This post has been linked up to the Book Blog Discussion Challenge.
Every once in a while, I convince myself that I have a great idea for a “quick” blog post—something that I can whip right up that won’t take me long at all. After all, the ideas are flowing and I’m feeling inspired! …
Three hours later, I’m finishing up said blog post, feeling exhausted and wondering how in the heck I managed to take so darn long!
Thinking about it, I’ve come up with several time-extenders that seem to get in the way of a “quick post”:
- Searching for gifs. How do people find so many fun and perfect gifs? I often sit for an hour staring at pages and pages of randomness trying to find that gif that says exactly what I want to say. And then a lot of times the one I end up with isn’t ideal, but I get sick of looking so I use it anyway. (Case in point: I had a gif of the SpongeBob pic above, but it annoyed the heck out of me because it flipped back and forth too fast. It was giving me a headache just while I was writing this post, and I didn’t want to inflict that on you.) I don’t use gifs all that often anymore even though I think they’re fun in other people’s posts because I just can’t stand the hours of searching!
- Research. One post that I thought would be quick and easy was my recent list of book blogger terms and acronyms. I mean, I use those terms all the time, so it shouldn’t be hard to write them all down, right? Except that I wasn’t satisfied with the list of terms I could come with off the top of my head. I had to go scouring the internet for more! Oh, and I found that I couldn’t always describe the terms perfectly, so I had to look up several different definitions (so I wasn’t copying anyone’s) and formulate one. Hours later, I finally had that post done.
- At a loss for words. I start the post and I think I know what I’m going to say. This is going to be easy. But then I start writing and something happens … I can’t seem to form words. At least not in any logical order. I know basically what I want to say, but I just can’t seem to get the ideas out there coherently. I often end up skipping around and leaving sentences half-written where I couldn’t think of what I want to say (sometimes I even find those half-written sentences in a published post). By the way, right now there’s a half-written sentence in my Research section above where I suddenly stopped writing and jumped to the next topic. Better get back to that … (Oh wait, shoot! There’s another one up at the top of this post, just under the SpongeBob picture—seriously, how do I ever manage to write anything that makes any sense?)
- Graphics. When I was a newbie blogger, I could just write a post and publish it. I’d usually include some type of image, but not always. Nowadays, I feel like I have to create a title graphic for each and every discussion or special post (I still don’t do them for reviews). Of course, I once again have to find the perfect picture and a font that looks good and then I have to put a border around it and I need to get it all set up just so … Often I’m still not even that satisfied with the results in the end (I really wish I had an artistic eye, but I just don’t). I used to dream about taking pictures for my blog posts, but I’ve realized that photography just isn’t in my wheelhouse. I take hours for even the simplest Instagram pics and I can’t manage to take pictures I love for the blog. Sigh.
- Perfectionism. Really, this can sum up all of the above bullet points. I can’t seem to let anything just be good enough. I have to keep tweaking it and messing with it and adding to it, until hours have passed me by. (Actually, I’ve gotten much better about this than I used to be. I’ve learned to let go … a little. But apparently not enough.)
- Distractions. This is especially horrible while “researching.” I’ll be checking something out and then … squirrel! (Wait, what’s that Twitter notification? Hey, look at that awesome discussion Kristen just posted. Oh, I should check that email …)
Even my “simple” posts like the Sunday Post take me hours because I like to try to add so much to it (giveaways, favorite discussions, pre-order deals …). I actually love putting that post together, and I feel like it’s really useful to a lot of people, so I’m not complaining, but I do sometimes wonder why I have to turn everything into a project instead of a quick post. I can’t just post a plain old Top Ten Tuesday post that lists ten of something; I have to put the book covers into a cool collage-type frame and describe why I feel the way I do. Sometimes I should go for quick and easy, right?
Or maybe not. After all, there are plenty of quick and easy meme posts out there. Nothing wrong with those (well, at least some of them), but do we really need more? I guess I’ll keep spending too much time on my posts, and hope that they’re worth it.
Are you ever able to write a “quick post”? Tell me your secrets! I want to know!
Maybe for other people there’s such thing as a quick post? But not for me lol. I don’t use gifs, but, like you, I do make a graphic for every post (though I also make them for reviews). I have, like, a template, but it still takes at least a few minutes, and the search for the image usually takes significantly longer because I often get all crazy about wanting the perfect photo. I’ve literally even edited photos before just to use them as the background of my graphic, haha. And then, yeah, there’s the thoughts and words. And whenever I do lists or tags, I have to add the covers for the books. And then I add tags for all the titles and authors included in the post because perfectionism. I like to be able to click a tag for a book on my blog and find every post it’s ever been mentioned in. So nope, I got no tips for you lol.
