I don't like blogging. Am I taking a risk by saying that here, on ActiveRain, THE real estate blogging mecca? Probably. But I don't care. It has to be said.
Here are my 10 reasons why:
It ruins my morning coffee. First things first - make the coffee. I like my coffee (Peet's, by the way, ordered from their store in Berkeley; no Starbuck's for me). I can't tell you how many cups of coffee have been ruined by blogging. Either I get engrossed in reading or writing and forget about it so it's ice cold, or I end up spewing it all over because of something funny someone has written. Ruins the whole day. Crummy way to start the day at 6 am.
It makes me think too much - give me a break. I did undergrad and grad school and I had enough. I don't want to have to think a lot at my age. The real estate business is bad enough, but now I have to think about what to write and how to write it. It makes my brain ache.
It makes a mess of my work area- there are more friggin' post-its and scraps of paper laying around that contain ideas for blogs than I can count. And I hate that yellow color! And that blogging folder I started to try and make sense of it. I can hardly lift it anymore. And the idiotic JOTTS I send myself so I can try and remember the great ideas I think I have but later realize are stupid.
It makes me lustful (hah, THAT got your attention) - this is a major irritant. I lust to be featured, and I lust to grab as many points per day and per week as possible (at least on ActiveRain). And I lust about being number 1 on the dashboard.
It makes me feel guilty - I hate that. I feel guilty when I don't write. I feel guilty when I do write because of other things I should be doing. I feel guilty when I miss posts by readers that I especially admire. It's one big guilt trip.
It spoils my vacations and my time off - this is really rude. I used to be able to enjoy my time off, or to go on vacation and relax. But oh no, now I have to take my camera everywhere I go, and plan on doing things that I can write about, and try to keep up with my writing. It ticks me off that my private time is no longer my own.
It costs money- don't let anyone tell you it's free. Hah. Those friggin' post-its are not cheap. And you have to have a camera that takes lots of pictures, which means extra memory. Not cheap either. And yes, some of the blogging platforms are free, but if you really want to shine you HAVE to fork over some bucks for the fancy sites or to host your own. And then there's the cost of my personal time, which I CAN'T deduct on my taxes. FREE? Yeah, right.
There is too much to remember - I have to check my spelling, and my grammar. I need to make sure the links work...internal ones, and back ones, and external ones, and ones I don't get at all. And those stupid keywords and tags. And I have to add photos, or graphics. And think about who I am writing to. And remember to not write a wall of words. And focus on SEO, whatever THAT is. It just gets to be too much. I feel like a moron.
I have to be polite- yes, my mother taught me to say please and thank you. And I do. But this is ridiculous. I'm supposed to thank people for their insightful comments? And for pointing out errors in my posts or letting me know there is a typo that the dumb spellcheck didn't catch? And for contributing thoughts about what I have written? Plus I'm expected to be pleasant when someone criticizes my article or calls me a name. And I'm also supposed to visit others' posts and comment on some insipid article about how everything they know about blogging they learned from their dog who is no longer with us. How can I possibly be polite about that nonsense?
It takes away from my sleep. I used to be able to get 8 hours a night, but forget that now. Even on weekends. And what's the last thing I do before I finally go to bed? I check to see if I have any new comments or if I got featured on AR. It has taken over my sleep time and I resent that. And lack of sleep makes me cranky, and then I don't feel like writing, which makes me feel guilty, and then I eat chocolate, which gets all over the keyboard, where the letters A and S are almost completely gone because of all the darn writing (and I don't even USE the S word), which irritates me more since my typing skills suck and NOW I can't find the S for the S word I am aching to write. Sheesh!
I could mention other things, too. Like how I simply wanted to write one silly little blog for my real estate business, but then someone, who shall remain nameless (OK, Bonnie?) invited me to AR. And now I write on AR, and Wordpress, and Blogger, and RealtownBlogs (2 of them), and sometimes on Move.com and on Realtor.com. It's become an obsession. And all anyone talks about when they meet someone else who blogs, is blogging. Blah, blah, blah.
Sounds like the true confessions of an addicted blogger. Guess so. And I darned proud of it. Gotta go - I ‘m off to another event with my camera. And YOU will have to read all about it and comment on it so I can get points.
Ciao.
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oh dear Jeff, you are beyond self-help. This may require quite a bit of therapy! Thanks for the laugh today---I am thinking we can see a bit of our own faults in your list!
time to join AR addict group-the truth will set you free!