The blog diet
I read this post at Fat Mum Slim and it made my heart race. All those books, all in a pile! To be read. *sigh* It reminded me of a recent trip to my local bookstore, where I had to leave to take a breath: it felt like all these titles were trying to talk to me at once. No, I’m not going crazy, I just think my reading habits have been changed by spending so much time on the net. I’ve forgotten how to browse. Plus, blogs and social media make everything bite size and convenient. Books are more like a feast, where you taste and linger and relish.
Seeing piles of books makes my heart ache. Sure I have the same pile in my house waiting to be read, but I’m painfully realistic about when I will get around to reading them. There are some books that will never be read, and that’s OK. They will sit there for decades, or they will die a humiliating, cheap death at our painfully regular garage sales.
I’ve been on a bloggy diet since my massive post about blogging happy. I have goals to write a picture book, and I can’t say blogging has done much to make that happen. I’m time poor, and blogging is a quick, cheap fix for my writing hunger. And a picture book, well that’s something that’s slow cooked over a low burning fire.
I’m guilty of biting off far more than I can chew – blog, pitch, write, read – and the result is lots of eating on the run and talking with my mouth full. I’m trying to change my habits so I can have a healthy, balanced diet of blogs and books. And trying to work on my own stories. It’s tricky, and I’m beginning to wonder how many calories I can burn each time I sigh? There’s lots of sighing going on here.
Do you spend more time reading blogs or books? What’s more satisfying for you? How do you make room for both? Has blogging made your bum big? (It has mine.)
16 Responses to “The blog diet”
Don’t forget to put studying in the mix too…one of my FB online groups for uni is incredibly focussed on flat bum reading syndrome…its a work/study/blog hazard…apparently mia freedman yells some of her posts into the italk app while on the treadmill…I cant do this as I have to breathe. (and in answer to books vs blogs…a kindle helps – it makes the pile look smaller)
Sometimes I read books. Sometimes I read blogs. Sometimes I read only craft or food or sustainability blogs. Occasionally I even write a blog post. That’s why I’m a terrible blogger. Inconsistency is my only identifiable pattern.
In another lifetime I was part of a terrific reading group which our husbands [at the time] nicknamed the Bargearse club because in addition to discussing excellent reads we each brought along something scrummy to read. I think there may have been more than a little truth in their monicker for us.
As for the blogging vs reading caper…I’m a definite advocate of both and a great book will trump social media any day.
Happy weekend Lovely. I hope you set aside at least an hour to devour the pages of a delicious tome.
I think “does blogging make your bum big” would make a great blog title. The chocolate bar that is currently next to me makes my bum big. Blogging (reading and writing them) makes my brain happy. Blogging offers stimulation from so many avenues. I love to read too but each has its own time and space in my brain and in my life. I normally blog when the kids are in bed (early morning or late night) and reading is normally while I am waiting for them during a sports activity (sitting around during dancing, sitting around during judo, sitting around…) sometimes I punctuate these reading times with crocheting activities I have found whilst blogging. I love it all and feel happier and wealthier for having the opportunity to do them. If a big bum is a side efffect…well I will just have to deal with it (and plus I do love chocolate).
I hear you.
I have pangs too. Of guilt at the tales I want to be submerged in.
I have my #earlybed think happening three times a week. It is so tempting to slot reading into that, which kind of defeats the point.
I am studying in the city for the next month and will be catching public transport. All I can think of is how exciting it’ll be to read books on the bus…
Yes! Bargearse is me {thanks lovely Felicity for that term;)}. I’ve put on heaps of weight since blogging and I also use it as a quick fix writing time which gives me no time to do the ‘slow cooker’ book writing stuff. And yes, I too read waaay too many blogs and internet stuff and heaps less of the real thing these days. Though I’m really trying to get a better balance there because there really is nothing like reading a real book. Thanks for the post, Karen, every word of it is exactly what i’m feeling right now. xx PS But I LOVE my blog, don’t get me wrong!
I think it depends where my headspace and bandwidth limit are up to.
