Last night, a fellow blogger showed up in one of my dreams.
This is someone I’ve never met in person.
I’ve communicated with them quite a lot over WordPress. I’ve seen some pictures of them, given that they’ve posted some on their blog. I feel like I have a connection with this person because of the conversations we’ve had over WordPress. Yet, I’ve never met them in person.
When I woke up and got to thinking about this dream, I initially wasn’t sure what to make of it. I honestly couldn’t tell you the context of the dream, I just know that they were there.
After thinking about this a little bit more, I realized that it is pretty significant.
Generally speaking, I believe that when certain people turn up in my dreams, it means that they’ve had an impact on my life in some way. I don’t believe that every single aspect of a dream is symbolic, but I do believe that dreams can have personal meaning in them. I don’t claim to know anything about dreams; however, in my experience, when someone shows up in a dream of mine, I’ve found it means that they’ve had some sort of influence on my life. Sometimes, I don’t realize that influence until I look back on the dream. That was certainly the case with last night’s dream.
This dream, then, goes to show how much of an impact the blogging community has had on me.
That’s pretty amazing, I think.
In the last couple days, I’ve been a little disheartened by the posts I’ve been publishing. Even though they’ve gotten reasonably good feedback from fellow bloggers, I just haven’t felt personally satisfied by them. It doesn’t matter how many “likes” or positive comments a post gets–if I don’t feel good about it, I begin to wonder if it was worth my time to even publish it. Because I really, truly do write for myself. That’s not to say I don’t love receiving feedback–because I do. It is very meaningful and encouraging. However, it is also extremely important that I feel good about the work I’m putting out there.
This mere fact that another blogger showed up in my dream last night–someone I’ve never met in person, someone I may never meet in person (though it would be so amazing to meet some of my fellow bloggers in person one day, that’s for sure)–was encouraging. I woke up feeling the need to write something, something that I could be proud of.
This theme of balance is showing up everywhere in my life. I’m still struggling with finding a balance in blogging–a balance between writing for myself and thriving on the support of this WordPress community. I love the support I’ve been getting from fellow bloggers, but that isn’t enough for me. I also need to make sure I’m putting out work that I’m proud of.
I’ve felt this strong need to blog, which is why I’ve been posting pretty much everyday. Maybe, though, posting everyday isn’t what is best for me–especially since I’m not satisfied with the posts I’ve been putting out. Maybe on the days I don’t necessarily feel inspired to write, I can concentrate on reading and commenting on the work of other bloggers.
I just can’t keep myself away from WordPress. It has had such a positive influence on my life since I started becoming an active member of the community. However, there is more than one way to participate here. Writing new posts for my blog is only one of those ways. If I can take anything away from this blogger showing up in my dream, I think that’s it. They have been supportive of my work, but I also love their blog and find it so inspiring and wonderful.
I love that they support me, but I also want to support them.
It's a Britta Bottle! 
As much as I do love reading your posts, I fully understand about needing to be happy with them, so I do agree that maybe it’s worth only posting when you’re happy with a piece of work.
You could always write up a draft, if you’re not happy with it at the time, you can then come back to it at a later date, see it with fresh eyes and perhaps re-write it then. Particularly if you’re feeling the urge to write, but it just seems to come out all wrong.
I know how difficult it can be to blog daily. I’ve never committed myself to a schedule, and this week I certainly wouldn’t have been able to stick to it if I had. (I know a lot of people advise to stick to a schedule, and I think if you can then that’s great, I just know I can’t!)
I look forward to reading posts that you’re happy with, even if they’re less regular, I think all your readers would prefer to read something you’re happy with, that you’ve enjoyed writing, and are excited to share with us, rather than something that you’re not happy with.
I also hope you get to meet this blogger one day! (If you’re building a good relationship with them, why not find out if they have Twitter/FB and help the friendship grow there too? Just a thought! May have a higher chance of meeting up then!) 🙂
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Ohhh, it makes me so happy to hear that someone looks forward to my posts. That is such a confidence booster for me, especially since I have been feeling so “blah” about my posts of late. Thank you so much! 🙂
Ah, whenever I save a draft, I never come back to it (currently, I have about four drafts sitting in my drafts section just wasting away). Maybe I should push myself to complete one of them one of these days. I mean, if my goal here is to grow as a writer, that might be a useful exercise for me.
As for blogging on a schedule, that’s definitely not me either! Blogging daily was working for me for a while, but I just think it’s getting to be too much–especially since I just began a new semester and will graduate from college soon…I have quite a lot on my plate! Even when I did post daily, I posted whenever I wanted during the day, never sticking to a certain time to post or anything. Sure, if people knew when to expect my posts, it would probably boost my stats and get me more followers…but I wouldn’t be writing on my own time and I certainly wouldn’t be writing for me!
This blogger definitely lives in a different country than me, so I wouldn’t be able to meet them anytime soon. Never say never, though! It would be pretty neat. 🙂
Thank you so much for the comment and for your encouragement! It really means so much to me.
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I completely understand where you’re coming from, Britta. I’ve been going through a similar debate myself. It’s so hard to lose track of the line between putting out posts that you’re satisfied with for personal reasons and desiring to engage in the community. I’ve scaled back a LOT lately because of this.
The community is something I love about WordPress too. It’s amazing that you can still actively engage without actually posting things. I’ll admit, I’m pretty bad at engaging beyond the handful of blogs I follow, but it’s still a lot of fun.
