On the Topic Of...Slumps

If you've stuck around this summer (thank you, by the way!) you'll probably have noticed that things slowed down. Like REALLY slowed down. To the point where between June and the end of August, barely any posts when up here. So you're probably guessing what I'm getting at. Slumps: blogging slumps and reading slumps. ANd this post is going to serve two purposes: to explain where I disappeared to, and to talk about those unfortunate moments where, as bloggers and readers, we appear to lose all motivation.

So, you might be asking yourself, what did happen to me over the summer that resulted in me practically disappearing from the blogging world. Well here it goes. I graduated from university in the spring and then headed off to New York for BEA. And it was awesome. I came home really excited about all the books I brought home with me, I had all these ideas for what I would do on the blog. But then like got in the way. My family was visiting, I was working full time at a new job and the next thing I knew, blogging sort of fell by the wayside. It's not that I didn't want to blog, but my job involves me spending a good chunk of my time on social and writing blog posts. So when I got home at the end of the day, I was more interested in Netflix than I was in doing more of the same.

Eventually, I pulled myself out of it and got excited about writing reviews again. It helped that despite not blogging, I was still getting a lot of reading done. So now I'm left with a whole back log of reviews to write, but I'm actually looking forward to writing them.

So what did I do to get myself out of this slump? There isn't really one clear answer to that question. But the general idea is this: I didn't force it. Sure there were times when I felt really guilty when typing "Netflix" in the address bar of my browser instead of "Blogger," but I just wasn't in the mood to blog. What kept me going was reading. Eventually I read a book that made me want to share my thoughts with the world. And so I knew that I was back and ready to blog.

So here are the tips I can offer up to you if you ever find yourself in a slump. First and foremost, don't force it. The guilt that can come from that will probably suck, but in the long run, it's for the best. But also follow your mood. If you don't feel like writing a review, then don't. Same goes for what you choose to read. If you're in the mood for contemporary, read a contemporary. If you're in the mood for a dystopian, then read a dystopian story. You'll probably find yourself enjoying the story more if you're actually in the mood for it. That doesn't mean you should ignore any commitments you've made, but whenever you can, go with your mood. If you're like me, that may eventually bring you out of your slump and make you want to start sharing your thoughts again. And if that doesn't work, change of some sort can also help. Maybe it's time to get that new blog design you've been thinking about. Or that new feature you wanted to start. Something.

So that's what I've got to offer. It's not much, but it's something. What I've talked about in this post is what has usually gotten me out of a slump, but I'm always open to suggestions. What do you do when you're in a reading or blogging slump? Let me know in the comments!