I’ve Lost My Mojo

So hey, there are some images in this post. If you’re reading this in email, you’re going to want to download them or else this rambling post will make even less sense.

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I can’t find my blogging mojo.  I’ve lost that blogging feeling.  Blogging don’t live here anymore.

Okay, maybe it’s not quite that bad.  After all, I have been underwater the last couple of months.  No, not to-do list underwater, this underwater…

July Fourth 009

This is my daughter refusing to come up.  I don’t blame you, kid.

I’ve made an effort to stop by my dusty old site from time to time this summer when there was a good reason to such as Blogust, which helped Shot @ Life provide free vaccines to children in the developing world.  And I’ve felt compelled to blog about AT&T’s It Can Wait program, which I eagerly signed on to because I believe so strongly in the message.  But other than the occasional cause or sponsored challenge – trying to break a flashlight for Rayovac was kind of fun – I’ve really had a tough time coming here to write.

It’s not that I haven’t been blogging anywhere.  In fact, in July I started writing a few times a month at Babble where I get to do fun things like pretend it’s my job to reimagine attractions at Walt Disney World with a Star Wars theme.  Tossing the Astro Orbiter out the window and installing Stormtrooper Speeder Bikes above Tomorrowland is a good time, even if it is all just make believe.

So why do I feel inspired to write over at Babble and can barely bring myself to post here?

I know that what’s holding me back is the feeling that no one is reading.

This isn’t necessarily a new feeling.  In fact, a while back I bought WritingInAVacuum.com because, quite frankly, that’s what it feels like at times.

blackholevacuum

vacuumcleaner

  No, not this vacuum   —–>

   <——  This vacuum.

There have been some posts over the last few years that I’ve really been proud of.  I know this is a bit like when you walk past a mirror, catch a glimpse of yourself, and think hey, these jeans really do make my butt look great, but I do believe I’ve had some funny and even moving posts (don’t miss comment #46).  And I have so much more to say.  I’d like to tell you the story of my husband coming back from the brink of death or why my belly button looks an awful lot like Grumpy Cat, but I just can’t find the motivation to tell these tales when it truly feels like the only people reading are a couple friends in a Skype room, my husband, and occasionally my mother, all people who quite frankly hear enough from me already.

I’ve sat in blog conferences and listened to successful bloggers tout the benefits of writing timely posts that will be found through Google searches, but the readers who come here from Google searches usually a.) leave a nasty comment about not finding exactly what they were looking for and b.) leave immediately.  Bringing people to a site for a reason other than reading the content means that the content won’t be read.  In fact, if you’re a frequent Twitter Party attendee who stops by to RSVP for events, chances are that you didn’t even make it far enough along in this post to refute my point.

And I get it, certain topics are hot right now and Pinterest drives traffic like nobody’s business, but I want to write.  I want to tell stories.  I don’t want to post pictures of cardboard pumpkins shellacked onto mason jars because it’s September and that’s what people want.

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So that’s where I’m at, walking around with posts on my mind, not sure what to do with them anymore.  Is it time to admit that my writing isn’t the kind of genius that only the lovechild of The Bloggess and David Sedaris would create?  Should I grab my grandmother’s recipes and my SLR and join the cult of Pinterest?  Do I admit that if blogging was about readership, I’d have hung it up years ago and just carry on?

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40 Comments

  • This happens to me every few months months or so. I stop really WANTING TO BLOG. It eventually comes back. I wish I had some advice for you, but maybe blog for you? And not so other people will read? I think the cream rises to the top and people know when people are blogging for eyeballs and not blogging because they have something to say.

    Anyway, I’m still here and drinks soon?

    • That’s just it. I do blog for me and not for eyeballs, but would just like to know that someone, somewhere reads it after I hit publish. I’m not trying to be the next Dooce. I’d just like 20 people to piss their pants laughing every now and then thanks to me.

      And yes to drinks soon! Please!

      • I go through a similar cycle, more so with my personal blog. I think of funny stories from my past and now wonder why I’d bother putting it out there in a searchable format. Why share these bits from my past for a comment or two (likely on Facebook) or the crickets? And yet. I can’t stop.

  • I totally relate! Thanks for being so honest. I’m in the same boat—especially what you said about sharing stories and not pictures of pumpkins. Sometimes I power through and pretend the lack of audience doesn’t matter, but it gets me down sometimes too. Thanks again—great post!

    • “Sometimes I power through and pretend the lack of audience doesn’t matter” – yes, this! And maybe it shouldn’t matter? But if we were really just writing for ourselves, wouldn’t we be clicking save instead of publish?

  • I could have written this post. Well, I couldn’t have, because, well you did, but I’m so with you on losing my mojo. I used to write about Brady’s autism and lately I’ve been so frustrated with insurance companies, schools, therapists, that all I have left in me is an audible sigh when I open my blog. Hoping my mojo comes back soon and hoping your mojo comes back even faster!

    • Yes, a big audible sigh and reaching for a cookie. Oh wait, maybe that part’s just me.

  • I think a big part of the problem now is that we are all expected to have “niche.”

