Hello May, Goodbye Blogger Burnout!
Hello everyone!
Happy May Day to you all.
I’ve been having a blogger crisis. For those of you that aren’t aware, there is a big hoo ha going on at the moment over on Instagram. Things have got very tricky over there since they changed everyone’s feed last year from chronological order, to an order decided by an algorithm. It’s now more of a desperate scramble to get your picture seen by even a minute portion of your followers. I’ve seen the joy being sucked out of it, as Instagrammers despair about how to get their pictures noticed and engagement up. As well as talking to people face to face about it, I’ve seen lots of other blog posts writing about it and Twitter threads discussing it in depth. Not only that, but you then have to deal with other Instagrmmers cheating their way to followers and higher engagement by actually paying apps and bots to do the work for them. Or following you and then unfollowing you 24 hours later after you’ve followed them. It’s completely bonkers, and it really feels like the whole platform is heading for self combustion. Having said all this, I do think there is still so much good over at Instagram – I have made some really lovely friends, met some amazing people and am still inspired on a daily basis. My photos have improved hugely since my fuzzy iPhone3 images back in 2013 (yes if you scroll back far enough in my feed, you can still see them!). I think sometimes you just have to block out the negative side of it and accept it for what it is, but I think all creative platforms are facing constant challenges in this fast paced word of media.
I also think the blogging world has changed massively since I started back in 2013 (2013! A different lifetime for me!). I haven’t been able to keep up with all the hundreds and hundreds of sharing apps and platforms, I’m bamboozled by stats and figures and positively confused by SEO. I feel like I’ve been left behind a bit, especially since moving over to WordPress. All the lovely pins repinned thousands of times from my blog before I migrated to WordPress last Autumn, take you to page that says ‘This blog is no longer at Blogger! Do you wish to continue?’, which probably leaves some people terrified of what will happen if they press ‘yes!’.
It’s no longer enough to create beautiful imagery and meaningful words, especially if no one is taking the time to look at it in a world that is full to the brim with lovely blogs. I’m sure I’ll get my confidence back and find my place in the blogging world again – it’s a case of rediscovering the joy of blogging, and taking the time to learn new tricks to keep up with the incredibly savvy 20 year old bloggers. I’d really love to hear from you if you’ve been feeling the same way! It would make this little blog feel very loved if you felt like pinning an image to Pinterest, or sharing a link, or telling a friend – I’d be so grateful.
So May for me is going to be about reconnecting with the blogging world. This month I am not working away from home which I think will help hugely – I’ve felt a little disconnected from everything in April from not being at home so much. My home is my anchor.
On Saturday the children and I made it to the Waffle House in Norwich which was so much fun and very much needed! If you are in Norwich, I highly recommend it, so delicious. We then went up to St Giles church to photograph the wisteria (as I promised I would!).
I have a few posts up my sleeve for this week, including a review of the amazing Cricut die cutting machine and tons of photographs from the beautiful afternoon I spent last Friday at Jessica Zoob’s open studio!
Have lovely week.
Tamsyn x
Comments
Please do leave a comment, I love hearing from you!
