Let’s Talk Bookish: Blogging Slumps

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022.

This is a really interesting one, and something I think most of us struggle with now and then! So let’s get into it.

July 7th: What causes blogging slumps?
(Laurie @ Laurie is Reading)

Prompts: Do you often find yourself in blogging slumps? What qualifies as a blogging slump for you? What causes them? Can you sense one coming, or do they hit you unexpectedly? What do you do to prevent blogging slumps? How do you get out of them? 

I think I’ve done fairly well recently at not hitting blogging slumps, but I have faced them in the past. For me, it’s when I struggled to keep the blog updated, and could easily go a fairly long time without posting anything except for reviews! Sometimes it all just gets to be a bit much, and it can be a struggle. What used to cause them was a lack of ideas, and a sense of disconnect? I think my mental health plays an impact, too. If I’m not feeling okay mentally, it’s hard sometimes to try and create much of anything!

I think sometimes I can sense them coming – I remember just starting to feel down and dreading trying to update posts! Like I said, it has been a while since I had one, but that’s because I changed the way I blogged, gained a bit of focus, and stopped obsessing over stats.

Something that really has helped me avoid blogging slumps is having a regular schedule. I don’t just mean certain days I post, but what I post for each day! Some weeks I skip things, or I might not post reviews if I don’t have one ready to go, but typically now I’m able to schedule in advance more and have something ready to go. If you follow the blog, you may have noticed my patterns – #5OnMyTBR on Mondays, Top Ten Tuesdays, a Book Tag or similar on Wednesdays, reviews on Thursdays and Sundays, Let’s Talk Bookish on Fridays and Book Blogger Hop on Saturdays! I’m really grateful to all the different types of regular posts out there, and the people who keep them going with regular prompts and ideas!

The other thing that has helped is not pressuring myself to post constantly or always keep up with things, and give myself some flexibility with everything. Basically, I guess it kind of boils down to stress – when I’m stressed, I struggle, so I avoid adding extra stress and focus instead on something I find relaxing, and usually it’s not too long before I’m back to posting again. Overall though I think everyone has different reasons for why they might face blogging slumps, and everyone has different methods for helping themselves when they do, so I definitely suggest checking other’s Let’s Talk Bookish posts for today! And if you have any advice, point me towards your post or let me know your thoughts in the comments.