    Well, I don’t want to just blog about homeshcooling, I’m not crafty and I’m not claiming authority over any topic. I don’t want to be bottled into a niche. I just want to blog about whatever random thing pops into my head because I love to write (and I’m not even claiming to be particularly great at that either.)

    Anyways, good luck finding your mojo. I’m still looking for mine while going through the paces writing reviews, giveaways and sponsored post. :-/

    • I agree completely! I don’t know what I was thinking when I called this site Resourceful Mommy. Oh sure, I’m incredibly resourceful in my day to day life. But on this blog? Not so much. Maybe my niche is that my blog is false advertising? 🙂

  • Thank you for writing what so many of us are feeling. Like Emily there are items I want to write about, but when I start it just does not flow or I’m afraid. Another item I am guilty of, not commenting enough when I should. I read your posts and others and often keep going after I share them. I am going to make a habit of going old school and leave comments again. Call it a Rosh Hashanah resolution of sort. FYI, Shanah Tovah to an honorary member. Grab some apples and honey instead of the cookie.

    • Maybe it isn’t that readers are gone – it’s that commenting is dying?

  • I’m right there with you if it makes you feel any better at all! I’ve been reading your site for many months now (more like years….) and used to be much better about commenting. Of course I could use the “I’m busy” excuse but it’s not fair to you or me. You deserve to know my thoughts after writing a post (and I know that you’re like me in the sense that you don’t just sit down and throw things together but actually try to spend time finding pictures, links, ect) and I deserve to take thirty seconds to put a comment together. As I said earlier, I’m also in the same boat at you. I started my blog a couple of years ago and blogged fast and furious until last year when my daughter was born. Now it’s a mix of being busy (mommy to 3 kiddos, writing for two blogs, managing another and having my own, volunteering with our fire department’s Auxiliary, organizing our town’s annual breast cancer walk, doing the PTO thing, working full time and squeezing in Disney vacations whenever I can), knowing I don’t have a lot of readers out there, worrying if my work will be stolen after reading of so many others with that problem or being accused of copying someone else’s work. For a good while I quit reading blogs altogether so I could honestly say I hadn’t gotten an idea from anyone else because I wasn’t reading anyone else’s work! On the other hand, like That Odd Mom mentioned, I don’t want to write about just one thing which is a constant struggle. Before I publish a post, I spend way too much time debating if it should go to one of the other sites I work with before I put it on my site then the material’s dated so it just sits as a draft forever… While it makes me sad that you’re in a slump right now, it does make me feel better that someone as awesome as you has slumps so I don’t feel quite as bad about my own slump right now. Sending lots of well wishes and pixie dust your way that your slump is over soon!!

    • I’m glad I’m not alone – thank you, Lynn!!

      And I love this: “squeezing in Disney vacations whenever I can” AMEN!

  • If you feel that God has called you to blog then don’t allow the enemy to steal the joy of blogging from you. I once heard a preacher say I preach the same whether I have a crowd of 1 or 1,000. So keep on blogging because you never know how many people actually read them and never comment. I read your blog about your grandpa and was really touched after losing my grandmother (not so long ago). I failed to comment not feeling my opinion really mattered,so forgive me for not being an encouragement to you to keep on keeping on!! Have a great day and keep on blogging 🙂

    • Thank you so much for this comment. I think part of my frustration is that I’m never really sure what I’m supposed to be doing, and I’m one of those people praying nightly for wisdom. Maybe that wisdom is coming in the form of blog comments!

  • Gah! I feel so guilty for not commenting on a regular basis. I love reading your blog, especially the stories! I generally glaze over the twitter party stuff because I don’t have time to be online for them. So…thanks for writing and here’s to getting your mojo back!!!

    • No! No guilt! I didn’t mean for that to happen at all. I really felt as though this post might not be read by more than a couple people, but now I realize that that was just my perception.

      I love that you glaze over the twitter party stuff and read the posts. Those are my heart anyway 🙂

  • Alea

    Hi Amy!

    I don’t read many blogs, because it’s hard for me to find actual time to actually read and not just skim things with a crazy adventurous toddler who demands a lot of my time.
    However, I do read the majority of your blogs when they come in my email (I know a lot of bloggers track their site hits, and I don’t know if those of us who read it in their emails count towards that). You are smart, level-headed and very down to earth/real. I can always count on an honest approach and viewpoint in your blogs. Even if some blogs only reach a handful of people, they are reaching someone and bringing a smile to their hectic day even if you don’t see it. Definitely keep blogging, you do a great job on it 🙂

    • Alea, thank you for your sweet comment. I’m an blog post email reader myself so I get it! I’d imagine the people I subscribe to don’t count me among their readership, but I’m there reading as well. Maybe I need to start clicking through and commenting more often to build up some good comment karma 🙂

  • I catch myself feeling the same way all the time. I start to write and I’m exhausted after all my regular ‘work’ in social media and the issue with wanting the blog post to actually be perfect so someone might want to read it and comment that I ended up opening a good book (or maybe just my Kindle app on my iPhone) and getting lost in a fictional story. It works for me…. However, don’t forget a lot of people read your blog through their reader or email (such as me) and read all the posts but don’t always click over to leave a comment. Often times I’m reading from my iPhone and it’s not easy to comment that way. But I am reading.

