Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish for folks who like books and lists. This week's topic is all about revealing our biggest blogging secrets and tackling our blogging insecurities: Top Ten Blogging Confessions. I'm not sure where this list will go but it should be interesting. It will also be interesting to see if there are some unifying themes on everybody's list.
1) I have no idea what I'm doing. Might as well start with the big one right off the bat! And while this confession could really apply to just about everything, I refer specifically to the technical and aesthetic aspects of blogging. I am pretty routinely frustrated by Blogger's quirks and limitations in formatting basic things like text and don't even get me started with pictures etc... I look at all the cool things other folks do on their blogs and I'm super impressed and in awe and have no idea how they did them. I have made desultory attempts to pick up little pieces of html code but I get easily discouraged. Hopefully I will get motivated to do a better job learning for the sake of making things flow better and make posts more interesting to look at not to mention that it would probably be a good skill to have outside of blogging. In the meantime if anyone knows of any good how-to websites, blogs or books, I'd appreciate the suggestions!
2) I didn't have a plan. Or this could be titled I HAD no idea what I was doing. Before I started this blog, I didn't really read a lot of other blogs. I had no idea what a "Meme" was. I had no idea how to "network" with other bloggers (and really still don't). I just wanted a creative/social outlet centered on topics that I dork out on. I just kind of figured I would post stuff online and eventually people would stumble across it and eventually voila - I'd be part of the blogging community. I'm totally embarrassed by this when I see all these new bloggers who obviously did their homework and a lot of planning before ever launching their site.
3) I still don't have a plan. I still don't really operate under a plan beyond often doing Top Ten Tuesday and currently doing a specific X Files post on Sundays. Other than that I have no schedule and am very rarely ahead of the game. I'm occasionally lucky to have a couple of posts written and scheduled way ahead of time but it's rare.
4) I have writing woes. One of the reasons I started the blog was to work on my writing skills which I felt had suffered by becoming a scientist. Scientific writing is very different from regular writing and really what I most frequently have to do at work is this hybrid of the two which is quite frankly awful. Since I started the blog, I don't feel like I have really made any progress or improved my writing skills though it has served to give me a more creative outlet.
5) I have no style. aka I feel boring. This is somewhat related to the above in that I don't feel like I've really discovered just the right style for reviews AND most take me forever to write. I feel like my reviews have not evolved as much as I would like them to and that they are also a little too stiff and formal - not enough personality. I've played around with it a bit but if I'm honest about it I haven't really made any real efforts to adapt and improve.
6) I have no niche. The more time I spend in the blogosphere the more I realize that most bloggers specialize. There are YA book bloggers, Literary book bloggers, Genre book bloggers etc... and they are frequently reading the newest and greatest. I read a little bit of everything and mostly backlist. I've found a few kindred spirits but it does feel like I'm a little out of step with most of the book blog world.
7) I pay little attention to upcoming book releases. I have been a little more aware of this since joining net galley (which I was also clueless about for the longest time) a few months ago. I'm not even sure how one finds lists of book release dates etc... though I know there must be some easy mechanisms for doing so.
8) I don't really have any desire to interact with Authors. I'm not being anti-social or anything but I'm not a big fan of author interviews and don't really feel the desire to leverage my blog to meet or talk with authors if that were even possible. I'd rather admire their work and know as little as possible about them.
I think I'll stop there. I'm sure there is more dirty laundry I could air but I think I've revealed all the big shame. Despite all the frustrations and disappointments, blogging is still fun and kind of oddly therapeutic.
So what are your big confessions? Share your TTT's in the comments!
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