I was actually thinking of your title graphics when I wrote that section—I love the way your graphics all match each other because you use the overlays and the same three fonts. I was thinking it would be nice if I could find fonts I really love and do it that way too because it would make things faster. I really wish I was good at graphic design in general, but I’m really not. (You were also the Kristen I was thinking of when I said “Hey, look at that awesome discussion Kristen just posted.” I always love your discussions!)
Thank you! You just made me feel good about my graphics and discussions <3
You should feel good about them! 🙂
Perfectionism is why there are no quick posts on my blog. Even posts that have a lot of copy + paste (like Sunday Posts and book hauls) take forever. I spend a lot of time fighting with Blogger to get the post layout right. Blogger has done some truly bizarre things to my posts. Hunting for memes also takes a surprisingly long time. I’d love to make a special graphic for each post, but I can’t. I hate making graphics, and I don’t have time for it. I just try to do the best I can with my blog.
Oh, my—I definitely remember fighting with Blogger. Formatting is sometimes impossible on that platform! I have to confess that I don’t miss those days.
Lately I have been in the middle of writing a sentence and suddenly have no clue where I was going with it.
For me it’s always been a problem that I’ll start with one idea,then go off on another. A recent post I did started with me saying how subconscious comparisons were making me really unhappy and then randomly went off listing Facebook posts that annoy me. They rarely end where I think they will.
Glad I’m not the only one who finds myself going off on a million tangents. It’s a sickness!
I love this post, because I have fooled myself many times when I have sat down to write that “quick post”. My biggest difficulty comes, when I have loved a book so much, and I am struggling to express why I loved it. I want my reviews to have some substance. I have 6 – 7 drafts of discussion posts I never finished, because I just didn’t know where to go with them. The only ones that are usually quick for me are the memes (with the exception of Top Ten Tuesday). I can whip up a WoW, It’s Monday! What are You Reading?, Signed Book Sunday, Stuffed Animal Sunday, etc in no time.
Oh, I have those drafts too! Every once in awhile I’ll go through and realize that I have several half-written things that make no sense. Time to delete!
Ugh the loss for words is definitely something I struggle with. I don’t spend hours on posts usually but sometimes. Graphics and collages take me the longest for sure. So yeah no really quick posts here!!
If a post takes me less than an hour, it’s amazing. Most take me much longer. I’m just slow!!!
Oh, I feel you. This is probably one of the main reasons I don’t do that many discussion posts. They take so long! I really want to do more though – especially since I have some ideas. I guess I’ll just do pieces of it at a time maybe?
-Lauren
Even my reviews take a long time … and my Sunday posts … and my wrap-ups. I swear, the only thing that doesn’t take a long time is the monthly wrap-up round-up link-up (the giveaway takes a pretty long time to create because I choose the entries via random.org and link all of them to the posts). Guess I just need to post link-ups every day. I’m sure my readers would be riveted. LOL!
Ahhhh Nicole! I think I haven’t written a quick post before. Sure I write “skinny” reviews which are SUPPOSED to be shorter but they actually aren’t. Not really. haha 🙂
ANd every time I think of writing a short discussion post, I feel like it takes over an hour to draft one. This includes the above that you mentioned! hahaha 🙂
Yes, when I write bite-sized reviews, I end up including three or more of them usually, and they don’t even take me all that much less time!
The quick post is a lie. There is no such thing. I mean, my quick post is usually my Sunday post because I can say what I like add a few pictures and boom done. It takes me ages. I get distracted by 10 different things and ten hours later it’s finished. I think we tell ourselves we can write up a quick post because otherwise we would never get around to posting things. We live in this blogger delusion to convince ourselves it’ll only take half an hour to do all things so we can stay convinced that blogging is that hobby we do when actually it involves the same hours as a job would.
I tend to sit at my computer half the day on Saturday drafting my Sunday Post. It’s pretty ridiculous really. (Part of that time is spent reading discussions, etc because I want to link them up!)
Haha, you’re not the only perfectionist around here. And I seriously don’t know how you can post so consistently, because in my case, perfectionism is at least one of the reasons why I post so seldom instead.
