I love eating delicious food. And I love creating new recipes. But I don’t think I would consider myself a foodie: what I like about blogging and about making up recipes is the creativity involved. I don’t watch cooking shows, don’t read cookbooks in my spare time, don’t spend hours upon hours thinking about food, and…
I feel so mean for what I am about to admit, but I don’t enjoy spending the day feeling like I have to read every single food blog out there. I really don’t want anyone’s feelings to get hurt, and I don’t want anyone to feel like I’m ignoring him or her, so I feel compelled to try and visit as many blogs of people who leave comments on mine as I can. Lately, I’ve felt overwhelmed at the sheer number of blogs I feel the need to visit and comment on each day. I try to be fair;
I’m definitely not one of those people who only leaves comments on the popular blogs. I hate to open up this can of worms, but it makes me sad to see the little blogs ignored. Just because a certain blogger doesn’t get 50 comments per day does NOT mean her blog isn’t good and she doesn’t deserve comments. In fact, I try to comment more on these blogs than the popular blogs because each comment means more to the bloggers. I remember when I was first starting out and got only 5 comments per day. Those 5 comments might as well have been 500 for how happy they made me. Not that I don’t still get excited when someone leaves a comment on my blog: I really do!
Even the comments that just say simple things like “yum” or “cool idea” mean a lot to me. So I feel like a hypocrite if I don’t try my hardest to visit your blogs and try and repay that happiness. You all do such a good job of keeping up with my posts that it’s only fair I should do the same. And everyone has such interesting, well-thought-out posts that I really wish there were time to thoroughly read them all. I love you all, and your blogs are amazing: creative, funny, delightful… Each of you offers something special and unique to the blogging world. But feeling like I have to visit so many blogs as quickly as possible (so I can fit all the other things I want to do into my life), I find myself skimming over your cute stories, creative ideas, and other ways that your personalities shine.
Yes, I know I’m over-estimating my importance in peoples’ lives. Logically, I can see you all probably don’t spend even a minute feeling slighted over such dumb things as whether or not CCK commented more on your blog than someone else’s. But not-so-logically, I have a fault of being way too sensitive and worrying about hurting others. I will still try to comment every now and then. I am going to have to step back even further in the amount I comment, though. It does not mean that I love you guys any less!
Blogging should be fun. Lately, to me, parts of it have become a chore. I want to bring the fun back… And I promise not to abandon you. I’m still reading blogs, even if I don’t always comment!
Question of the Day:
Do any of you feel like this; like parts of blogging—be it trying to comment on tons of others’ sites or the pressures to blog about certain things or to not offend anyone—can sometimes get you down? I’m sure many of you do! Please know that I will NEVER hold it against you if you don’t have time to comment on my site. Yes, I’ll miss hearing your thoughts, your cute stories, and your kind words. But it won’t make me stop loving you.
i am the same way. i cant physically comment on the 100 blogs in goog reader because itd be a full time job. i can barely make my bed in the morning because i rush to work (late most likely)…just comment and read at ur leisure and we will do the same to u! we all cant be blogging superwomen 🙂 have a great sunday gorgeous!
xoxo
lo
It’s not humanly possible to visit every single food-related blog out there, Katie, AND comment on every single post. It just isn’t. Life is short. It is to be lived. It’s sweet that you are concerned about these things, and other people’s feelings. But we understand that you’re ONLY one person….
Big hugs,
Michele
Hi Katie, as we have discussed before, blogging and keeping up with everyone’s blogs, if we let it, could and would become a full time job but we all have lives and other priorities, too! I am so glad that you wrote this post; it mirrors so much of what and how I feel. I also try to go to the smaller blogs that don’t get as many comments and I find it is frequently those people who I have “off-list” email chats with that so rewarding. I have blogged before and I know mentioned to you before about my own need for balance with the blog & life…so I totally applaud what you’re doing and this post!
xoxo
🙂
i hear ya! we shouldn’t feel stressed because we haven’t read/commented on all the blogs we want to… i’m trying to get better at that myself, and comment when i feel like i have something to say 😉 i hope to get to make a recipe of yours before the 30th, but things have been crazy… at least i’ll link!
(((hugs)))!! Blogging shouldn’t be stressful. I’m sorry you had to endure this! It’s terrible!
Jessica
I’m coming out of hiding (it’s vegetation) to tell you not to feel bad! I did a whole lot of pruning recently in my google reader and have also been following blogs silently for a while. It made me feel bad to do it, but my whole life was being taken over by blogs!
Blogging is meant to be fun and enjoyable, not stressful and making us feel terrible about ourselves!
I’ll be here, still reading silently and commenting from time to time, but the most important part is…..I’ll still be here reading!
There is more to life than blogging, I think we all know that. I am new to the world of blogs also, and every comment I get makes me smile. But if giving them is a chore and not fun, then I’d rather not get them. I wouldn’t want anyone to feel obligated to read my randomness! I love your recipes, and can honestly say that I eat one almost everyday. You have totally turned me on to the world of the agar pudding. I have a smoothie in hand right now with some in it!
hey girl. I understand where you are coming from.
To me I don’t get why some of the more popular blogs get a billion comments..and other decent smaller blogs get..5. haha it makes no sense. I’m glad you brought this up.
Good for you in putting this out there Katie. I’ve been thinking the same exact thing. I can’t visit everyone’s blog, and just trying to keep up and comment on all the pingbacks is enough to stress me out. I’m so grateful that people try my recipes and link back to me, and I feel like I should at least take the time to thank them, but I can’t. I’m not keeping up with the rest of my life. So, perhaps, I will take a step back with you. Besides, there are plenty of people who read our blogs that NEVER comment. I try to to remind myself that I am writing for them as well. 🙂
Aww, I’m sorry you’re feeling guilty. That’s no fun. After reading all the nice notes (I’m not even calling them comments!) that your readers have left you, I hope that you don’t feel guilty or selfish anymore. You are young and fun and beautiful – you should be enjoying life, not chaining yourself to this comment madness!
One of the reasons why I wanted to move to a new blog with a new name and username was because I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with comments anymore and I wanted to start all over again. Wing-it used to get about twice as many comments as my new blog gets, but that’s only because I felt like I needed to return every single comment that was left for me and it kept escalating until it was too time (and energy) consuming. What really makes me happy is when I see that people have added my blog to google reader! I just want people to read my kookiness, and although comments also make me smile, it’s OK if my readers don’t feel like leaving me any feedback.
This has absolutely nothing to do with this topic, but did you see that Mr. Phoenix shaved off his big beard? 🙂