and other freebies. What I don't understand is that, the topics for contests are mostly decently thought out, one could write actual posts instead of a promo for the company/ brand.
The blog started as an outlet for my creative leanings and somewhere along the way my people helped me believe that I could become a writer. I used to dream of getting published at some point, but now I'm not so sure anymore. Why? Because now, writing has nothing to do with language, skills, imagination, plots, weaving magic.. Everything has been reduced to who has the better marketing strategy. Therefore, this blog is no more my stepping stone toward becoming a writer. It is just my blog. As for seeing my name on print, that's a call I will choose to take at some point in the future. I'd rather write something I am proud of than something that I'm part of because someone had a quota of some kind to fill.
As for the blog itself, I decided to not care about the numbers game the day I closed down Confessions of the Chocolate Obsessed. Now I've decided not to care about readership as well. I will be closing down the comments section from this post on; if anyone needs to get in touch with me or tell me that my posts suck, they are most welcome to via social media (all the buttons are right up there, working and shit).
I'm shutting down my reader as well; I'd rather read those who I love reading rather than read because I have to leave a comment to drive traffic to my blog. If you want me on your blog only as part of your stats then consider this as one tiny, inconsequential stat's goodbye.
At some point in 2016, I might also make this a password-protected blog – if there is anyone that wants to read all the nonsense I write, they can mail me for the password. That way, even the two people (including me) that read my blog will mean more than when I have a 1000 followers and 75 comments on each post from people who simply need their backs scratched.
Making life simpler for everyone involved. Most of all, for me.
Book hoarder confessions:
I think I’m slowly growing out of my commitment issues; not only have I finished NaBloPoMo, I also managed to squeak by the last book on my Goodreads challenge well before the end of the year :)
YAY me :O
In all fairness, I went on a YA spree towards the end of November; it is the second easiest and the second most dissatisfying genre to read for me (the first being romance). I’d always kind of felt guilty reading YA novels considering how much fluff they seem to have but, guess what, I found some dark YA work as well!
Thank. You. Goodreads. I’m like a kid in a candy store when I’m on that damn site.
Signing up for the challenge really, really worked for me – the key, I’ve learnt, to staying on track is accountability. I’d already decided to amp up the number on the 2016 Goodreads challenge when I found the Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge on Sanch’s blog. Thank you, Corinne.
Aiming to be on fire in 2016 (‘un’literally). Nothing less that the most challenging target for me, is there :P
Moar reading! 2016 already promises to be very interesting and more productive than the last five years of my life :D
