Is This Just a Big ‘Ole Waste of Time? | The Areavoices Community

So it’s a new week. I want to try something new in my blog.

I’ve spent a good deal of time talking to you in this blog, recommending the latest and greatest blogs on Areavoices, offering blogging tips, etc.

I think it’s time to get more of you involved.

It dawned on me last week when I read a blog post from Roxane Salonen. I promise she’s not paying me to keep mentioning her. I just mentioned her Peace Garden Mama II blog on Mother’s Day and now I’m drawing your attention to a post she made in her Peace Garden Writer blog called: “Reasons why blogging isn’t a waste of time”

Naturally, the title alone piqued my interest. After all, I spend a good deal of time encouraging people to write blogs and one of the arguments I hear most often against doing so is: ”I just don’t have the time!”

I get it. We live in chaotic and crazy world. To effectively promote your business or yourself these days not only do you have to engage in traditional marketing, advertising and promotion, you have to maintain websites, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Flickr and the list goes on. It can seem overwhelming.

But I often tell would-be bloggers that it’s not always about adding one more thing to your “To Do” list, it’s about taking a good, hard look at that “To Do” list and trying to figure out how to make them all work together.

So the question for you bloggers out there is : HOW DO YOU FIND THE TIME TO BLOG?

I want to start a dialogue on this blog to help some folks who might be on the fence about starting a blog. Post your comments here and let’s start talking. Personally, I like what Roxane said in her blog post:

“Time is important to me, and I’m not going to undertake pursuits that don’t make good use of my time. But contrary to what it might seem on the outside, blogging is much less taxing and more valuable than what some believe.”

Thanks Roxane! No wonder I keep mentioning you.

5 thoughts on “Is This Just a Big ‘Ole Waste of Time?”

Great topic, Tracy, and I have to say that I’ve wondered a time or two exactly how it is that I fit it in. I think there are a few key pieces for me.

1) I decided to blog every weekday and it is a commitment I made to myself. It has been reinforced by readers who have told me that they carve off time to sit down with their coffee to read my blog daily.
2) I can’t find it anywhere because the research is new… but blogging has been found to increase personal happiness even more (significantly more) than journaling. Caroline Miller, author of Create Your Best Life, mentioned this several times in the class I took from her. Personally, I have been surprised by the personal benefit I’ve found from blogging. Some days I don’t even care if anyone reads it or not, it’s just something that was on my mind that I wanted to get out there that day. Of course, people do read it.
3) Finally, it is my hope that blogging will result in business for me. I’m able to refer people to my blog and my blog refers readers to my other sites. I have received inquiries that wouldn’t have come to me any other way.

If someone is on the fence about starting a blog, they can always dive in, see how it goes, and then bail if it doesn’t work out for them. I think that like me, they’ll be pleasantly surprised at how blogging actually feels more like fun than like another piece of work to add to their day.

Carolyn, very well said! I really enjoy your blog and I’m so glad to hear about those carving time out of their day to read it. (http://carolynbaana.areavoices.com). I totally agree with you that writing a blog is actually a lot of fun. To me writing has always been somewhat therapeutic in a weird way. It doesn’t seem like work. Nice to know that in addition to giving some mental clarity, blogging is a growing way to get your message out!

Tracy, I started because there was one topic that was/is very important to me. I stick to that very narrow and specific priority, addressing from varying points of view: mostly wise-cracks, sometimes very serious, sometimes very personal, and at times with some anger or frustration. I think blogging fulfills a sense of community and belonging that we sometimes might lack in the million-mile-an-hour lives we all live. Some posts languish virtually unread, and others spark discussion that goes on for days.

Tracy, so, where should I mail the check? Haha! I’m pleased as punch you’ve found something valuable in my words. I obviously feel pretty strongly about this, and will be blogging about it again this week on my writing blog, Peace Garden Writer. (I post teasers on Area Voices…)

I think for writers, it’s a no-brainer. But one doesn’t need to be a professional writer to find the value in blogging.

What helped for me was having a schedule (MWF) and sticking to it. I have three different subjects I regularly cover, one for each day. I spend my “off computer” time thinking up the next subject (like column writing) so that it’s mostly written in my head by the time I sit down at the computer. Very time-efficient, I find!

Thanks again for the mention. I now have this on my blog list so am trying to stay near. I love the community aspect of blogging as well. Even better when you bump into the people in it from time to time.

