Ch-Ch-Changes

Hello, everyone. I’m back to blogging after a one-week break and I’ve decided to make some changes in my writing schedule.

I’ve been writing at this blog for almost two years now, and I love doing it. I love writing, I love communicating with readers (even if I’m sometimes embarrassingly slow in responding to comments), and I love the opportunities that blogging has afforded me.

However, I’m also feeling a bit of a grind. Blogging has become more of an obligation than a joy, and lately I’ve been writing posts that feel rushed and less inspired.

Sometimes that happens. Every writer feels bursts of inspiration followed by periods of sluggishness. But sluggishness isn’t my only issue right now. Sometimes I run out of topics to write about, and I feel like I’m not devoting enough time to my novel-writing.

That’s why I’ve decided to make a few changes with this blog and my writing schedule.

I will be writing on a M-W-F schedule for the first three weeks of every month. Expect posts on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Every month, I will take the last week off. This means I’ll write 9 posts a month instead of 14.

I’m making this change in the schedule because I need to focus on my novel-writing and my paid writing assignments. This blog has brought me some name recognition and a wonderful audience, but as of yet, I’m not getting paid for it, and I have to earn some money. If I write fewer posts, I’ll have more time to work on my other projects, and I can concentrate on writing better, more inspired columns.

Changes in regular features. The “Buffy and Consent” series, which is almost at an end, will continue, but I’ll write one post a month instead of two. The same will go for “Stoneybrook Revisited.” As for “The Rom-Com Project”…well, I’ll address that in my next point.

Knowing my limits. “The Rom-Com Project” sounded like a great idea when I started it, but after watching dozens of bad-to-middling romantic comedies, I feel a little exhausted. The thought of watching and reviewing even more dozens of bad-to-middling romantic comedies makes me shudder.

Maybe I didn’t start by watching the right movies. Maybe I shouldn’t have watched He’s Just Not That Into You and Valentine’s Day and Along Came Polly so early. (I watched Along Came Polly a few months ago, and it was so terrible that I wanted to sob over the amount of time I wasted on it. Not a single redeeming feature in that paint-by-numbers piece of crap.) All I know is that I’m dreading snarking over rom-coms while I don’t dread re-reading bad Baby-sitters Club books – maybe because BSC books at least have the nostalgia factor that bad rom-coms don’t.

That doesn’t mean I’m abandoning The Rom-Com Project. I just need to figure out how to re-tool it. I might watch one featured rom-com of the month, or two if I have the time.

The new schedule will go into effect this week. Thank you all for continuing to read, comment, and share. I love reading your thoughts and your support means everything to me. My posting schedule will be lighter, but I’m going to continue to make this the best blog it can be.