Comments on: Blogging: It takes over your life

By: funny

funny — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 03:12:40 +0000

@ Holly: Thanks… Don’t worry; there’s no chance I’ll quit writing. Logorrhea has been part of my being since I was about six years old, when a teacher taught me to form letters, words, and sentences.

By: Holly

Holly — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:24:25 +0000

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just found your blog! Love your writing and hope you are able to continue on with a post here and there at least, but I also hope that how you spend your time, as related to your priorities, is balanced and fulfilling!

Good luck and all the best to you! I will keep reading…

By: Bucksome Boomer

Bucksome Boomer — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:30:29 +0000

I think you’ve gotten great advice already. I have a demanding day job as well and do most of my writing on the weekend. i write 3 posts for during the week which are then scheduled and then the Sunday weekend round-up.

If I have something to share other days I do that on Tuesday/Thursday but no pressure. It makes it a lot easier.

Plus, when I go on vacation… I go on vacation and don’t worry about posts, etc. It needs to be fun.

Whatever you do, please keep writing. We need your voice!

By: Samurai

Samurai — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:50:20 +0000

FAM – I’d just tune it down and have fun! It doesn’t matter at all how often you write, provided it’s more than once every couple weeks.

This is a hobby, have fun! Yakezie.com launches Aug 16, feel free to vent there as well and share your thoughts!

By: threadbndr

threadbndr — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:18:14 +0000

I’d miss you if you stopped blogging. And I think you have valuable insight into ‘real world brink of retirement, re-inventing one’s life’. Siince I’m in a nearly peer demographic (10 years or so out from ‘planned’ retirement), I’m following your journey avidly – though I don’t comment all that much.

But if it’s not giving you joy, but instead feeling like a burden, then you need to back it down to a more acceptable level.

By: Mrs. Accountability

Mrs. Accountability — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:34:28 +0000

I would not demonetize – you mean remove Adsense, correct? I agree with some of the others who say to slow down on your posts. While I look forward to reading you every day, many people blog read while at work, so Saturdays and Sundays tend to be low visitor days as a general rule. I would at least drop Saturday and Sunday if I were you. What I usually do is try to write and schedule four posts for the coming M-Th on my weekend. Since on those evenings having been gone all day at work I have no time to write blog posts. You are so prolific, you could do something like write one post every day for the first fourteen days of the month, then schedule then for every other day in the month. You’ll always continue to make some money off the blog, even if you never wrote for months, so I would not advise getting rid of Adsense. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

By: funny

funny — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:20:30 +0000

Thanks to everyone for commenting! Yesterday the morning started with gardening instead of blogging (doesn’t seem to have “stuck” for 24 hours, though! ). It made for a much better day; the “How has YOUR dollar done” post was written in the evening and done before the 10:00 p.m. Play-Nooz came on.

That seems to suggest one solution is simply to reorder the things I do during the day.

About monetizing: For some time I’ve been ruminating over the idea of selling paid guest posts, and of peddling text and banner ads to local advertisers. Phoenix has a number of PR and ad agencies — I figure to go door-to-door with a sales packet. It wouldn’t take many of those to create a steady income for FaM, especially if I can reserve some space for AdSense, too.

@ Steve & Money Beagle: Unlikely that I’m going to start writing affiliate-clogged copy on topics like “Best Places to Open a Brokerage Account.” I find that kind of post boring to read, and trying to write it would make my eyes glaze over. As a practical matter, I do write what I like to write…which is one reason FaM has drifted away from frugality and personal finance. It’s losing focus and needs to be brought back in line with its original purpose, I suppose.

@ Frugal: I do have a base syllabus, but of course it has to be adjusted each semester to take into account changing textbooks and new ideas. This semester I was handed an 8-week section, instead of the usual 16-weeker. This meant I had to rewrite the syllabus and assignments to accommodate the shorter period. I also learned, in the workshops for the magazine writing course, that it is a great deal easier to mount quizzes in BlackBoard through the Blog function, rather than the massively work-intensive Quiz function; this led me to expand the 101 students’ reading and create new tests to enforce it. Because I’ll have the poor little things for about three hours a day, I also wanted to get them into computer labs every day and make THEM work, basically doing most or all of their writing and bullshit assignments in class. This forced me to create new assignments or adapt old ones. It will keep me and my sidekick busy checking a great deal of drivel, but it also will keep the students honest (and very busy) for the short session. This summer the college paid me as much as it pays for an entire course to write the syllabus and mount the BlackBoard template for the magazine writing course; in return, they expected (of all the unreasonable things!) some actual work.

@ Evan: Agreed…it’s pretty clear that, unless magically a lot more revenue suddenly materializes, this activity should be regarded as a hobby, not as an occupation. That thought supports the idea that it shouldn’t be done during the daytime hours at all: that it’s something to do after hours in front of the television set, like knitting or beading.

Speaking of the which…LOL! It’s quarter after seven. I’ve been up since 5:00 a.m.; didn’t start with gardening because it was raining. Now the sun is peeking out. So it’s out into the sauna to trim a few tree branches.

Yesterday I worked out some interesting calculations on the number of hours one could work at a community college course and still earn a fair hourly rate. I’ll try to share those with you this evening.

By: Frugal AJ

Frugal AJ — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:02:34 +0000

I just wanted to say I love your blog and read it everyday. I would be sad to see you shut it down (I would hope maybe you could just post less often?) but I would understand. You need to pick priorities and make sure you are enjoying life. Good luck whatever you decide!

By: sandra jensen

sandra jensen — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:00:07 +0000

Well, I for one would MISS your blog! I enjoy following your adventures and misadventures; your financial highs and lows; and love hearing how you are spending your “retirement”.

I gotta agree thought – write less – maybe 3 days a week, and shorter posts. We probably could get by on a “diet” version of FAM, but would hate to lose you all together.

Whatever you decide, you have to do what is best for you.

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:57:11 +0000

I feel like that sometimes. Most people do after a long time of blogging. Slow the hell down! There are times where you post almost double a normal 3 times a week pace.

You clearly have a lot to say since none of the posts are garbage filler posts, but that doesn’t mean you should put pressure on yourself like this.

At 20 bucks a week, remember this is a hobby. If running, fishing, following your fav. sport team, or knitting caused you this much stress you would quit!

Dr. Evan says slow the F down lol