Tracy, I think that like anything else that is important to you, you make the time. My posts are usually later at night when I have time to myself. I am on my second go-round of blogging, so I definitely understand how it might work it’s way down the priority list. But, for me it is such a great way of chronicling life’s experiences. When you tell people funny stories about your kids and they say, “You’ve got to write that down.” Well, this is the place to do so. I found myself looking back at some posts on my old blog and had already forgotten many of the things I recorded. I’m so glad I did it! Also, I think once you develop a base of readers you have some sense of responsibility to keep it updated. I have a goal of at least once a week. If people are taking the time to click on your site, you can make the time to put some new information on there. I was inspired to start up again when I ran into someone I worked with a few years ago. He asked when I was going to put something new on my blog (which I hadn’t updated for about two years!). He said he still went back to check now and then. I told him he’d be the first to know when I did. A month later I was up and running again. You can’t disappoint the fans!

Carolyn Baana on May 16, 2011 at 1:41 pm said:

Great topic, Tracy, and I have to say that I’ve wondered a time or two exactly how it is that I fit it in. I think there are a few key pieces for me.

1) I decided to blog every weekday and it is a commitment I made to myself. It has been reinforced by readers who have told me that they carve off time to sit down with their coffee to read my blog daily.
2) I can’t find it anywhere because the research is new… but blogging has been found to increase personal happiness even more (significantly more) than journaling. Caroline Miller, author of Create Your Best Life, mentioned this several times in the class I took from her. Personally, I have been surprised by the personal benefit I’ve found from blogging. Some days I don’t even care if anyone reads it or not, it’s just something that was on my mind that I wanted to get out there that day. Of course, people do read it.
3) Finally, it is my hope that blogging will result in business for me. I’m able to refer people to my blog and my blog refers readers to my other sites. I have received inquiries that wouldn’t have come to me any other way.

If someone is on the fence about starting a blog, they can always dive in, see how it goes, and then bail if it doesn’t work out for them. I think that like me, they’ll be pleasantly surprised at how blogging actually feels more like fun than like another piece of work to add to their day.
Tracy Briggs on May 16, 2011 at 1:47 pm said:

Carolyn, very well said! I really enjoy your blog and I’m so glad to hear about those carving time out of their day to read it. (http://carolynbaana.areavoices.com). I totally agree with you that writing a blog is actually a lot of fun. To me writing has always been somewhat therapeutic in a weird way. It doesn’t seem like work. Nice to know that in addition to giving some mental clarity, blogging is a growing way to get your message out!
Mac on May 16, 2011 at 2:21 pm said:

Tracy, I started because there was one topic that was/is very important to me. I stick to that very narrow and specific priority, addressing from varying points of view: mostly wise-cracks, sometimes very serious, sometimes very personal, and at times with some anger or frustration. I think blogging fulfills a sense of community and belonging that we sometimes might lack in the million-mile-an-hour lives we all live. Some posts languish virtually unread, and others spark discussion that goes on for days.
Roxane B. Salonen on May 16, 2011 at 9:27 pm said:

Tracy, so, where should I mail the check? Haha! I’m pleased as punch you’ve found something valuable in my words. I obviously feel pretty strongly about this, and will be blogging about it again this week on my writing blog, Peace Garden Writer. (I post teasers on Area Voices…)

I think for writers, it’s a no-brainer. But one doesn’t need to be a professional writer to find the value in blogging.

What helped for me was having a schedule (MWF) and sticking to it. I have three different subjects I regularly cover, one for each day. I spend my “off computer” time thinking up the next subject (like column writing) so that it’s mostly written in my head by the time I sit down at the computer. Very time-efficient, I find!

Thanks again for the mention. I now have this on my blog list so am trying to stay near. I love the community aspect of blogging as well. Even better when you bump into the people in it from time to time.
Leah Baker on May 17, 2011 at 9:14 am said:

Tracy, I think that like anything else that is important to you, you make the time. My posts are usually later at night when I have time to myself. I am on my second go-round of blogging, so I definitely understand how it might work it’s way down the priority list. But, for me it is such a great way of chronicling life’s experiences. When you tell people funny stories about your kids and they say, “You’ve got to write that down.” Well, this is the place to do so. I found myself looking back at some posts on my old blog and had already forgotten many of the things I recorded. I’m so glad I did it! Also, I think once you develop a base of readers you have some sense of responsibility to keep it updated. I have a goal of at least once a week. If people are taking the time to click on your site, you can make the time to put some new information on there. I was inspired to start up again when I ran into someone I worked with a few years ago. He asked when I was going to put something new on my blog (which I hadn’t updated for about two years!). He said he still went back to check now and then. I told him he’d be the first to know when I did. A month later I was up and running again. You can’t disappoint the fans!