The Ten Commandments (of Blogging Sanely)
Bless me Father for I have sinned, it has been way too frickin' long since my last confession.
Before I get all religious on you, I would first like to thank you for lending your support in the comments of my last post. In a totally twisted and selfish way, it’s really helpful to know that I’m not the only sick blogoholic out there.
Since I last posted, I have been doing some brainstorming on how I can achieve a better balance between blogging and, well, everything else in my life. So in the name of getting a life while still keeping my blog, I give you The Ten Commandments of Blogging Sanely:
1) Thou shalt put thy family before thy blog. Family is not the hobby. Blogging is the hobby. This is the Golden Rule.
2) Thou shalt not take thyself too seriously. I’m a frickin’ unpaid blogger not a journalist for The New York Times. What the hell am I stressing about?
3) Thou shalt stop adding flashy new buttons to thine site in a feeble attempt to gain more traffic. Considering that I am addicted to buttons, this will be a hard one. Eventually, I would like to cleanse my site of all of my traffic-related buttons, but I am weak and must proceed slowly. For now, I will just refrain from adding new ones.
4) Thou shalt stop obsessively checking thine ranking on Blogtopsites. Blogtopsites is an evil, evil site that ranks bloggers according to how many unique hits they get each week. This site plays with your emotions, lifting you up and then dashing you down. Up ("They like me, they really like me!") ...and down (Fooled you, sucka! You suck butt!) Like I said, it's evil.
5) Thou shalt keep the Sabbath holy. I will be taking one day off per week from blogging. OK, make that one evening per week--I gotta take this in baby steps.
6) Thou shalt stop renting thy blog out. It was fun while it lasted, but I need to start cutting things out. Plus, this is not a hotel. This is a blog.
7) Thou shalt stop feeling guilty if thy cannot visit every blogger friend every day. More minutes snuggling with Husband = less minutes reading blogs. This is just the way it must be. I will still get around, just not quite as much.
8) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s blog. There’s always going to be someone who’s a better writer or has a better blog design or who gets more comments or who has better hair and perfect, unblemished skin (damn them), but I should not compare myself. That is not fair to me or to them.
9) Thou shalt not worry about how many comments per post thy receives. I will not lie. I luuurve getting comments. Who doesn't? I mean really, who says, "Oh no, not another comment."? No one, that's who. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. Flat out. However, getting caught up in the comment game? The game you play where you tie your self worth to how many comments you receive? No more.
10) Thou shalt check thy e-mail no more than 10 times per day. That's approximately once every 1.6 hours that I am awake. It will be hard, but I know I can do it.
And the bonus commandment: Thou shalt not stay up past midnight blogging.
Crap, looks like I need to go back to confession already.
*******
Edited to add: It is Thursday night. 10:44pm. Guess what I'm doing right now. I am prying my fingers off of my keyboard and heading to bed. To sleep.
You may not believe this, but this is progress, my beloved blogging buds. Progress.
Before I get all religious on you, I would first like to thank you for lending your support in the comments of my last post. In a totally twisted and selfish way, it’s really helpful to know that I’m not the only sick blogoholic out there.
Since I last posted, I have been doing some brainstorming on how I can achieve a better balance between blogging and, well, everything else in my life. So in the name of getting a life while still keeping my blog, I give you The Ten Commandments of Blogging Sanely:
1) Thou shalt put thy family before thy blog. Family is not the hobby. Blogging is the hobby. This is the Golden Rule.2) Thou shalt not take thyself too seriously. I’m a frickin’ unpaid blogger not a journalist for The New York Times. What the hell am I stressing about?
3) Thou shalt stop adding flashy new buttons to thine site in a feeble attempt to gain more traffic. Considering that I am addicted to buttons, this will be a hard one. Eventually, I would like to cleanse my site of all of my traffic-related buttons, but I am weak and must proceed slowly. For now, I will just refrain from adding new ones.
