Featured Follower Friday: How to Maintain A Life/Blog Balance! by Vivienne

I'm thrilled to be able to give a warm welcome to Vivienne from Serendipity reviews here on Escape In A Book today. Vivienne is here to give us her advice on how we can maintain a balance between blogging, reading, family, other hobbies etc..


How to Maintain A Life/Blog Balance!

I was over the moon when Mari asked me to write a guest post, so that her readers could get to know each other better and she suggested that I write a post about how I manage my time in between blogging, reading, writing and managing a family. I began to laugh hysterically, as half the time I really don’t manage at all. I think I am often a reactive person rather than a proactive person; I skip from one major diversion to another. I have my good days where I keep religiously to the list in my Page A Day diary and fly through my tasks, leaving half an hour to catch up on my reading. Then other days, (which seem more often than not) I barely achieve three tasks on my list and begin pulling my hair out through stress and begin throwing a rather childlike tantrum.

Photo by: iotdfi

Monday’s are normally my best day. I am refreshed after a weekend of chilling out with the family and I have avoided the gym via too many excuses. I have normally eaten my way through a giant bar of Cadbury’s Milk, which completely defeats the object of going to the gym in the first place. I can’t help but envisage myself as a hamster going round and round on one of those wheels and achieving absolutely zilch. Anyway, as I was saying on Monday I am Super Organised Mum. I clean the house whilst the kids are still wiping the sleep from their eyes. I endure 45 of a grim spinning class which can cause walking to become a physically impossible challenge. Then I get home, get showered, catch up on the blogs and dive straight into writing a week’s worth of blog posts. Yes, you read that right! I write seven to eight posts all in advance, so I know exactly what is going on with my blog and so I can devote the rest of the week to writing my first ever Young Adult novel.

Yes, I am one of those bloggers who is desperate to see her name on a book! I am extremely slow at writing though and I may hit the YA market after collecting my first pension.

Why am I slow at writing, I hear you ask?

Because, I procrastinate!

I check blogs, I set up extra blog posts for a rainy day, I update Goodreads and then I settle down into a serious Tweeting session. Twitter is the bane of my life and will be the reason I will never get published. I spend far too much time chatting about nothing on Twitter. Luckily many people enjoy reading my nothingness, so I won’t moan, but I do need to learn to step away from the Internet on a regular basis.

I have a really bad habit and I know I should break it. I don’t always reply to comments on my blog and I know that is just terrible behaviour. I don’t know why I don’t do it, as I love to get comments on my blog. I think I never know where to reply. Should I answer comments on my blog post, which drags people back to my blog for a second time, or should I email them? If someone asks me a direct question, I will contact them on Twitter, email them or answer on their own blog post, that way I know they will be read. If anyone has any suggestions on how to solve this problem, please email me. Also apologies to anyone I haven’t replied to, I do value your comments.

Photo: seanj

I know a lot of writers like to write late into the evenings, but I can’t do that. My evenings are when I read. As soon as all my chores are done, such as making dinner, ironing, sorting out lunch boxes, listening to my children both talk to me at once and walking the dog, I then sit down with a good book or two. I have this nasty habit of reading two books at once. I can’t help myself and I have to swap them around throughout the evening. I know it is a terrible habit, but there are just so many good books out there to read. I try to stay up as late as possible to read and I have been known to swig a Red Bull at around 10pm, just so I can stay awake to finish a book. However, tiredness often gets the better of me around 11pm and I normally fall asleep with the light still on and the book still in my hands.

So when considering a life/blog balance, I am quite convinced that I don’t have one. I think it depends on my mood on the day. Some days I won’t even turn on the computer, other days I am checking my stats, answering comments and writing furiously. I play it by ear.

My advice to any new bloggers is probably not to get into the habit of writing a post every day, as it is extremely difficult to break. Write three or four posts a week and check other blogs on those days. The other days, live life and enjoy it or do as I do and read a book.

To visit Vivienne's blog just click on the header above.

I loved reading how you manage your time, Vivienne, and I have to say that I think you're advice to new bloggers was excellent.

Oh, and procrastinate is word that I wish didn't apply to me, like we all do I imagine, but alas it does(and that in big fat letters as well).

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