What makes a blogger Neglect his/her Blog?

Good post this is. I personally fall in Type 1. I think there are only two major reasons:- Lack of time, and Change of priorities. Writing needs quiet time, without any pressure of running towards some different goal. Writing is also propulsed by reading habits, which again goes down due to lack of time or change of priorities. So basically, all about time and priorities. I personally, don't care much about visitors on my personal blog. I love something, and  I write it down just as if I am writing a diary entry. With so many things in ming- personal, professional, social help, taking time out to sit, relax, think and write, is becoming increasingly difficult. 

We are living in fickle times where people neglect even father, mother, children and spouse. What to say of blog! The times. It is the fickle times that I blame for all this.

Maybe we should make more threads on those topics then and discuss the reasons for neglect, come up with solutions for each of them, and promptly neglect all of them, while staying atop on the Forum Heroes List. #FTW

Yeah - let us take up all the issues facing the world and start discussing solutions - you know world peace, poverty, hunger etc, etc.

I disagree that personal blogs are read only by family and friends. My experience is quite the opposite. The only people who do NOT read are family and friends. My blog is a personal blog. Has been around in various formats for about 6 years + and is read by strangers.

I started blogging seriously only to practise my writing and shake off about 40 years of inactivity. One thing I do believe is that blogging and writing novels, novellas or "books" are complementary. One is not superior to the other. The 5 people who read my blog are personal bloggers and about 95% of them are read by a wide range of people across the world. 

I have been neglecting my blog recently for a number of reasons. I wrote an article about it, predicting that this would happen in 2016. You may, if you like, search for it and read it.... or not. It's ok. Here are the reasons.

1. Learn to write: Learned that I already knew how to write sentences. Creating a structure of an article was the key learning.

2. Buid characters: Built 5 different personas, figured out how to keep them apart. Learned what works and what does not.

3. Write fiction: Have 2-3 short stories now. I completed a full-length play. Work here continues. The play has been submitted to publishers, but have not heard back from them accepting or rejecting it for nearly 6 months now.

4. Write the memoirs: Have collated a lot of previously published material. Added many more pages of completely new material. Now have a structure defined. About 60k words waiting to be edited. Final count should be around 80k words before I publish.

That suggestion about paint drying as a topic has made me curiously excited.....

how to edit 60k words so that they become 80k?

So, the reasons I cited for personal blogging not being so attractive to the blogger himself after 2 years, are all valid, and you seem to be aiming higher. Anyway, Congrats on all your achievements

ROFLMAO SirJi

I've always been a Type 3 and I neglected one of my blogs, but that was only because I wanted to write about films that I can't not write about. From the day I made that decision, only 2 movies made me want to write about them, so I just had 2 posts in more than a year.

The regular blog, I used to write at least 2-3 posts a month and even when I didn't have anything to write, I wrote random 500 words just to make up the numbers. I was not getting what I wanted from those posts. The reason for neglecting the main blog is that I wanted to use that time in something else. I spend usually 10-12 hours every month on blogging and I wanted to use that as well in writing different things. For me, blogging is no longer the thing. I don't even know why people do personal blogs these days, or may be they won't do it after 5-6 years of personal blogging like me. To sustain a personal blog for more than 2-3 years is a definite chore, unless the blogger is so creative that he/she can write about paint drying and get people to read it. In such case, he/she was only wasting time in blogging, for he/she can aim higher.

This is IMHO

Loved your honest take SharmaJi... Personal blogging (in its literal sense), according to me has its appeal only to a narrower audience (families, friends, online friends), of course unless you're a famous personality.

Even if you are a celebrity, can people read about you so much, case in point being Amitabh Bachchan's blog. The guy blogs so much and he is so regular. In the first year I was amazed, but these days Its just one of those things he does, apart from being a brilliant actor. Karan Johar started a personal blog of sorts, in some magazine, and I'm giving him 6 months.

There are always bunches of voluntarily-dumb fans who would love to read their idol's potty time musing at almost daily basis. But does AB still maintain that free blog on tripod???

