I’ll try to keep this light and quick.
I had to go radio silent for a while from WordPress. I read a little here and there and I posted one or two posts but from May to August not a lot was going on between me and WordPress. When I got back on in early August I set about making up for lost time. I read through most of the post on my reader from May 23 to July 23. I only follow about 50 bloggers but it took me roughly a month to cover two months. I noted that on any given day there might be 20 posts to read through and I can’t possibly read them every day.
This presented a conundrum. How do I continue to read all the posts? The short answer is I wouldn’t. Maybe if I was a speed reader, I could but I’m not and I can’t. It doesn’t help either that despite some efforts to resolve this, I found that my reader page doesn’t load when I’m out and about on my phone. There’s ways around that but it is an inconvenience.
Okay so I’m not going to read all the posts. So who I am not going to read? People who don’t like my posts? That would be petty to say the least and one large problem with that- I enjoy a large number of those posts! Well how about if I only read posts where the subject matter grabbed me? That seemed fairly limiting to not go outside my own interests and learn something new. Then there is the simple fact that even if I applied all these criteria I would still struggle to keep up reading all the posts that remained.
I don’t know how some of my fellow bloggers do it! I’ve done some rambling posts well over 1,000 words and they’ve consistently read, liked and commented on my posts and must have done for others since they’re incredibly popular bloggers with large followings. If anybody has advice, let me know but I’ve decided that the solution will simply be this. When I can take some time to read blogs, I will. I’ll go from the current day and go back through until I run out of time. If I don’t get through everything, I’m just going to have to live with that. There are only so many hours in the day.
I’d like to take this time to thank all those that have ever stopped by, read, liked or followed my little ole blog. I will always be grateful for that and thank you from the bottom of my heart. For those that manage to read and correspond with so many more blogs, my hats off to you – I don’t know how you do it. I don’t mean to sound as if my presence is widely needed but to all the bloggers I follow I wish to say that I even if my presence is less pronounced in the months to come I still enjoy your work, I still hope to be around soon enough and keep punching.
-Lloyd Marken
Back to the Drawing Board Productions 
Some of us too much time on our hands, Lloyd. I am retired, and where I live, it rains a lot. (Like today…) So I have more time than most, it has to be said. But the golden rule is, ‘never let blogging get in the way of life.’ (Or is that the other way round?)
I will ‘see you when I see you’, and continue to enjoy it, when I do.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks Pete, sound advice as always. 🙂
I understand you. Sometimes following so many blogs can be a challenge. But whenever you’re free, my blog is open. And I love the hell out of your blog.
Thanks Vinnie, you know I’m a big fan too.
You rock Lloyd.
🙂
It’s the truth man.
I do it in spurts, and since most of my work life is computer-related, with a lot of email reading while dealing with a lot of GUI and command line interfaces, I work in some of my recreational browsing to break it up. Even with my off-hours reading, I don’t get through it all. I pick and choose more and more these days as I find others to read. Not easy, and occasionally take breaks from the blogosphere to not burn-out. Can’t necessarily recommend what I do, but it works for me. Best to you, Lloyd. 🙂
That all sounds good to me. Thank you 🙂
I hear ya buddy! 🙂 It’s really hard to keep up with all the amazing content out there. I understand the duty you feel too. I agree with what Pete says above. Pursue your other interests too. I dove into paid articles and creative writing, with my site as a resume of sorts. Now I’ve got a few novellas under my belt and an upcoming tv series (small company). Blogging is a fantastic way to express yourself, but it can be consuming (and addictive hehe). I think everyone will understand. As just one reader, I appreciate the way you reached out with this honest post. I had to comment.
Running a site and participating in the community is hard work. Big huge gigantic hats off to those that juggle it all 🙂
Congratulations Dan that is fantastic news. Thank you for the kind advice. I really need to get back over to your site soon. Damn thing doesn’t come up on my reader anymore. 🙂
Thanks, Lloyd. No worries. I haven’t posted anything since July really. Reader mystery solved 😉
I think that those of us who blog are curious individuals and voracious gathers of information. We may find and follow blogs of our fellow bloggers, but not everything that is posted may be of interest to us on a given day.
