Discussion: Balancing life and blogging

Non-bloggers think that blogging is easy and doesn’t take up any time at all, but they couldn’t be anymore wrong.

Balancing life and blogging is pretty hard in itself, but when you add school into the mix (and work for some) it is a challenge.

I am in year 12 of high school at the moment. Which, for those who are not Australian, it’s the last year of school before you go out in the “real world” like everyone likes to say.

So, trying to balance blogging and school is an experiment. Because I am in my last year, it is my top priority, especially at the moment. My final exams are only just over 2 months away. Most of these exams are worth at least 50% of my grades so my head so stuck in studying and getting all my notes together.

Discussion: Banned Books

But blogging is my job, it’s my life. It is what I love to do. So that also needs my love and attention. At the moment it’s not getting it and I’m sorry it’s going to get worse till my last exam, which is the 11^th of November, is over.

When people say that blogging is easy, it makes my blood boil. I know that for me, and for others I assume, posts actually take quite a while to write. My reviews take at least 40 mins to write and that does not include all the editing or setting up of the post. Discussions do take up even more time.

Book Review: On the Fence by Kasie West

But not only that, all the planning that goes towards post ideas and thinking of new and exciting things to add to the blog. Then we have giveaways and setting all those up. And when winners are found you have contacting and all that jazz to do. It does take time and it’s not easy in any way.

So much thought goes into everything bloggers do. That every minute we get free is amazing. So trying to balance school/work and blogging is really hard. It’s not easy as: write something, then bam publish. There is editing, then setting up the post, then finding images and things that you want to include in the post. I say that most bloggers will spend at least 1 hour on each post and that would be for your standard post.

I love blogging don’t get me wrong, it’s my life, love and job, but it does take up quite a bit of my time. It’s not as easy as some people may say it is. It takes time and effort, but it’s all worth it in the end. I love blogging, especially about books. It combines my two favourite things: books and talking.

So what I am really trying to say is that blogging isn’t an easy job at all and sometimes life does get in the way. But most people that blog should and do love blogging and even though it does take up our time, it’s what we do.

To the bloggers out there: How long does it take you to write a post? How do you balance life and blogging?

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Millicent Nankivell

· Reply

August 23, 2014 at 1:56 PM

Exactly, Angel! Gah! It is so frustrating when people say this to me! I especially get it because I’m not even working at the moment. Although I’m not working, I still have to juggle constant doctors appointments, not to mention try and manage the pain of my injury (which they have just started trying to declare a permanent disability)! I’m also a fairly slow writer. On average, posts can take me anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour to write, but then I proof-read and edit them, and then do it again just in case I missed something (and sometimes I’ll even do it again after that)! Then there is formatting, finding or creating images, making sure that any images I’m using are not protected by any copyright, building internal links, making sure I properly link to any relevant external content… then once the post is published, you have to share it across social media. While there are plugins that can do that for you, they are impersonal, so I like to do that myself. As you mentioned too, so much time is spent developing ideas for future engaging content! I’ve also started doing videos on YouTube – editing those is time-consuming and tedious… but I do it for the love of it.

Great post Angel, it’s something I wished more people realised. I also wish that more people were capable of accepting that for some people, blogging is a source of income – it is a legitimate job.

Thanks for sharing! ♥

xxMillicent

Cassie

August 23, 2014 at 9:00 PM

Oh, The HSC. I definitely do not miss that.
I know what you mean about the blog posts, they definitely do take longer to write than to read.
And that’s not even all there is to blogging. There’s also the reading and commenting on other people’s blogs, and replying to the comments on your own blog.

Jeann @ Happy Indulgence

August 31, 2014 at 10:10 PM

I totally agree with your post Angel, blogging definitely isn’t easy and it takes up a LOT of time, especially if you post regularly. It takes me about 20 minutes to write up a review, and discussion posts as well. Sometimes they take me longer, because I like to go back and proofread/edit them and look up gifs for the discussion as well. Lovely discussion!

Katie

September 7, 2014 at 12:06 PM

Blogging definitely isn’t easy. I would say the amount of time for me definitely depends on the post. For reviews my routine is to write down a quick review right after reading, which I would say takes about 5-10 minutes usually. This then sits on my iPad until I have time to type it onto the computer, editing at the same time. I would say 5-10 more minutes depending on how much I have to edit and if I have any new thoughts since writing the first draft.

Then of course there are cover pictures and links. I didn’t think those would be so time consuming when I first began blogging, but they are. It takes even more time for me, making things like Top Ten Tuesday posts where it’s almost entirely pictures and links.