I don’t know just how many blogs I follow, or at this point, followed, but it was too many for me to keep up with on a regular basis. Between my WordPress Reader, Feedly, Bloglovin, and the Feedburner digests, my head was spinning.
With my WordPress Reader, I get to decide whether I want to receive posts instantly, daily, or once a week. The only problem is, I don’t get to choose the day of the week. I end up with 70+ blog posts in my inbox every Monday. Feedly and Bloglovin don’t have these options, but their format is a bit different. They are already digest platforms so I guess I could simply take the time to pick and choose the posts I want to read. Then there’s Feedburner. They don’t give you any options. You get an email each time there is a new post.
It’s all just too much.
So, I unfollowed A BUNCH of blogs.
FIRST, one thing you must know, I unfollowed blogs that hadn’t posted anything in the past 3-4 months. They aren’t currently an issue, since they aren’t posting, but in the spirit of keeping things nice and tidy, I figured why keep these around? Outside of those, I still had to unfollow about 50 blogs.
SECONDLY, before you think me a bad person, I have a plan to continue supporting these blogs in my own special way. I’ve been making an effort to leave a comment every time I read a blog. I’ve already made the habit of sharing posts I read on social media, always Twitter, and sometimes Google+ if I remember. Since I’m already going weeks, at times, not visiting some blogs because I’m so overwhelmed, I’ve decided to schedule my blog visits.
I’ve created a spreadsheet with most of the blogs I currently follow. I have a four-week rotation of Monday thru Saturday blog visits. Most blogs, I’ll simply visit once a month, some twice. Even though I won’t be visiting as much, when I do visit, I’ll be commenting, liking, and sharing. On this spreadsheet, I’ve even scheduled days to check my Feedly and Bloglovin feeds. I’ll only be making a point to read the most recent posts and then moving on.
LASTLY, there are some blogs that I thoroughly enjoy to the point that I will read them every day if they post daily. Those blogs will remain as they are. Plus, I’m joining a new blogging group, an opportunity I almost messed up (more on this in a bit) and I want to make sure I have adequate time to participate with it and still keep up with my new writing schedule.
Sooo, back to how I almost messed up an opportunity. There’s a blogger group I really wanted to be a part of. I was supposed to have sent them some information last week after reviewing some of their work… To be honest, I felt inadequate and intimidated after looking over their work. I know their accomplishments should have no reflection on my ability to contribute to the group, but I felt like a small fish in a big pond… In any case, I reached out to them and was honest with them about my actions, stating clearly that I had no good excuse for not sending the requested information sooner. Luckily, they still gave me a chance. 😀
I’ll be making a few changes to this blog soon in the areas of how I format my posts. My post schedule won’t be changing, but it will become more solidified. That’s all I got for today. If you’re up for it, I could really use some support for my Thunderclap.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords
I’m also thinking of updating my design on the Eternal Curse books. People keep telling me that they think my book is too dark for them and are surprised when they read it. Got me thinking that others might be passing my book up for that very reason. Here’s what I’m thinking of changing to; what do you think of it?