I am so glad that June is almost over. This month has been the busiest and most craziest month of the year for me as far as my job is concerned. I have been buried in spreadsheets and grant applications all month and I’m finally beginning to see the light! Yay!
But. . . My blog has suffered for it. I am seriously and I mean majorly, seriously, crazily behind in writing reviews. I have about five books that I’ve started and have yet to finish for various blog tours and scheduled reviews. I am a #bloggerfail this month (I just used a Twitter hashtag in a post! I feel so cool – LOL!).
Once I get even a little bit behind with reading and writing reviews, it seems an almost insurmountable task to get caught up. I never get back to the books I started and didn’t finish because there are always more in the queue that need to be read and reviewed for upcoming tours and scheduled review dates. How does a blogger ever catch up?
I guess I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed right now and I don’t even know where to begin. When I scheduled this stuff, I had no idea that June was going to be as nuts as it turned out to be. I could use some advice from my blogger family.
Your crazy, overwhelmed blogger,
Jen
I have felt EXACTLY the same way this month, between work and children and school end and summer start. I have a stack in both print and my ereader and never enough time lately. Hang in there! I always recommend lists – they help me feel more organized and with the dates laid out in front of me, I find ways to wedge the time in. Good luck.
What do you use to keep yourself organized? I’m always interested to hear what systems people use. Thanks!
I agree with BooksNYarn – lists are helpful. But from one overwhelmed blogger to another, I suggest you don’t try to rush through what you’ve already started so you can get to the next thing. If there are books that have an absolute deadline for tours and what-not, meet those deadlines. You can get back to those other books later!
I started a job back in Feb and got majorly behind and lost some of my readers and things. But I just made it work when I could. Right now, that’s all you can do! Hope this helps
That makes sense. I’ve had tours that I posted the generic “I started this book and it’s great so far – check out for my review later!” and I hate doing that. In fact, I’m still reading those books!! But I have others that I need to start for upcoming tours! I just feel like I can’t get caught up and it’s a bit frustrating.
What lists/systems do you use to keep organized?
I use a Google calendar to keep track of any dates I have committed to. I have unread books one colour, read book tours another, and all other read book posts a thrid colour. That combined with my constantly updated TBR list keep me up-to-date with what I need to do, and what I should read next.
Just take things one step at a time. It’s important to remember that you aren’t being paid for this, so keep it fun. Unless you are being paid, in which case please share how to get to that stage.
I have had a similar month. There were a couple that I’ve had to reschedule because I just couldn’t get to them. Then of course it is compounded the next month.
As far as organization goes I don’t know that I can be much help. As soon as I schedule a date, the title goes in my calendar and on my spreadsheet. I try to look at each daily to see where I am at. I think I should add a must start by date or something…
I look forward to seeing what other suggestions people have for you.
I think you have to step back now and then and remember this is supposed to be fun! I don’t like accepting reviews for a specific date as sometimes I just don’t feel like reading that type of book or I have other things going on like you. Unless you really feel obligated to review, why don’t you put down those that aren’t grabbing you and move on to something else? I’m sure you could offer to feature the book in another way. Sometimes that’s better than not really enjoying a book because of the pressure!
Hang in there. Hope things calm down for you soon and you are able to take a few days and relax and enjoy a good book.
I agree with Ellie. Maybe you can do another type of feature on the books or you know, life won’t end if you do the whole “I started it and haven’t finished it..” and then give the publisher’s description etc. Life happens. We aren’t paid for these blogs and there are surely other people on the blog tours. I know we all have this amazing sense of responsibility for the books we accept, but again, life happens. What’s the worst that can happen? I had a counselor tell me that one time when I was going through a hugely anxiety-ridden time in my life. She said, ask yourself, what’s the worst that could happen, imagine how you would feel and what you would do to deal with it, and…then move on.
Worst case, no one would ever contact you again about a book or send you another book, right? Well, how would you deal with that. How many years worth of reading do you already have in your house? If you’re like me, it is years worth, truly. LOL
Maybe this is not a help, but take a deep breath, pat yourself on the back for handling things as well as you already have, and move on. Hugs to you!!
Know exactly how you feel, as I’m horribly behind on writing reviews. To use another hashtag, June was #reviewerfail month for me! I’ve tried spreadsheets and calendars and lists, but they don’t seem to work very long. Have started scheduling the review post and hoping that it will motivate me to finish writing it, but not sure how long that trick will last either.
Alexia’s Books and Such…
I’m so behind on review books so I know how you feel. It all started when I was sick last summer and it just continued to snowball. I should have stopped taking review books a lot sooner than I did. I now only accept a limited amount, but I’m still behind and then I always seem to procrastinate on writing the reviews (unless I have a specific tour date to meet). Like Kay said, if you stop or limit your acceptance of review books, worst case would be no more contacts by authors/publishers. I sometimes think that wouldn’t be such a bad thing either. After all, I have 3000+ books staring out at me from my own shelves! Hang in there, girl. We all understand and are behind you. I like to think, “this too shall pass.”
I’m in the same boat. I started getting what I thought was going to be a cold on April 22. Four rounds of antibiotics later, I finally started feeling normal just last week! I missed some work, but mostly had to keep going to work, coming home & crashing. So my reading has really suffered. I’m just plugging away, page by page, until I am caught up but I agree with your feeling that it is really difficult and seems, at times, impossible to get back on track!
Hang in there! That’s what I’m trying to do.
I hear you Jennifer — I have 1 more “have” to read for review this month. But I am nowhere close to finishing. In July only have 1 scheduled review. I did that on purpose. But I sure do have a lot of books to read to get caught up. I am hoping the lack of pressure of making those deadlines will allow me to actually enjoy reading again.