4) Thou shalt stop obsessively checking thine ranking on Blogtopsites. Blogtopsites is an evil, evil site that ranks bloggers according to how many unique hits they get each week. This site plays with your emotions, lifting you up and then dashing you down. Up ("They like me, they really like me!") ...and down (Fooled you, sucka! You suck butt!) Like I said, it's evil.
5) Thou shalt keep the Sabbath holy. I will be taking one day off per week from blogging. OK, make that one evening per week--I gotta take this in baby steps.
6) Thou shalt stop renting thy blog out. It was fun while it lasted, but I need to start cutting things out. Plus, this is not a hotel. This is a blog.
7) Thou shalt stop feeling guilty if thy cannot visit every blogger friend every day. More minutes snuggling with Husband = less minutes reading blogs. This is just the way it must be. I will still get around, just not quite as much.
8) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s blog. There’s always going to be someone who’s a better writer or has a better blog design or who gets more comments or who has better hair and perfect, unblemished skin (damn them), but I should not compare myself. That is not fair to me or to them.
9) Thou shalt not worry about how many comments per post thy receives. I will not lie. I luuurve getting comments. Who doesn't? I mean really, who says, "Oh no, not another comment."? No one, that's who. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. Flat out. However, getting caught up in the comment game? The game you play where you tie your self worth to how many comments you receive? No more.
10) Thou shalt check thy e-mail no more than 10 times per day. That's approximately once every 1.6 hours that I am awake. It will be hard, but I know I can do it.
And the bonus commandment: Thou shalt not stay up past midnight blogging.
Crap, looks like I need to go back to confession already.
*******
Edited to add: It is Thursday night. 10:44pm. Guess what I'm doing right now. I am prying my fingers off of my keyboard and heading to bed. To sleep.
You may not believe this, but this is progress, my beloved blogging buds. Progress.
posted by Cristina @12:15 AM
62 Comments:
This was great! Seriously. I've decided to take a day off a week too. Although, my parents are buying me a laptop for my birthday so I can stop kicking DH off his game!!! They're seriously feeding my addiction!!! And look, I'm up commenting at 4:38am, of course that's because theBeast decided to get up at 3am for playtime. Aren't babies wonderful?
Excellent Stuff. Do you minf if I link to it?
Well, good luck with all that....hee hee. Just wean yourself slowly - good plan! (weans us slowly too and we can't have you just going cold turkey on us!)
Can you put number one on a stone tablet and mail it to me? Because I seriuosly need reminding sometimes.
You are on such the right track here. You are my new religion!
Amen! Hallelujah! Now, where's the wine? What? What do you mean there's no wine? There's always wine at church. That's it, I'm going to check out Scientology.
That link you sent me, btw, was funny as hell. But your's is better!
I'm catholic and I don't believe in confession. I'm so screwed.
Jenny's got the right idea about the stone tablets. I definitely need a nice heavy granite reminder of #8 and #9.
And is it bad that I'm now struggling with the urge to click over to Blogtopsites? Why did you include the evil, evil link? Why????
Me thinks I must covet your Ten Commandments....I certainly should be following these same rules.
I love it! You've got the (description) blogging obsessiveness down to a tee. Do you mind if I print this out and tape it to my computer screen? I guess I'll need two copies since I find myself reading blogs from home now too! It is definitely time to cut down.
Number 9. That's me. I need to adopt #9 in a big way. And #4. I said I started mine for myself and my family to keep up with us, but comments and a rank are certainly validating, unless they are demonstrably absent.
Off to check my ranking, and then confession.
I have a little note written on a card that lives in my laptop case, and I had written on it "Blogging is optional".
I manage to lose it for days at a time.
Nay, weeks.
Wonderful. I'll adopt them too!
This was awesome. I love the 'ten commandments' spin you took on it and the way you set this up, but really, these are all such great points and they're points that I really try hard to adopt when I'm blogging (though some are easier than others).
Ah, I love those! Those are soo great! You are creative! LOL!
You are wonderful!! I just found you yesterday & read your last post & felt a little sad that I had jsut found you, but it looked like you were gonna take a blogbreak. WHEW!!! (MAn, is that a run-on, or WHAT???)