Best of luck on your journey of blogging balance! I always look forward to reading all of your posts and can’t wait to see what you come up with in the future!
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Thanks Amelia! It’s nice to hear from someone who understand where I’m coming from. I definitely know what you mean now, when you posted about taking some time off from blogging a couple weeks ago. I have so many ideas I could write about now…I just don’t feel inspired to write any of them down!
I’m finding it’s especially difficult with the beginning of the new semester… I’m so overwhelmed with all the homework I suddenly have and all the responsibilities that come with being a full time student who also has a couple jobs, which isn’t helping with this lack of inspiration.
Engaging gets hard too…I follow a lot of blogs and I simply don’t have time to read all of them, especially now that winter break is over and I don’t have all that excess time on my hands. In many respects engaging is easier than writing up a new post, but engaging is still very time consuming. I love the community so much,but I would never get any sleep if I engaged with everyone I wanted to engage with and still made time to do my homework!
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When I’m feeling uninspired, I find that stepping away from the keyboard and doing something fun helps me. Sometimes the best way to cure these frustrations is to keep writing. Keep writing even if you’re not satisfied with your work. Keep writing even if you have writer’s block. In the words of Anne Lammott, give yourself permission to write a “shitty first draft.” If you still feel like you’re not producing work that satisfies, consider blogging every other day. That will give you more time to write and revise. Put your writing away for at least a few days. Once some time has passed, return to it with fresh and clear eyes. Hope this helps!
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I’ve definitely been spending a lot of time away from WordPress this weekend. I have been blogging a lot lately and I think, in combination with the mere fact that I have a lot my plate right now, I’ve burned myself out a little bit, at least in respect to blogging–which is really too bad.
I have plenty of experiences with “shitty first drafts”…I took a comp studies course last semester and that was basically the mantra of the course. 🙂 I’ve never actually taken to heart in blogging, though. I have about four drafts here on WordPress that I’ve never come back to finish…perhaps if my goal is to become a better writer in this blogging process, I would benefit from going back and completely one of those drafts, though.
Hopefully with a few days off from blogging, I’ll feel refreshed to come back and write. Writing is so important to me, so I imagine I’ll get that urge and inspiration sooner than later. In the mean time, I can use that time that I would be blogging to get some homework done!
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College doesn’t give me a whole lot of time to blog. It’s funny because when I’m blogging, I start thinking of all the homework I should be doing but am neglecting. And when I’m doing my homework, I tell myself I could be using that time to blog. #Writerproblems. And I don’t usually wait for inspiration to strike. What does strike is the urge to write.
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Can completely relate to what you’re saying about needing to be happy with posts you’re publishing and like the person above said when I write a post I’m not 100% about I save it as a draft and when I come back to it I’m full of fresh ideas 🙂 I love reading what you write though always 🙂 x
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Thank you so much, Chelle! It’s such a confidence booster to hear that others people love reading my writing. Hopefully with a few days away, I’ll feel inspired and excited to get back to writing again.
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You’re welcome & Yeah sometimes a break does you good & that’s all you need 🙂 x
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Whenever I have the urge to write something and don’t feel like publishing right away, I also put it in draft first. That way, my thoughts, my words are preserved at that time when I really wanted to express it. And when you feel the time is right to publish it, then it is ready. I have one drafted post that I do not think will see the light of day because I wrote it when I was really unhappy and heartbroken. Sometimes I go back and read it, my situation may have changed for the better now but I was happy with what I wrote then because it was from the heart.
Don’t be pressured by a posting schedule. I don’t follow one. I post whenever I feel like it. Sometimes I try to combine all assignments into one post. Such a slacker! haha. But yes, I am happy I joined Blogging 101 because I have met so many talented wonderful bloggers out there, like you! Happy writing! 🙂
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I’m so glad I joined Blogging 101 too–I definitely haven’t done any of the assignments recently, but it’s been such a wonderful way to meet some amazing fellow bloggers.
As for a posting schedule, that certainly isn’t on my books. I might have to try going back in and finishing a draft one of these days. So far, all the drafts I’ve saved have never been looked at again…but maybe, I should try to change that!
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I think the sheer fact that you are writing and posting is a great achievement! Your voice is authentic. How often you should or want to post depends on you although I have got some advise that posting often (a few times a week is good!) I’m far from being a writer, and I do struggle with balance too and my biggest stumbling blog is always the first sentence of the post. I’ll write and re-write, and sometimes re-edit it even after I publish it.
My drafts are mostly prompts for me to remember what to write and it would be in my draft for a few days with bits and pieces till I get a chance to really write it. You have every right to feel proud of the work you churn out, and not only because you want to please everyone. I’m sure you’ll find your voice in time and for now, go with the flow. I’ve found that writing is somewhat a constant work-in-progress, you can never finish editing! 🙂
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Thank you so much! It’s so nice and meaningful to hear that.
I’m not worried about finding my voice. I have found that throughout this process of blogging. I was struggling to find it when I wasn’t happy with my posts, but it wasn’t lost…just hiding behind some confusion and a lack of understanding within myself. 🙂
Writing is definitely a process. A work-in-progress that is only finished when we say it is. But really, it could never be finished if we kept it that way!
Thank for the comment and for following my blog. I will do my best to make it over to your blog one of these days…I just started a new semester, though, and don’t have a whole lot of time to spend on WordPress at my leisure these days.
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