The gif issue is SO real ;D. I don’t use them for reviews, but lately, they’ve become a must in my posts (as a rule, I don’t follow trends, but I can see both the appeal of gifs and their usefulness in breaking a long post down). And like you, I used to spend HOURS searching for the perfect ones. Lately it’s become easier for me, though I’m not sure if I got better at keywords or I simply got luckier. What I know is, I finally set up a gif folder on my PC, where I store those I find by chance but don’t need at the moment. And I set up subfolders as well, so I know where to look when I need a new one.
Quote:
“After all, there are plenty of quick and easy meme posts out there. Nothing wrong with those (well, at least some of them), but do we really need more? I guess I’ll keep spending too much time on my posts, and hope that they’re worth it.”
I absolutely endorse :). Also, what Becky said above = LOL, too true.
I have some saved gifs, but not enough to be truly useful. I should save more, but that takes even more time when I’m trying to find something.
Oh yes, they’re definitely worth it!!
I would love to use gifs, and Chelsea’s are always perfect and fit with her reviews so well, but I don’t have the time either to search and search. Although I know a lot of people that use gifs save them in folders labeled for specific feelings or scenarios so they can find what they want down the road a lot easier.
And I think we all have those squirrel moments lol. It’s amazing how far off the beaten path we can get on the internet! But know you’re doing a fabulous job and keep doing what you’re doing cause we all love it!?
The internet is a black hole that you could easily get lost in forever!
Haha! I totally agree with everything you just said. I have to add that I have some “quick” posts that are pretty much ready and were kinda quick to write, but then I am scared to post them so they are months old. Gah!
Oh, funny—so you almost had some quick posts. 🙂
A “quick post” probably takes me two hours to put up. I have to research it, write it, revise it a few times, then format it. Then I usually read and revise it a few more times after I’ve scheduled it because I think of things I wanted to add or that I could say better, so I go back in over the next couple of days and change things. So…I guess more than a few hours. It takes a few days. 😉
I’d agree that two hours is pretty much as quick as it gets.
hahaha I love this post because it’s so true!!! Is there a such thing as throwing a post together?? I think the only time I found something like that was on a blog tour where they provided the HTML and I wasn’t doing a review (just a Q&A). Otherwise, UGHHH it can take forever!! Graphics (which I suck at), pictures, gifs, and HOLY HELL perfectionism is strong with me. I do best when I start an idea post and leave it in the drafts and work on it over a few days time. Let me know if you come up with something that makes the process be like a 1/2 hour!
I didn’t think of those posts where html is provided. I don’t do those very often, but every once in a great while …
Oh this is so true! Every time I start what I think will be a quick post it takes me for forever! Mostly the loss for words and pictures parts — I will start writing and then either end up with a paragraph and going “Is that really it?! I can’t leave it at that” or I just don’t know where to get started. I have so many abandoned drafts for that reason :/
And adding pictures is HARD! You have to either find or make the perfect one, and I end up being OCD and getting distracted and getting worried about copyright. It’s why so many of my posts now just have random colors with words for my pictures, because they’re easy to make and I don’t have to fight with the internet. 😛
I don’t deal with the copyright issue because I bought a discount lifetime subscription to one site and I have a couple of other copyright free sites that I rely on as well. That can definitely get tricky!
Literally have no idea what a “quick post” is ? I think I have most of the same problems you do, actually. Graphics have become a “thing” I need, and the GIF search totally takes hours- even longer when I make them myself! Photos… don’t get me started on those, they make me stabby. The one thing I usually CAN do is figure out what I want to say… but only once I have started. Like, once I start I can keep going, but finding the initial idea? That is a whole other problem. A big one. And distractions are huge too. Especially if you are searching for something and then you get lost in a totally random search that barely had anything to do with the initial one bwhaha. This is just so very ME. I feel you!
Okay, the fact that you even occasionally make the gifs yourself just shows your insane dedication to your blog. I’m impressed!
I feel your struggle SO MUCH. Like you, now that I’ve been blogging for a while I definitely feel like I NEED at least one graphic for each post, and creating graphics is time consuming since I am not a natural when it comes to graphic design. Memes like TTT take forever because I always make a collage of the book covers and explain WHY I chose each title (I feel like if I was just throwing up a list of books there wouldn’t be much of a point to posting, you know?) Reviews can take me HOURS because I tend to get so long winded. The only “quick” posts I can think of is the occasional features that I repeat on my blog, where I already have the graphics made. At best, those take about 30-40 minutes…but that’s about as quick as it gets for me!
