I’ve decided with much reluctance to step away from my (now former) Golden Heart 2007 finalists (“The 007s”) group blog, Nobody Writes It Better. If you’ve visited the blog lately and noticed that the posts are really, really old, that’s because they are. The blog experienced a bit of a disaster in late December in the way of a nasty virus that was whipping its way around the web and somehow made its way onto the site and infected several of the members’ computers, including mine. Ol’ Delbert. May he rest in pieces. This happened just as I was going on vacation, so I had to leave the fixes to other members of the management team. Our blog designer fixed the problem, but then it seemed to reoccur, which was horribly confusing, as we didn’t know how it was happening. We had over 30 members when we started blogging only last June. The planning and design process of the blog occurred for another several months before that. Well, once the blog was fixed, it seemed like a good time for members to take stock of their involvement. And the exodus began. About ten members still remain with the blog, but it’s undergoing a transition period so currently is inoperative.
Everything in me wanted to stay with the blog (I have a problem giving up), but as one of the members of the initial management team, I’d put hours and hours and countless hours into not only the design of the blog, but also the set-up and several aspects of the continuing maintenance. I just couldn’t keep it up. I also discovered along the way that I’m not really suited to group blogging. With 31 or 32 members, we had to keep a pretty tight schedule, and scheduled blogging makes me feel…pressured. Yes, I only blogged every 6 weeks, however, unlike here, I didn’t feel like I could just whip out a post. No, I had to take more time, say something important or clever. And trying to be clever, as we all know, is stressful. It’s better when the cleverness just pours out of us naturally!
Would I consider joining another group blog? Yes, maybe, we’ll see. It depends. It would depend on a number of factors. But right now I need a break.
Regardless of who stays with the blog and who has decided to leave, we are all still 007 Bond Girl sisters. We’ll still cheer each other on, celebrate our successes and commiserate with our lows. We don’t need a group blog to do that.
How do you feel about group blogs? Do you read them? Do you participate in one? What about it works for you (or doesn’t)?
You know I’m on Magical Musings, but I was also on a blog with the American Title V ladies. The big difference with Magical is that we’re all committed to the blog. We comment on each other’s blogs, and we rarely miss a day on posting ours. The commitment wasn’t there for all the ATV ladies, and it fell apart. I’m still rooting for the other writers and would love to hear good news about them.
Cindy you’ve been amazing this past year. Thank you so much for all your hard work!! I adore all my wonderful 007 Bond Sisters and will support and root for them in any way I can, and I look forward to seeing them in Nashville. 🙂 However, I’m getting out of the blogging business. The final exception being a blog I had done for fellow writer Rachel Bailey.
In this age of tweeting and blogging, it seems I’m running in the opposite direction. LOL! That’s not to say I won’t drop by friends’ blogs and comment (thank goodness for Google Reader *g*), but I’m shutting out the Internet more and concentrating on writing. My hat is off to those who like you can do both well. WTG, Cindy!
Big hugs,
Gail 🙂
Hi Edie,
I’m guilty of not visiting my former group blog everyday. But I’d taken on too much behind the scenes – MY fault for over-volunteering – and between writing under two names and keeping up my own blog, I just didn’t have time to visit the group blog every day.
I think, with a smaller group blog, yes, every writer needs to be committed or it won’t work. With a big group blog, as time went on I wanted to be one of the group that just posted every six weeks and otherwise didn’t have to bother with it. I think, if I’d been in those shoes, I would have participated in the reading and commenting more often. So…I took on too much and then didn’t ask for help early enough. I learned my lesson.
Hi Gail!
I like this Google Reader thing – it brings familiar faces by.
Yay that you’re going to Nashville. So am I. Can’t wait to see you. I’m going a day early so I can have a full Tuesday of sightseeing. So far, on my own. But my parents’ love story revolves around Nashville, so I really want to explore certain aspects.
What you say about blogging and tweeting is so very true. I think Twitter helped many people realize how overly committed they were to the Internet – maintaining an online presence and trying to increase it, etc. – to the detriment of their other committments. That’s how I came to feel about group blogging. If I didn’t blog HERE, it might have worked for me. But I learned I’d rather pop onto my own blog and not feel the pressure to craft a perfect post, let my hair down, and just be myself with my readers and writer buddies. That’s what I enjoy about individual blogs over group blogs. It’s also the reason I prefer Facebook to Twitter. Facebook lends itself more naturally to community support – IMO, anyway.