Someone left a comment on my 500 Follower contest (if you have not entered now is the time) asking how I have been reviewing for 5 years and not got burnt out. The truth is I have. Twice I have taken lengthy breaks (so maybe that means I have really only been writing reviews for a total of 4 years).
Both of my breaks were much needed. I was in college. I was getting married. I started a career in medicine. Those had to be my priorities at that time. I knew I was going to lose some followers (a lot of followers) but that is not why I started reviewing, so honestly who cares?!
Another reason I needed a break was because I was starting to feel like this was a job and only a job. I was not enjoying reviewing. I felt like it was something I HAD to do everyday. So my husband and I talked and he told me I should quit reviewing. I didn't want to do that but I knew I needed a few months to fall in love with reading again... and I did.
I try to remember this is something I do for fun. That would be my biggest piece of advice on how to not get burnt out. There are nights when I say to my husband, "I have to go write a review". He reminds me that I do not HAVE to go write a review, I am CHOOSING to. So maybe because you take a few weeks off to breathe and enjoy reading and lose a couple followers? And maybe you don't get an ARC because your following count isn't high enough? OH WELL! That shouldn't be why you are reviewing to begin with. We should be reviewing because we love books and want to share our love of reading with others. If you are lucky enough to get an ARC from time to time fabulous! Just remember that's not why you started, don't let it get to your head.
My other piece of advice is to keep reviewing what you want to read. I was getting such a large amount of review copies at one point that I stopped reviewing books I had purchased. I wasn't even finding time to read them. That's not fair to yourself. Do what you enjoy! As you can see, I review a variety of ARC's, books I bought and library books. It keeps it fun!
Sorry that this post is very rambly. I just wanted to share how I felt, as inspired by a fabulous followers comment. Thank you for inspiring me to share Jennifer.
2 comments:
I understand what you mean! While I did not get truly burnt out from reviewing, since I did not do that very often for the past three years, I did get tired from reading books because of the Goodreads reading challenge. By October 2012, I finished over 150 books and I just felt oh so very tired. It felt like a chore and something I 'had to do'. It took over a month for me before I felt that reading is fun again, and only because the book I chose to read, the Trese graphic novels, were so good that I started reading again.
Also, I've been worrying about this as well, that blogging/reviewing might feel like a task, and not something I do for fun, so taking a break, and just doing this when you want to, is good advice. :)
I totally understand how you feel. Sometimes it's hard not to remember that this isn't a job, especially when behind on reviews. I always try to remember that but sometimes it's hard. I haven't been reviewing for even a year yet but since I'm in college and working through 18 hour class days it's hard to find time and then when I do it's a mad dash to get some of my reviews done. Great advice, congrats on being a blogger for so long. I know sometimes things may get stressful. So true about forgetting your own books for review requests. It's so hard to keep track sometimes. Thank you so much for the advice! New follower and thank you so much for following me!!
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