When we subscribe to a newspaper or a magazine, we subscribe to a “container” which we expect will gather articles from a number of sources and send us those that might be of interest to us. How many subscribers read every article in a magazine or newspaper to which they subscribe? We simply scan for titles that suggest a particular article man be of interest.
I would suggest that those of us who subscribe, i.e., follow, a number of blogs have done away with the “container” and have gone straight to the source. We may hope that everything emanating from that source will be of interest, but that is not always the case. All we can do is look at an article’s title, and ask, “Does this seem of interest?” If the answer is “no”, then we move on. If the answer is “maybe”, we read a few sentences and decide to commit our time and attention. Sometimes after a few lines, it is time to move on to another post.
The message here is simply that not every post of every blog you follow will be of interest nor should you expect it to be. Read what catches your eye on any given day, comment if something moves you, and move on. Life’s like that.
A container is a very good way of looking at it A Gray. I find a lot of what my other bloggers post is interesting to me but I’m making the decision that there just aren’t enough hours in the day.
You can only do so much. Out of necessity or limitations in time, I was forced to become a quick reader (not quite a speed-reader). For those that I follow that post 3, 6, 10 or more posts per day – I can only stop on 2 maybe 3, so I hope they don’t get mad either – but I’m no superhero here (that is definitely for sure!!).
2 or 3 of everybody you follow though I imagine would be quite a bit so yes you’re superhuman as far as I’m concerned. 🙂
Thanks, but many of those are photographers or travel logs, so not much reading. You’ll get the hang of it.
PS. and don’t forget, I can’t comment on every post either – just not enough time in my day.
Thats why i stick to a picture and a few words and only post once a day. Every little helps 🙂
Very easy to keep up with you mate. Haha.
I try to keep it simple..
Hello Lloyd, I can totally understand where your coming from and relate. There are a lot of talented bloggers and as much as I try to read and support them, it’s a challenge to keep up. I don’t have any words of wisdom or advice.Just want to say I do always appreciate whenever you take the time to stop by and I enjoy your blog a lot. 🙂
Thanks Eddie, I think we all enjoy some of the same shows and movies and I really enjoy how you write about them.
Interesting article Lloyd. I liken blogging to a treadmill, where the farther you go, the faster you have to run. I honestly don’t know how some people can keep up. I limit my blogs followed to 10 or 11 and they’re all people I’ve associated with over many months and years. One of the things I don’t understand about bloggers is the “follow me, follow you” mentality. I have nearly 300 followers and fewer than 10 of them regularly visit to leave a comment. That’s fine, but why follow a blog you have zero interest in?
I do try to read and show an interest in everything posted by the bloggers I follow, but sometimes I don’t have anything to say, and often in the case of Cindy’s Lucky 13 Film Club other people have already said what I wanted to say, and probably said it better.
I shouldn’nt worry if you’re going to be absent from the blogosphere for a while. Judging from the sentiments of the comments on this thread your followers will be back, as and when you decide to post. You’re a gentleman of the blogging world and your presence around my site is very much appreciated. You take it easy brother!
Well I’m very honoured to have you as a follower. I hear you, sometimes I find it odd how people like a whole bunch of your stuff, follow you and then when you follow them all of a sudden they go quiet but maybe they too just run out of time. It can happen. Never worry about repeating a point at Lucky 13 Forums. I do it all the time. 🙂
It is just a time thing Lloyd some weeks I have loads of free time others weeks I have none, It is just your indervidual situation. I also believe people only read two kinds of posts , very short and to the point or very long and very detailed, those midway like 500-800 words just do not do as well, but that is just one persons experience. It also seems to be a fact of life that the more people read your posts the more people do not like them, more people, more opinions, therefor less people that agree with you. Unless you say ‘Connery was the only true great Bond’ then everyone agrees with you , unless more than 10 people read it then that theory falls apart. Its your hobby dont get bogged down in the details just enjoy what you do for its own sake
Sean Connery was the Best Bond. 🙂
Well, I know how we do it. There are three of us
Still impressive Matt.
I think i am like many people, sometimes I have nothing else to do so I read through others peoples blogs, at others times I am just too busy, I think it is simple human nature to want to support those who support you, so you will tend to read the blogs of people who read yours