  • I hear you. It’s a tough thing to keep going as a blogger through all the changes of our own lives, goals and the blogosphere in general. Times are definitely different than when we started…

  • I feel similar but you on the other hand are an amazing writer. You have always been able to create a tear in my eye or laughter deep within me out, that bellowing sort of laugh. I have been too caught up in the fact that if little people really read what I have or want to say then why not just do whatever it is I can do to earn income to support the kiddos. If no one is reading then our love of working from home writing has become more of a real job, rather than doing something we are passionate about and in turn earning a living on it. (If this sounds off and makes zero sense, I am sorry, the thought made sense in my overtired brain, I swear) hang in there… U rock!

  • I’m not a blogger and I have no idea what you’re going through. I don’t know why you’re feeling that no one is reading. Is it due to lack of hits, lack of comments or some complex formula I missed in school because I was busy writing notes in class that day? To me you have a lot to say, and it’s all worth listening to. Or perhaps you have a lot to write, and it’s all worth reading?

    Just to be different, because I didn’t see anyone else say anything like this…is there any chance you’re evolving as a writer and maybe there’s another book in there trying to come out?

  • Just wanted to let you know YES people read your blog posts. And that your not along in feeling and wondering about it. Keep writing!

  • I read and enjoy your writing :). Everyone goes through slumps though – hope you get your mojo back!

  • Loved this statement you made:

    “And I get it, certain topics are hot right now and Pinterest drives traffic like nobody’s business, but I want to write. I want to tell stories. I don’t want to post pictures of cardboard pumpkins shellacked onto mason jars because it’s September and that’s what people want.”

    I can completely relate to it. I don’t think anybody who hasn’t written a blog post can understand the joy we get from a single comment validating that we didn’t completely waste our time. And the sadness that comes when we hit refresh and there still aren’t any comments.

    If it makes you feel any better – I want to read things. I could care less about shellacked pumpkins. 🙂

    PJ

  • I’ve been there too, sister! Will be praying for you and your mojo -and whatever is around the next corner. 🙂

  • Like many others, I have so been there. And, from a totally selfish point of view, it’s nice to hear that I’m not alone and that other people – and even bloggers I totally admire – go through this sort of “crisis.” I go through slumps every couple of months and it’s always refreshing to come out of it *really* excited to share something new in a post.

  • Yes. Every single thing you said. (!!)

    When I get that far into my mind I am sunk. Stuck. I think “why bother?” Who wants to read me? Am I talking to myself?

    I really don’t have time to commit to the long pinable posts. Or the brilliant how-tos. And personally, I love reading posts like yours. The stories. What people are thinking and doing and feeling.

    Those are the best.

    The absolute best.

    Event though I love them personally, I have writer’s block when it comes to my own blog because I keep asking myself “is anyone even out there?”

  • I read each and ever single post of yours….

    But I totally get where you are coming from.

    It is so easy to lose that mojo and then it become so difficult to get your mojo back…

  • LOOK at all the comments on this post. People are reading. I do both – I do some pinnable stuff with lists and recipes. I DO NOT DO CRAFTS. But I also write — a lot… loooong posts. People read them. I think it’s just a matter of knowing who you are and writing b/c you love it, and people WILL read. I love your writing. The posts I have read have made me laugh, cry, and think. You should NOT stop writing – no matter who is reading (or not.) xo

  • […] I’ve Lost My Mojo :: If you’re a blogger and have ever been discouraged (blogging in a vacuum anyone?), you’ll appreciate what Amy’s saying here. […]

  • I feel the same way at times. I’ll write what I think is the best, most informative, funniest post I’ve ever done. It goes live and… nothing. Not a single comment. Unless you count comment spammers. I’m apparently wildly popular with those guys!

    I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t actually care whether a ton of people read my blog or if nobody does. I’m posting for me and not for anyone else. (Though the occasional non-spam comment now and then feels good to see.)

  • I agree with Jo-Lyne and Techy Dad. If writing makes you happy you shouldn’t stop just because no one’s reading. It’s a great gift to be able to express your thoughts and feelings in words. And, to share it with others. You may not know that you’re writing is touching others’ lives.

  • Oh my. I feel the same way! I don’t want to do crafts. I have never wanted to do crafts! You are a wonderful writer. I just subscribed 🙂

  • Haha! I loved everything about this post (especially the vacuum part). Do what you love! I’ll be here to read no matter what.

  • Crafts and recipes? Who does that? Let me tell you, I took 2 months off – personal reasons- and Igot such angry emails from people I thought weren’t reading! So I emailed then back and told them to leave comments. Didn’t happen!

    So much has been happening in the blogging world, that now I feel lost, and some have been pressuring me to write about the personal reason I was MIA for 2 months! I decided to write about Rite Aid instead!