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Confession: Why I Suck At Blogging.

June 20, 2012

By:

Erin Schrader

Let’s back this train up to February 1st, 2011 for a minute.The day that I wrote my first ever blog post.
I had no clue what I was doing and I certainly did not know what I was getting myself into.
My view of blogging back then was this:
Show up to my blogger account once, maybe twice, a week and write a post.
A post that a few of my family members would read.
Maybe a couple Facebook friends if I was lucky on that particular day. And that was that.
That’s all I thought blogging was. I expected nothing less, nothing more.
And I loved it.

Fast forward to now.
When I think of blogging I think of:
Writing posts (daily), social media galore—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest—you name it, bloggers blow it up. Taking pictures {with my blogger appropriate camera} at different angles as opposed to straight on (because ewww—how unpleasing to the eye is a centered photo these days), reading 1,000 other blogs, having a proper blogging “space” in my house, PicMonkey, giveaways, commenting here there and everywhere, PayPal, responding to comments, answering emails, accepting sponsors, sponsoring other blogs, product reviews for blogs//shops that are the shiz, creating buttons, Photobucket, guest posts, making sure my blog looks pimped out 24/7, link-up parties, and of course—building genuine relationships with you all in the process.
Not to mention the other 20 trillion items I am sure I left out.

Oh, and all of the above is expected to take place after working 8 hours a day and before spending quality time with my husband, family, friends,and myself.

Needless to say, it can be an exhausting process sometimes. And by sometimes I mean all of the time.
But I love it.

With all that being said though, I struggle with this whole blogging thing sometimes.
And the part that I struggle with the most is the thing that I find the most important {okay second most important, writing is numero uno in my book}—building genuine relationships with you all.
My readers. My Lovers. My “you rock my face off” people who show up on a daily basis.

I beat myself up over the fact that I don’t do a good enough job of engaging with you all regularly.

Here is some cold hard truth for you: I very {very} rarely comment on your blogs and I very {very} rarely respond to my comments. There I said it. Gasp. Slash my throat, I know.In my “I am the most idiotic blogger ever” defense, I honestly did not know that I could respond to comments for the longest time after I starting blogging. Turns out when you click reply on your email it gets sent back to the original commenter. Who knew? So no. I’ve always sucked at this.
1 follower or 1,000 followers. I suck.

Now hear me out. I read every blog I follow through Google Reader. I open that bad boy up and zip through every post you people write on a daily basis. I don’t click on the individual blogs. I just read, smile, think “wow they are genius”, and continue on. It’s efficient. I love efficiency. And then there are the comments y’all leave. I read em’, I smile, I think “wow they are sweet” and continue on.
Not my best habit but that’s just me being real.

With all that being said, I want to be an arms open blogger. Not one of those girls who stands in the corner with their arms crossed doing their own thing. I want to be open to you all.
I want to form friendships. I want to answer your questions and help you out. I want to mentor you newbie bloggers. I want to laugh, share a glass of wine, learn, and grow with/from you.
I love you people and I want you to know that.

So here is what you need to know.

  • I answer every email that is sent to me personally.
  • I respond to tweets almost always.
  • Facebook—well, that’s another story. I do my best on there but that freakin’ timeline gig they started has really thrown me for a loop. I hate it. End of story.
  • I do my darnedest to guest post on your blog if you ask me to.

If you want to communicate, I am all ears, fingers, or what have you.

I’ve got some fun ideas in the works on how us bloggers can get even more up close and personal with each other.
That sounded ridiculously dirty and awkward but you know what I mean.
Hint: Happy Hour. Virtually.
More to come on that one.
Yes, Crystal that is your doing.

So yeah. This huge long post just to tell you all how special you are to me. And that I appreciate you showing up to this space of mine on the web every day. And that I truly want to get to know you. And if I ever start to act otherwise, throw tomatoes at my face.

Love you all.

PS. What part of blogging do you struggle with the most? Do tell. You’ll do wonders for my self confidence 😉

PPS. Leave me your blog URL in the comments below if you know I am not following you.
I’d love to check you out. In the most non-sexual way possible. 

PPPS. This topic has been brewing in my brain for weeks. After reading Raven and Kristen’s posts, it seemed like an appropriate time to address this. I included those links for a reason. Read em’.

Cheers to blogging friends. mwah mwah and mwah.

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