I feel like the graphics make my posts stand out a lot more, so they’re worth it, but they definitely take more time.
I wish I knew the secret of quick posts! Every once in a while, there’s a post that takes me less time than I think it will, and I’m amazed, but then I can never figure out why and it’s MONTHS before it happens again. I just take my luck where I can get it now!
Don’t you hate when things go super smoothly and you can’t figure out what made the difference? It’s maddening!
YES TO ALL OF THESE! I was actually laughing because this is so me! There’s NO SUCH THING as quick post for me hahaha ? the other day I was sick and planned to whip up a quick post for the day, but… no. It took me 3 hours to put together the post while in fact I only needed 30 minutes to write it. There’s looking for the perfect photos, editing, creating graphic, formatting, subheader, proofreading, and PUTTING LINKS! I swear to God putting links to the post takes so much of my time. I can’t just copy and paste because I want my links to open in another window, which means I have to put the links manually and for some annoying reasons wordpress always freeze every time I do this ??? and yes looking for gif is the HARDEST I don’t even bother trying anymore hahaha great post Nicole! 😀
Links definitely can take a long time, and I don’t even make them open up in a new window. It just seems like, no matter how quick you mean to be, there’s no such thing.
You had me at Mary Poppins. Lol.
Ah, yes. Good old Mary Poppins. Perfection can kill us. And then I’ll read my post and realize that it still wasn’t perfect, and it will drive me batty!
I’ve definitely done the fruitless gif search in the past! I started saving ones that I really enjoyed so that I’d have a stockpile when I needed one; it helped, a little haha
I have a small stockpile of gifs, but not enough to help much.
I can definitely relate to this! I have occasionally managed to write a quick post if it’s a short one, and I’m in the zone, but mostly it takes me ages. And the most common problem for me is definitely being at a loss for words. Often when I’m at the ideas stage of a post I’ll mentally compose it in my head, and think ‘this will be easy!’ But of course by the time I actually sit down to write it, all the words have fled from me, and I can’t seem to string together a coherent sentence.
Great post! 🙂
I’m glad I’m not the only one with this problem! I once wrote a blog post called “I Wish I Could Blog in Bed” all about how I craft these amazing posts in my head while I’m laying there trying to sleep or while I’m in the shower or something, but then when I try to actually sit down and write the post … the words just won’t come! It’s really not fair.
For me a quick post is one that doesn’t take that long to write, but with all the time I put into formatting it and searching for gif, that quick post ends up taking almost 2 hours to put together!
Yep, that about sums it up. Quick is an illusion we can never attain!
[…] Is There Such a Thing as a “Quick Post”? Let’s Discuss! from Feed Your Fiction Addiction […]
There’s no such thing as a quick post for me either. I don’t use gifs because I don’t like them (I will often avoid posts that have them because they hurt my eyes and make me nauseated), but everything else still takes me a long time, especially if I need to make graphics for the post. Most of my graphics are pretty bad (especially the ones I have drawn), but that doesn’t mean I didn’t spend a lot of time working on them, lol.
I think quick and easy can be boring. I like it when people explain why they like or dislike what it is they are talking about.
I definitely can relate to getting distracted. That happens to me a lot!
I actually removed a gif from this post because it flashed so quickly that it was giving me a headache—I didn’t want to submit my readers to that!
NO such thing as a quick post for me either. I am so relieved that I am not just the one who feels this way, that even pro book bloggers like you is stuck with this dillema. My posts take hours to finish and I am not even contented with them long after I hit the publish button. It’s even harder for me because I am not a natural born English speaker so sometimes when I cannot articulate what I want to say, I type it first in my own language and get back to translate it later.
Also with finding the right GIFs and graphic! At first, I don’t feel the need to use GIFs/graphic but then I realize that my reviews and posts look like tall walls of words so I felt compelled to break them with pictures. I did a massive GIF shopping once and catalogued them but even with that it’s still hard to find the right fit for a post so I end up going online again scouring for more GIFs. It’s like a bad compulsive buying habit.
I like how you compare gif searching to a buying habit—it does feel a lot like that! And I can’t imagine having to add translation to the mix. That’s another huge hurdle that you have to get over!
[…] asks whether there’s such thing as a “quick post”…I know there’s not for […]