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 comment and read the blogs that interest me, whether they are popular or not. I have a lot of blogs on my Google Reader … most of the time I just scroll past the posts that don’t appeal to me.
AMEN for this post. I’m not sure I understand all the politics of blogging but it’s pretty obvious when people want to be popular vs. when people want to join the community and share their personalities. I feel guilty for not leaving comments (or reading) every single person’s blog…but I can’t keep up! Thank you thank you for sharing this- I feel a lot better!
Katie- I totally know how you feel and I am a baby-baby blogger compared to you in readership and comments. I can’t even imagine what it must be for you- so much obligation. And I can see how it would take the joy out of blogging. It’s smart that you are catching it as quickly as you could. You need to look after yourself, or you will not be as effective as a blogger! It’s like that analogy on the airplane where you have to put on your mask before helping others. Same thing.
I read your posts every day. I rarely comment. But I still love your blog. And your spirit.
Hey Katie! I featured your fudge babies on my blog! Check it out!
Hehe, judging by the number of comments on this post, I don’t think you’re alone in feeling trapped by commenting (and I don’t think you’ll see any fewer comments just because you aren’t commenting as much!). There are far too many food blogs out there to keep up with. I’ve cut way down too – I only read what I find *really* useful and/or entertaining, and I only comment or respond when I *really* have something to say. There’s no shame in knowing your limits!
Bring Back the Fun CCK! Only you have that power. Here’s a quote that’s very fitting rt now:
“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” -Bill Cosby.
Succeed, my friend!! Succeed!! YAY!!
Love You Katie
I love your blog whether you have time to comment on mine or not, and that’s a fact! Nothing will change on my end, so just keep doing what you do. 🙂
It is hard trying to balance writing a blog, reading comments, and trying to comment back and visit everyone else’s blog! But ultimately, I think readers find blogs they enjoy, and stick with them, whether it’s reciprocal or not. Because we care about the content. Although, I always get a thrill when my favorite bloggers visit me and leave me comments!
Anyway – your readers won’t mind whether you visit us or not! We just like visiting your “blog kitchen!”
YW
(aka: A Green Spell)
I’m getting in on this kind of late…sorry:)
I haven’t been reading your blog for very long, but already I can tell how sweet and genuine you are. I have actually always had trouble with how to fit in reading each blog that I love and still have time to write on my own. I can’t imagine how I would feel if I was worried about responding to tons of comments as well. Don’t worry about a thing – obvs people read you blog because they get enjoyment out of it and they like you…not because they expect that you’ll comment on theirs.
Hope you are worry free by now, and having a great day!
Sex bombs look killer!