He's now on Tumblr

Oh my bad! I remember reading a couple of his posts some 5 years back... They were sufficiently lengthy... He is definitely consistent... How else could he have been so successful right?

wasn't he blogging at ibibo when they were trying to be a social media platform?

He blogged at BlogAdda as well...since he writes so much...every one of them can have so much of that pie

Yea... He's definitely rich....

But he rather jump between free platforms than to buy a self-hosted WP :-\.

Why pay for something that you can get for free...it's not that he SEOs or something

Well, its not as if he started from blogspot in day 1. i am sure he hired someone to write on his behalf on many counts. 

For me it's all about time.

I end up spending two hours a day writing on my blog.

I have a full time job with two magazines, so writing and working there makes me want the same kind of perfection on my blog.

Sometimes, I get time to put out 10 posts a month like Last November, mainly thanks to IndiBlogger's drives, sometimes the first post makes its appearance in the third week of the month like in February because I was busy woth my dissertation.

Hmm... like Amit said above- 'priorities'. See, even our blogs are human enough to act considerate when we're real busy in our prof life. So, by “neglecting the blog” I meant those moments of neglect when we're not so busy as well... Sigh... [Smile]

Just my assumption. I've seen in another thread which I think was a discussion about keeping likes in indivine anonymous. One guy said his traffic will decrease if that is the case. Another person said 'imagine if facebook and Instagram stop showing likes".  The main problem is that majority of the bloggers write and show content that mostly going to be read within their social circles- families, friends, online friends, etc. This becomes a habit and at some point, people say it's not worth it. Most bloggers don't bother trying to have their content be seen by a wider audience and hence they lose interest. ask yourself a question- whether its free or paid for it, can you run a restaurant only with your friends, family, social media circles? No! they are going to be tired and move on. you get frustrated, discouraged and shut down at some point. You need walk-ins, potentially become a regular and get more folks in. You look at YouTubers posting vlogs. they don't do it for their social circles. they do it for a wider audience. When it's consistent, the number of people who see your content dramatically increases and it encourages you to grow. Try new things. reinvent the way you make content. because in this line- whether it's commercial or as a hobby- nothing lasts long if you do not reinvent yourself. I am not saying this is THE only reason. But it applies for a lot of people.  

Oh that's an executive summary TS... and a worthy one indeed [Grin] ...

I beg to differ when you say "Most bloggers don't bother trying to have their content be seen by a wider audience". I feel, there's desire but lack of courage (or should I say lack of belief?). Take-home message is- "Try new things. reinvent the way you make content." Thanks broda!  

What's the point of having a desire if you lack the courage? Lack of courage, lack of belief- whatever it is. If one truly wants views that much they should reinvent. When they watch something would they watch something mundane and something that's predictable tact that does not evolve? 

True... We need to keep evolving...

@The Sorcerer: That was such a nicely put perspective. Thanks for that, it will help me improve. :)

The 'not writing because I don't want to write right now - that's it', 'unable to write because I'm sleepy', 'don't know what to write about', 'do I really want to write on this' are ust a few of the reasons and I have succumbed to one or the other more than once. Travel interferes, guests block writing time, press launches and meetings assisinate worthy ideas, and the strongest factor contributing to the non-writing phase is: too many ideas jumping in to block actual writing. :)

Hmmm... the same query creeps in: So, inability (whatsoever be the reason) to write is the reason for “neglecting the blog”?

I do pass through this cycle. A couple of months back I decided to stop and even wrote a post about quitting blogging......but then wrote another one yesterday 

Well isn't it something which happens with gymming,  dieting,  studying, and perhaps with falling in love too? 

Hmmm... So, inability (whatsoever be the reason) to write is the reason for “neglecting the blog”?

This reply might sound vague, but I believe the most common and probably the only reason for neglecting something that one used to enjoy doing at one point in time, would be changed priorities. Our priorities and focus often shift with time - (even though they might be misplaced)-, though sometimes unwittingly. 

I can relate so well with your thought broda! But, then again our changing priorities are secondary etiologies to our flaccid determination...

our changing priorities are secondary etiologies to our flaccid determination

 

I agree