In the blogging world, there’s a constant struggle between creating high-quality content and posting consistently so readers remember you. Recently, I’ve been dealing with this challenge. I usually take great care when crafting each blog post. I meticulously refine every sentence. I make sure that everything is perfect down to the last detail. Still, I’ve realized that I need to be more relaxed in my approach. I also need to be more spontaneous. Some bloggers easily share their thoughts as they come. They embrace imperfection and authenticity. They do not worry too much about details like I do. This contrasts sharply with my perfectionist tendencies, where every comma and phrase must feel just right before I hit “publish.” If you’re anything like me, then keep reading.
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Like a diary but not like a diary 📖
Blogging like it was someone’s open-book diary has always irritated me and it still does to this day. Still, you’ve got to admire bloggers who have a total disregard for perfectionism. The lack of polish, the disregard for aesthetic perfection, and the casualness of their content seemed, frankly, unprofessional to me. Yet, as time passed, I found myself envying their freedom. They post at odd hours. They use stock photos from the internet. Sometimes, they don’t use any photos at all. Their posts can range from a few lines to lengthy rants on controversial topics like politics. God forbid if you disagree with them. They do all of this with an audacity that I secretly admire.
This brings me to a pivotal question for my blog:
Should I adopt this approach? There’s a certain allure to the idea of blogging more spontaneously, from the heart, without overthinking every detail. These bloggers, with their unfiltered posts, seem to embody a raw honesty that resonates with readers. Ultimately, these bloggers aren’t just creating content; they’re sharing their lives, unedited and unfiltered. I’m thinking about changing my blogging style. I want to shift from focusing on quality over quantity to emphasizing quantity over quality. This change will help me prevent long-term burnout.
What do you prefer? Would you enjoy more frequent, less polished posts that include off-the-cuff thoughts, diary-style entries, or even the occasional rant? Let’s be real. Most of my blog posts are about me whining about how hard life is. Or do you appreciate the current format? I spend considerable time on each post. That’s if I even bother posting it at all.
Most importantly, I’m not aiming for my blog to be just another lifestyle and goal-oriented blog. There are countless blogs out there, many of which are deemed superior in terms of presentation or content depth. Yet, what sets a blog apart is its voice. It has a unique perspective and its ability to connect on a personal level. Additionally, the writer needs the ability to keep going. ✍️
(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ FINAL THOUGHTS ♥
Do you want to see more spontaneous, less edited blog posts? Would a diary-style entry resonate with you more than a polished article? Do you value the effort I put into each blog post? Even if that means it takes me a century to publish something? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below ↓ I want to hear from you. 😊🤍
P.S. Please follow me on Twitter/𝕏 (@serene_hilz) if you aren’t already. You can learn more about AI image generation there, if that’s your thing. While some believe AI is bad, I view it as a valuable tool with endless possibilities~! I have an unpopular opinion, but that’s fine with me.
Thanks for stopping by! ♥
I see you have had many “likes” about this post, but no one has cared to answer your question (s).
I for one would prefer to see you post more often. The once a month tell all what you wish for us the read is “ok”, but that seems to take you some time to put together since you need to keep it “polished”.
I guess I’m one of those people that just doesn’t understand why so many complain about how long it takes to put a post together.
If you have something to share, share it. I’m sure that’s a few spare minutes in a day sometime in the current week to put together a post.
You don’t have to write a novel. You say to follow you on X. If you had the time to say something there, you might just copy and post it here, too. And maybe expand it a bit???
But then you might ask that I follow you on X if I want more of you. I don’t have the need to have multiple social media sites. I guess I’m just not that “social”? 🤷
But if once a month is all you can give me here in WP, then that is what I have to settle for. There are many like you that do the same. There are many who post more often.
You do you. They will do them. And I will do me.
And “that” is what blogging is all about. 😉
For those I follow that blog once a month so I wish for more from them? YES!
BTW… It only took me a few minutes to read your post and to write this comment. It is early in the morning. Thank you for being you. But as a character in some famous story utters… “Can I have some more, please?”
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post and leaving a thorough response. I aim for 500-600 words + pictures + subtitles per blog post which takes time. Anything less seems like a waste of time to me… but then I have the dilemma of never finishing blog posts, where most of them end up in drafts or get deleted entirely. The problem with Twitter/X is that character count is limited and to expand on a “tweet” (or whatever it’s called now) is tricky if I’m aiming for 500-600 words. I know some content creators suggest doing this by repurposing content for multiple platforms, so I do see the appeal as to why people do this.
At least when I was doing the monthly goals, that was a minimum of 2 blog posts per month which was better than nothing at all.
Another thing I didn’t mention was that reader engagement used to be higher. I would get 30+ likes per blog post. Now I’m lucky if I get 15+ likes per blog post. At my peak I was getting 70+ likes per blog post. Is it just me or is the community on WordPress dying? I shouldn’t let that determine whether or not I should blog though, as numbers are superficial anyways. We should be able to write from the heart, for ourselves, and for an audience.
If a blog irritates you, stop following it is one thought I have.
I write almost every day but what I write about varies. I think each blogger should write from their personality and voice. If it is a blog that interests me, I follow it. I remember when you posted more often I enjoyed it.