I can totally feel ya on these last two posts. My daughter is so much happier during the day, when I spend less time in the blogoshere.
I luv these 10 Commandments!!! I think I'm gonna make this a permanent link, somehow, on my blog. You rock!!!
Great job MOTR... I will print this out and tape it somewhere (not too near the computer...) I was thinking about this yesterday after reading your post and was thinking I should have some enforced vacation time. 2-3 weeks per year. I know, I know, it sounds crazy but I think I might try it. Of course, I haven't been blogging for a year so I haven't accrued any vacation time yet...
My blogs still new and I'm already seeing a need for following your commandments!
The comments will always be a big deal though--well, maybe they won't matter as much when I start getting a few more--yeah, they still will, probably more!
Good luck--it's so hard to do everything you need/want to do for the exact right amount of time!
What is the penance for breaking these? *cringing*
I am printing this out and putting in on the wall of my office.
Of course, I can always take the laptop into another room ....
Now THIS is what should be posted in public courthouses all over the country. Or maybe in Starbucks. Or maybe cross-stitched and hung here in my kitchen.
Flip flop mamma: 4:38am?? Finally, someone more hard core than me!
Moobs: why of course!
Jenny/B&P: I'm on it. Two stone tablets coming up.
Mrs. Chicky: LOL. I'm all for a little wine with my blogging.
O Mama Mia: thanks for the nice comment!
ASevereMary: I'd probably have to start out with a 2-3 day vacation and work up from there, but I think that is a GREAT idea.
Christina: LOL. There SHOULD be some kind of penance for breaking the commandments, huh?
Mothergoosemouse: cross-stitched! LMAO
Excellent stuff. I think I need to follow these commandments too! I hope they work :)
I admire you more than ever, C. If I were to set up a list of things I couldn't do, my rebellious toddler-self would set out immediately in an attempt to smash them all, probably on the first day. in the first hour.
may you stick to it, and if you occasionally don't, go easy on yourself. baby steps for realz.
Finding balance is always a good thing!
Carrie
What a great list. You are such a clever woman.
Now if I could only work-out as much as I am on the computer, my body could be rockin' by next Summer!
I adore this post. I may try to live by a few of them.
Great list! We should all have to read and abideby those b4 we star blogging!
Check e-mail no more than 10 times a day? That would be tough for me.
You've got a great list of blogging rules to live by, I think.
this is good...I have been trying to take the weekends off ....except for Dr Johns contest.
I'm guilty on being addicted to comments too :( I'm doubtful that your 10's can be achieved, at least not by me. Good try!
Can we make these blogging laws? Excellent solutions here. My husband said I should post The Commandments (ah ah ah) somewhere on our wall.
I also know exactly how you feel, time just FLIES when you're blogging! Suddenly it's 3am and I still haven't written that essay that's due tomorrow. Here's something I'm going to try, though have yet to find time to sit down and set it up. I'm going to organise my bookmarks into days of the week, I often find I'm visiting some blogs every day but there are often no new entries, so for those ones I'll divide up so I'm checking twice a week, then there's a couple of dailies, then postsecret on sundays, radiochick on mondays, etc. That way I can just click on 'Friday', choose 'open in tabs' (Mozilla) and once I'v worked through them all I will be done until Saturday. Cuts back time checking blogs that aren't updated, and also means I don't have to remember things like postsecret sundays, it will just be there on sunday.
Like I said, no idea if it will work yet, but I definately think it's worth a try!
Word to you momma. These are words to live by! Oh how I am a sinner.
Waiting for comments is like watching paint dry.
I'm a sinner too! I'm going to show it to my husband so he can see that there are others who have blogging issues. Is there a twelve step program?
If I've already broken most of these commandments, what is the penance? No internets and ten Our Father's?
How funny. I posted something like this for the Group Writing Project. I agree with what you said 100%!
I like your rules. Healthy changes.tav
Amen, Mommy! And best of luck to you! We all need this reminder.
