Thursday, October 22, 2009

Life's hard

/life sucks.

Lauren's on an indefinite hiatus. (Insert boos here.)

School is getting killer.

And does anyone know much about programming? Because if so, yours truly desperately needs help.

To make this post not quite as lame:

How do you all balance life and blogging? Or just life and computer time?

Because I'm now having trouble. And could really use some tips. I've tried scheduling some posts in advance, and that helps. But I feel as if I'm unable to post more than 2 or 3 posts ahead of time, which is not enough to get me through the week. Also, reading has dried up, and so that means less reviews. :/Sigh. I'm really missing those lazy summer days. I can't be the only one, can I?

If you comment and/or have helpful tips, I'd be eternally grateful.

-Alex

EDIT: I mean to say programming for C++. Computer programming. Thank you all for your kind words, encouragement, and help! :D

8 comments:

  1. Boo's inserted here! That is sad. Life does suck!

    Well I really dont have a good balance of life and blogging, I tend to slack on school when it comes to blogging but I still get stuff done usually. I never really scheduled posts until just recently, but I usually make myself take like an hour or so out of my day to do at least something with the blog..whether that be an actual post, a review or just commenting on other blogs. That tends to help a bit. But yes, its hard to keep up with everything.

    Hopefully everything works out! I cannot wait till Christmas break so I can get some uninterrupted reading done!! And I truly miss summer. Oh the good old days. lol

    -Arielle

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  2. I totally understand! Blogging takes a lot of work and sometimes, real life just gets in the way.

    As far as reading drying up goes, I used to have that problem, but now my issue is that I have WAY too much to read and not enough time to read and review them all. If you've exhausted your local library (which if you're anything like me, you probably have), I'd recommend writing up a book request letter and sending them out to publishers to request review copies of books. Subscribing to Shelf Awareness is also a great way to keep up on free ARC and galley offers (Hint: watch the ads on in the sidebars of the newsletters). Also, if you have a little bit of money to spend, I'd recommend checking out The Book Depository. I know most of us don't have much money to spend, but they ship anywhere in the world for free, and have really good deals. It does take 1-2 weeks for the book to arrive, but I think the money saved is worth it. I recently bought Ice by Sarah Beth Durst, Lament and Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater, and Graceling by Kristin Cashore for less than $5 each. They have a lot of great sales! Local Goodwills and resale shops can also be good hotspots to pick up some new reads for a little bit of cash. Whatever we can do to make the dollar stretch a little bit farther, right?

    With programming, I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about. If it's related to layouts and HTML/CSS, etc, I'd recommend heading over to Rachy @ Parajunkee's View. She's a professional graphic designer (she actually designed my page!), and she's a sweetheart. I'm sure she could answer a few questions for you!

    Hope this helps, and if you have any more questions or need any help at all, feel free to drop me a line at n_monzyk_27@yahoo.com. Hang in there!

    Natalie @ Mindful Musings

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  3. Sorry to hear things are getting tough for you. You know I will help you out with anything you need :) Just send me an email anytime!

    I understand the issue of blogging and balancing everything else. sigh. It is a lot of work. Honestly, I have been tossing the idea around in my head about adding on reviewers to my site just to help me out with getting reviews done. My review list has just grown so much, but school is picking up so I am having a hard time reading.

    For me, I have almost had to completely quit twitter, and commenting on blogs because there is just not enough time in a day. As far as scheduling posts, I have created myself a notebook with calenders to keep myself organized and write down post ideas, then usually on Saturday I just sit down and schedule all for the week. I find that makes things so much easier for me. Then I feel so much less stressed during the week.

    Why has your reading dried up? I know my reading time has. I can't wait to be able to just lay around all day and read again. It is so nice and relaxing.

    If you need programing help, I can see if I can help you. Sorry this was so long, I know I should have just emailed you instead ;) Hope things get better soon buddy.

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  4. Life does indeed suck. I have real trouble balancing everything. I made myself agree to post everyday until Christmas (but I keep running out of proper content and end up doing filler posts or updates).

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  5. Alex-
    I'm having the same problem. I have my last semester of school now and I am taking two ridiculously hard classes plus working full time... I hardly ever see my friends and I am still behind on my classes. I hate to say it, but I am letting my blog and social life slip away for the next month or so. I hate to do it, but I really just need to graduate.

    Honestly, if your followers know the situation, then they will understand if you are blogging less. Life is life, you can't predict it, you just have to get through it. Think about it this way, if you are posting less but your content is high quality then you are still providing important information. Maybe just come up with a goal of the number of posts you wont to post a week, that way you don't feel like you have to post everyday, but you are still posting frequently.

    I hope this advice helps, even if it isn't what you wanted to hear.

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  6. I can understand where you are coming from. I started my blog way back last February but then life happened and I stopped. I was taking 5 courses (one more than standard), training my horse, working 24-40 hours a week and battling an extended case of SAD. Now I'm doing about the same thing but I've learned some things. I now do my reviews whenever I have a spare minute and keep a long list of backups that I can throw in when I'm low (I write them when I have time and save them up). I write reviews for the library so I get to request books that we should get. I'm taking an online course so as I wait for things to load I read blogs like yours and work a bit on mine. I hope things get better for you because I've been there. I had to learn the hard way how to make everything work. I have a 2 hour long bus ride each day so that's when I read. Reading is my escape, I always have a book on me for that spare few seconds.

    What sort of programming? I do a bit of Linux and know some people that are amazing in that.

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  7. Boo! You guys are reading some great books now though. Whatever Haunted is, I want! Gorgeous cover.

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  8. NO! Boo. I've been having trouble reading also. I've been only able to read during the weekend, not to mention only comment a few blogs now. I haven't been writing much reviews lately either, which doesn't help because I forget things so easily now. As for the programming help, I'm confused as to what you mean. I hope everything gets better! Send Lauren our love! <3

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