This week has been a challenge mentally and emotionally. So Ive skimmed blogs but have only read about 50 pages of the novel I’m trying to read in the last 4 days.
While in holidays recently and in the preparation portion I barely read blogs at all but devoured novels. I know part of being away was knowing I didn’t have the download available. Also in part because to me books are more relaxing.
You know I love my blog and visiting my favorite but Blogging HAS made my bum big! I know because I put on an old pair of pants last week and the only place they were too tight was right across the butt. My mum says my butt will be the shape of my blogging chair soon!
I have cut back on the blogging lately. It’s just too time consuming for someone like me. time management doesn’t come naturally to me, throw blogging and social media in the mix and it’s become a massive time suck. I love the blogging friends I have made but my focus seems to have become shorter. I have noticed that no matter what I am writing it comes out sounding like a blog post and I know that is because blogs are all that I am reading. Perhaps NAnNoWriMo should develop National Book Reading Month where we have to commit to finishing 5 books by the end of the month. I feel like I need to be weaned from social media…
Do you remember the e-book I bought earlier in the year? Well, I have decided I need to buy the old school version, the e-book thing just didn’t work for me. I miss pages and I miss reading without a glowing yellow light. I haven’t been online much this week and I feel better for it.
I suck at reading books lately. I am still going on the same book I started over a year ago. Have also tried starting Anonymums and got a few chapters in. Whilst I do really love reading (and in particular want to go back and finish Anonymums as I was loving it so much), I tend to gravitate towards a blog fix when I have time. Books I tend to read when travelling and since having Little T, travelling with kids makes it much harder to just kick back and do nothing but turn pages….
Hmmm…I seem to have traded books for blogs too and I’m not that happy about it.
Its the time thing…I think I’m going to just check in on a couple of blogs and I don’t have time to sit and read a book….but before I know it I could easily have read a few chapters and felt better for it.
Food for thought…
I read mOre than blogging that’s for sure! And last week I went throuh my blog list and cut I down to about 7 blogs that I’ll read. Now it takes only 15 minutes a day to get through blogs and make myself put the computer away. I realized that I liked seeing pretty things and stories on blogs bt I never walked away feeling like time well spent! I can happily say you’re one of my kept blogs though!
Oh blogging has so made my bum big! I wrote a post not long ago about my pile of subscription magazines still in their wrappers because of blogging! Reading a magazine used to be my ‘me’ time! Good luck with your blogging diet
It’s tough to mix the two, that’s for sure – and too much online reading harms your concentration span too! I try to read in the evenings rather than spend lots of time on the computer, because I don’t sleep if I do the latter, but…. sometimes….
There’s the blogging, then there’s the reading of other people’s blogs, the reading of books, the writing of books, the drawing of pictures… and then there are those not-so-little things like family, work, and somehow having a real life as well. Yes, my blog is making my bum big, but I can’t blame ONLY the blog for that. I find that lately I am becoming quite rigid in my time management, allocating only a set number of hours (or minutes) to certain tasks, depending on their priority, so that the others don’t get neglected. It’s helped a little bit in stemming the blog-related time-creep.
Oh Karen. Such a great post. And SOOOO true. I almost responded to the very same Fat Mum Slim post on my blog! I have 17 books waiting to be read. They use to be in small piles around the house, so if I was lying on a couch I had options (depends on which couch, or bed!). But after my spring cull (and a massive reality check), most of them are back in the bookshelf because I blog more than I read. Plus who actually gets to lie on their couches? Not me? Also, I’ve told myself no more buying/borrowing books until I’ve finished what I have here in my house. Should save me thousands (and take me years)!
I’ve cut down on the blogging too, and found that life is all the richer for it. Turns out, life goes on if you don’t do it as much and lovely blogs are still there when you come back
xx
Such great questions and so thoughtfully posed. I’m a voracious book reader 8-10 a month (that’s with no job or kids though!) and find it is my favorite escape every night before I fall asleep. I do read blogs but when I hit 54 bookmarks I realized that was nuts. I’m down to my favorites (like yours!) which I read regularly.
For me, blog reading is more immediate and personal. It’s cyber but it feels like a connection.