Thank you for reading and taking the time to leave an insightful comment. That is good, solid advice. There are some blogs that I can’t bring myself to unfollow because I either know the person or have become good friends with them over the years. I wish there was an option to mute blogs on WP but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I’ve been struggling with writing as of late. This blog post happened to be in my drafts, so figured I would edit and publish it after several months. My passion for writing isn’t completely lost but it’s dimmed.
I think you can try out all the approaches that come to mind and pick the one that makes you feel most at peace. Personally, I’ve experimented with posting multiple times a week and on different days. For no particular reason, I realized I prefer Wednesdays, so I stuck with that.
While I often write multiple posts in a week, I prefer to keep my publishing schedule to once a week. This allows me to write several posts in one go and schedule them in advance.
The great thing about having a blog with your unique voice is that your audience will connect with you as long as you consistently show up and have something to share.
I think you should write the way that satisfies you. I don’t polish my blog posts because I don’t have time and, these days, only post to stay in touch with a few friends here. My “Snarebox” website is for my more serious writing, and it’s no wonder why I haven’t posted anything on it in a year. 😆
We evolve and change over time. That’s normal. I have been reading your blog for a while and always enjoyed it. I have been writing since I was a child, mostly stories and poems. But blogging since 2017 and it was about my hard childhood, going through therapy and moving all over the country every year as a young mom with my husband’s company. It was hard but I’m older now and life has changed for me. I have changed too but my love of writing hasn’t changed- So I still writing the writing has just evolve with the season of my life. It’s normal to grow and change and each new season of your life and that your
and blogging writing would evolve with it. Your loyal following will grow with you. 🩵
Maybe a blend of styles might get you where you want to go. Clean but with your thoughts as they come. I enjoy reading your posts.
A thoughtful post. Imo (and this is just my opinion) what really keeps a blog interesting to the audience is when someone writes from the heart. Whether they have a relaxed tone, whether they put a lot of work into the aesthetic, whether it’s perfected. Our writing style changes over time as we do and I think the best thing about blogging is that you get to do what you want. So always write the way that feels right to you. I have lots of “polished posts” on my blog but even more random ones and some that are just about aesthetics. There’s no one right way to do it.
As you point out in the final thoughts… what sets blogs apart is the unique voice of their creator….
It doesnt really matter what type of blog it is, people tend to interact more with the ones where the voice is heartfelt, real and allowing for relate-ability than something that seems polished and perfect viewed only from a pedestal…
That said people feel so bound to present a certain way or format but at the end of the day, I think you keep to something that you like doing and find joy in doing and people who like that sort of thing will find you ^_^
~B
My favorite posts writing my weekly updates on the weekends because they’re like a diary entry. But there’s so much going on that I would like to share, I would prefer more frequent posts even though they’re less polished and the posts are shorter. That’s why I did a “Thursday Thoughts” — they were things I wanted to share on my weekend update but didn’t make it because the post was already long enough.
I love this! I’m glad that you found a schedule that works for you. The “Thursday Thoughts” is such a good idea too so posts don’t get too long. My most average 600 words and I often get discouraged halfway because the posts get a bit too long.
My issue lately has been accessing my laptop. I don’t have an office desk and my laptop doesn’t stay charged for very long, so taking it to coffee shops isn’t ideal. It’s more of a digital nomad laptop because it doesn’t have a home lol If I do use WordPress it’s the app itself on my phone, but I write and edit blog posts from my laptop which is buried under a pile of papers in a drawer somewhere in my house. Once I find a desk space for my laptop I’m hoping to get back into writing. The kitchen table was super uncomfortable to work at so I gave up.
Ooh another thing to mention about posts is that even if it feels “incomplete” you can can always add to it later. Just capture the thought in the moment. You can always write another post or revise the post and link up an update. There are so many ways to do this.
Regarding space to write I understand. I reduced my living space significantly..I do like writing in a coffee shop. I don’t mind if it doesn’t have internet. Maybe that’s for the better because I don’t get distracted. I don’t take my charger because my laptop already takes up space in my bag. Regarding the limited time on battery only, I don’t mind that either. Because it will allow to power through writing with the limited time I have.
I appreciate when posts are somewhat polished, doesn’t have to be perfect though. And that AI image is so cute! There’s a lot of backlash out there against AI art but I think it’s an amazing tool when it’s used for good.
This is an old post but I would love to see the rougher version of your writing! I used to be a meticulous perfectionist and fancied myself a little music journalist (sometimes I repost these old better written things) but at some point I stumbled into the weird paradox where people cared more and I ended up getting like 500 followers practically overnight just by being openly crazy and pointedly unprofessional. So it became harder to put a lot of work into trying to be a “real writer” when I could totally get away with Journaling whatever came into my head. I wonder if some of your recent adventures will help you with that perfectionism a bit! 😁
I’d love to post more raw, unedited versions of my thoughts and random musings. My issue is finding a computer that I like. Despite having a $1500 laptop (dumb decision ik) I absolutely loathe it. The screen is too small and I don’t like the keyboard. I’m lucky if I get to use the family computer, but it’s normally a struggle to find the time to use it, if at all. This is why I hardly upload anything. Writing blog posts form my phone sucks too – I tried this the other day because I had to update my Medium profile (if they take you off their partner program thingy), and it sucked as much as I thought it would trying to upload something from my phone. And it was just copy/post from an older blog post… nothing fancy.
P.S. I’ve given up on becoming a real writer because I can’t commit it, even though I really enjoy writing. Thanks for your words of encouragement and insight. 😀