Let’s Talk Bookish: The Bookish Balancing Act

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.

Really intriguing prompts for today. Something I do love about doing Let’s Talk Bookish is the way it makes me really think – about books, blogging, life, and various other things I have thoughts on but don’t often get the chance to write about.

Let’s Talk Bookish May 24th
The Bookish Balancing Act

Prompts: How do you balance blogging with the rest of your life? What strategies have you found work best? Do you always feel like you can make time for blogging and books? Or do you often find yourself unable to make blogging a top priority?

It did take me a while to strike a good balance between blogging and other obligations/life in general. Because I write fiction and do freelance editing, plus running Divination Hollow, I had to find a way for all these things to sit alongside each other in a way that wouldn’t push one out or at least allowed me to do what I wanted with each without sacrificing the stuff I enjoy for the stuff that generates a small income (aka the editing).

I write my reviews separately from everything else. I write them into a word document, as soon as possible after finishing the book, and I’ll read over it to edit and smooth it out. For my other posts, these get typed up directly into WordPress, and I’ll check these as I go along. I have a tracker, too, that I created in Excel, so I keep track of what days I have posts for, what I usually write for those days, etc.

Something this has been incredibly helpful for is preventing me spending ages checking what I need to write next or trying to think up other ideas. If I’m scheduling a post for a Monday, I can see straight away the next post is for Monday so it’s #5OnMyTBR, and it means I don’t lose track if I, say, skip over a couple of days.

I do always make time for blogging and books. Not if I’m away or out and about for whatever reason, usually then I won’t work on the blog for the time being, but will still make time to read. I always, always read before bed. If I’m away somewhere, I’ll read wherever and whenever I can. It helps that I really do love reading, and I make an effort to always have a book on me. If I am going away for a few days, I usually try and get as far ahead on the blog as I possibly can, so I’m not struggling to ‘catch up’ when I come back. Actually, that’s kind of what I’m doing at the moment – through May, I’ve been a couple weeks ahead on the blog, as I’ll be very busy in June so want to make sure I’ve got as much scheduled for then as I can.

There are times where I have had to set blogging aside, or I’ve ‘skipped’ over more days than I would like, purely because either I’ve got so much on at the time or because I’ve really struggled to think of something, and spent too long trying to. Mostly, though, I’ve settled into a routine with it that keeps me going.