Could I get those 10 commandments of blogging crosstiched on a pillow??? that would be SOOO very helpful. Thanks! :)
Can I get these laminated? I need a copy.
Oh, I love comments too. It's totally stressing me ut that my latest post, the one spurred by HBM, is stubbornly stuck at 8 comments. Why this is bugging me, I could not tell you. Ridiculous is what it is.
Perfect, great rules to live by. I've thought about quitting the blogging all together recently and still might. And I can't stand all the traffic generators, I went through a phase and still have a couple buttons which I'm dying to remove but something has been wrong w/my template for so long, not letting me edit it. So there that frigin' blog top site thing sits.
I think I should print, sign and hang your post on the wall.
Wow... That was certainly worth the wait....
I am with JODI and MOTHERGOOSEMOUSE!!!!!
Thesecommandments need to be crossed stitched into pillows...(For when we are vacant and our spouses can point to the empty space on the bed, where the pillow lies... and say... where are you??? as I am reading these commandments for way too long on my own...
Boy, don't I know it. I am taking my week off and trying to behave like a woman without internet friends....
ooooh, mommmy!
Just read this and last post, and like everyone else, I SO know wher you are coming from. And on each point you are absolutely, positively right. And when you are in that space, time to *step away from the blog*
Although I do not get anywhere near the traffic you do, a few months back when my traffic took an upswing I discovered an obsessional part of myself I did not enjoy--and the blog became a source of pressure in all the ways you mention. I started looking at the success of my blog in different terms (and like you--I am doing this for free!)
Not that I don;t sometimes feel pressure and guilt over all the things you mention (oh, and thanks for the Blogtopsites mindfuck, lady..hehe) but I've tried to step back a bit and realize a lot of pressure is internal.
I do not blog in the evenings, and have deliberately resisted wireless at home so my laptop can't become an appendage (because it SO would). Like you, I do not (cannot) write fast--my mega post from last week took me the best part of a day. Shorter posts still take me some time, and so I try and avoid the pressure to post all the time, and figure even once a week is OK. Quality over quantity, right? I enjoy the writing and the reading of other blogs more because I have given myself permission to do this.
And if comments take a dip--does it *really* matter? Those who love your writing will remain loyal--and they are truly engaged with what you have to say. And actually, a few longer, engaged comments can sometimes be more meaningful than a ton of "go girl" ones (not that I am not a comment whore like everyone else!)
And I actually don't think you'll see any dips. We love you!
Go girl!
That is awesome!! So many of those made me laugh because I am the exact same!!
I'm going to have to post about this on my blog. lol. Is that against the commandments I wonder?
So funny 'cause it's true. But I am just not ready to take those steps yet. Maybe I'm in denial, but it tastes too good.
these are great! YOU CAN DO IT! yay!
BRILLLLLLLLLLIANT!
(let me put just a couple more Ls in there for emphasis)
BRILLLLLLLLLLLLIANT!
I gave you some link love
http://linkateria.blogspot.com/2006/08/fin-de-semana.html
Yay for you !
( and how could I not add a comment after that ? Lookit all your admirers ! ;)
Too funny! I'm into the guilt thing. This was a busy week and my posts just happened. But I feel guilty when I don't do my visiting!
I'll take my stone tablets in a soft grey. Pink tint in the chiseled letter grooves, if possible.
If Moses delivers them in person, can I have a young, beardless, virile-yet-straight Moses, please?
THIS IS AWESOME.
Seriously.
I have been thinking about the same things too and #1 has become my mantra.
I have to force myself to close Bloglines and stop checking email and just go to BED already, at 2:00 am most mornings. It really is addictive. Thanks for writing this!
Excellent presentation of the blogging sins! I have found an odd balance for myself that has been strangely satisfying....
Too funny!
Hope you're getting more rest these days!
Awesome. I love #2.
brava! Well said! Everything we all already know but don't do, in one tidy list. As for Blogtopsites, I ceremoniously dumped that crap a while back because it made me feel so icky. And then a bunch of other people did, too. I was SO liberating. If you haven't done it, I highly recommend it.
I LOVE IT!
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