Blogroll

My blogroll is sadly lacking.

Jess and I have been looking into possibilities for a blog tour to promote our upcoming kamikaze west coast tour, covering stores from San Mateo to Seattle.  And there are just dozens of really cool blogs out there.  And these are just the ones relating to mystery writing!

So my vow is to add at least one blog a day to my blogroll for the next two weeks.   Reading each of them every day is another story, but I’m going to try and swing by each of them at least twice a week.  It’s hard, though.  I could spend all day noodling on the ‘net, reading other writers blogging about their experiences…and be perfectly content.  However I have about half a dozen guest posts to write before May 1st, not to mention writing up the schedule to post on my website.  And then there are my two pesky WIPs.  Oh yeah…and my day job.  And my nine cats (how I wish it was still 10…), my dog and my boyfriend.

My question to anyone who reads this post is:  how the heck do you find the time to keep up with your blogroll, writing, family, work and life?    ‘Cause I could really use some suggestions here!

6 thoughts on “Blogroll

  1. If you sign up with an aggregator and get an RSS feed to those various blogs, you’ll just be notified when they post something new. The key is the best feed reader (having had one very bad one) and someone smarter than moi has to advise you there. If it works, tell us how it’s done!

  2. With me it’s a break from the hectic schedule of work and family to just take a breather. I try to read certain blogs at least weekly (I have way more on my favorites site than I really read). Those being the ones pertaining to the types of writing similar to mine or the ones with whom I’ve built a rapport either by hosting a blog tour or by winning a drawing on their blogs. Some are just good advice places that are recommendations from some of my friends.

    I try to not get stuck in blogging for too long otherwise, I’d be doing nothing but staying on the blogs. Some days, I can’t help myself – totally distracted from work or not in the mood to work and so I just surf my blogs (even visit ones I don’t do on a regular basis). As you can see I have to check blogs late at night or before I start working in the mornings but it works for me.

    Trying to limit the amount of time you spend each week on blogging and reading websites and blogs is what you have to decide works for you – how much time do you want to put into your presence on the ‘net? How much can you afford to put into the ‘net stuff? – If you can only do 2 hours a week, then use them to update your own stuff first, then scan your other fav blogs and see what all is new with your friends. Just because we post something new, doesn’t mean it will be something of interest to you – Skimming the postings to see what strikes your fancy is a good way to not get bogged down.

    I read titles and the first couple lines or so to see where the posting is going and then go from there. Today, I had opened Straight From Hel’s blog and saw an interesting posting a couple of days back but didn’t have time to read it at the time. So I went on did my other stuff, and just came back to it before popping over here to see what was going on with you. Even left a comment for her.

    So I check fewer blogs than I have in my favs folder on a regular basis. That’s about the only way to do it. I have them all there for a reason but maybe I’ve moved in a different direction from when I first started going to a site but they are still there if I ever need to stop in on a whim.

    Guess that sums it up for me – but I live on the internet, what can I say – lol no family, no friends for real, no social life, no nothing (only kidding but I do spend a lot of time on the internet since my work requires it) – hope some of it helps you – E 🙂

  3. Thanks, Elysabeth! It’s always good to see how other people handle these issues. I just always feel guilty if I can’t check my friends’ blogs every day, even though I know it’s not realistic. Time management is a skill I”m still working on developing for my non-work hours…

  4. Just get married. Then you’ll never want to spend time with your apouse and that will open up a whole new block of time to write.

    db

  5. I stopped sleeping. When that didn’t work, I visit others less often than every day like I used to. It’s really hard, I wish I had the money to hire somebody to read everyone’s posts to me and then type in my response then I could at least be doing the laundry or working on my book at the same time. Of course Dave Bara has a point.

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