Content warning: this post includes references to seasonal depression, people who died from Covid-19, and people who are permanently disabled from Covid-19.
I’ve been blogging for many years now. It’s been my experience that blogging can be a cyclical hobby or profession.
Sometimes bloggers have plenty of time to write and so many topics we can’t imagine how we’ll find room in our editorial calendars for everything we want to say. In other seasons of life, things change.
I Need to Rest
Not my bunny or basket, but I grok this feeling.
In some ways, it has felt like March of 2020 never ended. All of the events and trips I looked forward to when the long, dark days of winter feel never-ending were cancelled last year and they are beginning to be rapidly cancelled again this year.
To be perfectly clear, I completely understand why this is necessary for public health and safety and in no way sympathize with the anti-lockdown, anti-mask, and anti-science protestors.
Honestly, I have had a much easier experience during this pandemic than many people out there. I have safe housing, a loving marriage, plenty of food, and money to pay the bills.
Out of all of my relatives who have caught Covid-19 so far, only one distant relation has passed away from it and only one or maybe two closer relatives have what are probably permanent health effects from it.
I’m very grateful for my and our good fortune in these troubled times. So many people are dealing with much harder situations.
With that being said, I’m also bone-tired. For anyone taking notes out there, the winter blues do not mix well with pandemics at all. This combination should be avoided at all costs in both real life and fiction. I’d give it zero stars out of ten even if you have somehow personally have managed not to know anyone who caught Covid-19. It’s exhausting.
I Need to Write Fiction
My other reason for trimming back on new blog posts here is a cheerful one.I need to preserve more energy and creative juice for writing my speculative fiction stories!
It’s been several years since my last tale was published. That must change. I have pages of notes and rough drafts for future stories. All I need is the time and creative juice to bring them to life.
It is my hope that this new blogging schedule will facilitate that once my mood perks up in the spring.
Longterm readers might remember that I’ve gone through similar periods of cutting back on blogging here before. It’s something I really don’t like doing, but sometimes it’s necessary even if it makes me want to go sit in the Naughty Blogger corner for daring to change my posting schedule. LOL!
I’ll revisit this decision later on this year to see how I’m feeling and how sustainable the new blogging schedule is.
The New Blogging Schedule
My hope is to eventually return to my usual Monday – Thursday schedule, but I’m cutting out all Monday posts for now. They generally tend to take up as much writing time as two to three of my other weekly posts combined.
If you follow me on Twitter, I will continue to share several posts from my archives each Monday for #MondayBlogs. Thank goodness that past me wrote plenty of them to cycle through while current me rests.
(Some? Most?) Tuesdays – Top Ten Tuesday posts. I love the TTT community, so I’ll do my best to stay connected to it when my energy levels and other commitments allow for that.
Wednesdays – Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge posts
Thursdays -speculative fiction book reviews, but probably only for short stories.
This is the hardest part of the year for me even during non-pandemic times. April is always better for my mental health, especially once I’ve had multiple long walks in the warm sunshine and my brain realizes spring truly has arrived.
If only I had a crystal ball that could tell us all exactly when this pandemic will end and life will feel more predictable again.
How has Covid-19 impacted your blogging and writing habits? How are you all feeling now that we’re over one year into this pandemic? Do you also feel guilty about changing your blogging routines?
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
I prefer to tidy up my TBR and home at regular intervals rather than doing spring cleanings every year. I tweaked this week’s prompt a little bit, but I am sticking to the spirit of it.
Title: Remote Control
Saying no to people is my greatest weakness. Sometimes I also have trouble reinforcing boundaries with people who won’t take no for an answer.
Do you use them? Why or why not?
Title: The Ursus Versus
My greatest strengths are my diplomacy and ability to find the good in everyone. They’re so closely related that I thought it was okay to bind them together for the sake of this prompt.
Honestly, I haven’t read that many humorous books recently regardless of if we’re talking about tales published last year or thirty years ago.