It’s draining just how much effort and time it takes to produce content and engage on multiple platforms. I used to worry about it but for the last couple of years I’ve let it go and accepted that I blog for the joy of it – not in the hope of being popular or making money, so I feel rewarded by my own achievements. You have the most gorgeous IG feed and blog, you are such an inspiration to many people and I hope that you rediscover a love for your place here. Hugs xx
Hi Sophie, thank you so much for your comment, it really does make me feel better to know that I’m not alone in feeling like this every once in a while! We really do put our hearts and souls into our blogs. Thank you so much for your lovely words, I already feel much better for putting my feeling out there! Have a lovely week xxx
I don’t do Instagram, tried WordPress for a couple of days then went straight back to blogger, ive been a old fashioned blogger since 2010, for me it’s just an online diary, I don’t get nearly as many comments as I used to, mainly due to possibly Instagram etc and also many bloggers have lost their mojo!! I will keep blogging away as I love it so much, and I only recently discovered your beautiful blog so I hope you carry on to! X
Dear Pen, thank you so much for your lovely comment, don’t worry I’m not going anywhere! I already feel so much better since writing this post, and I know it’s totally normal to have a creative wobble now and then! xx
Good news! X
It upsets my the change over on Instagram, I seem to miss so many friends posts, but it’s still such a lovely place. As too is the blogging world. So for me, I’m always happy to see your lovely posts wherever you go,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment Sandra, I’m so blown away by the lovely comments I’ve had this morning here and on IG – I already feel so much better for writing about how I feel! I’m looking forward to spending some time this focusing a little more on my creative side. Have a lovely day x
I don’t have a blog, but just want to let you know how much I enjoy yours. Your home is lovely, and I enjoy your finds from sales and flea markets, as well as the beautiful flowers you photograph. I am also enjoying your new venture with your garden. 🙂
Thanks you so much Lois, so lovely to hear from you! It means the world to hear that you enjoy my photographs and words, it really does. I’m excited to share pictures of my dahlias with you when they bloom in the summer, they are already peeking through the soil! x
P.S. I read your posts from the US and enjoy the glimpses of your life in the UK. It’s too bad we don’t have allotments here.
While I am not a blogger so cannot directly relate to your heart felt words, I want you to know that you constantly make a girl in the middle of Texas very, very happy! I anticipate your posts with calm excitement and you never disappoint. You connect to my color sensitivity and spread a visual layer of sheer beauty and nostalgia to my senses.
May I thank you from a very long distance for allowing me to become a very small part of your image delicious world!
Gaylette
Ah Gaylette, this has made me so very happy reading your lovely comment, thank you! Reading these lovely comments this morning makes me realise how lucky I am to share a little bit of my world with people like you x
Hello Tamsyn, I just wanted to pop in & say that I hope you never, ever give up blogging. Your blog is one of the absolute nicest places to visit & I love it when I see you have posted on my blog roll. I love your posts & your words so much & they give us a tiny peek into your world & the wonderful things you do & create.
I am not yet on Instagram but hope to be soon due to upgrading to a new phone. So then you shall have another follower. I think we can get so carried away with stats, followers etc on the whole social media thing & that its nice at times to just remember that its a visual diary for ourselves first & foremost.
I always think you have a nice balance of words & pictures on your blog also.
Keep on doing the amazing job that you are doing!! Please 🙂
Hello Julie, ah thank you so very much for your gorgeous comment, so lovely to hear – don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere! Writing about my blogger burn out is actually half the cure, and reading these lovely comments this morning makes me realise that it is all so worth it! Thank you so much for following along, I’m really looking forward to sharing more loveliness with you very soon x
You know I agree with every word of this, well one thing is at least I found you. I don’t struggle for content and my stats say I have lots of views, although sometimes I have no idea why I’m getting loads of hits from Russia?? I think it’s normal for people not to comment these days on blogs, but we do put in so much effort for little reward. I seriously would like to form a union so we could unite somehow and have an industry standard for pricing etc, although I have no idea how one would go about this. Instagram has truly lost its joy and I really hope they manage to eliminate the bots. I have heard that they delete accounts who do this when it’s discovered, so hope that they are tackling it, but wish in my heart it would return to how it was before the algorhythm. I love what you do, you bring me joy and I truly appreciate every effort you make xxx
Hello my friend, thank you so much for your lovely comment – do you know, I think writing about it has actually made me feel a lot better, and then reading these fab comments has given me the push I need to focus! Blogging has been one of the best things to happen to me, as it’s made me connect with fabulous people like you, I just need to shout out the noise and blog with my heart rather than worrying about stats etc! xxx
I honestly don’t know of a single blogger that hasn’t had blogger burnout. I’m taking a bit of a backseat from IG at the moment as it turned from a platform I could really enjoy to just trying to beat the algorithm, and thinking ‘this would look good on IG’ rather than just enjoying stuff. It’s good to have a break sometimes, I’ll probably be back on it every 10 mins in a week or two 😉
Ah dear Tamsyn,
I think most of us feel this way at some point, you sound like you need some time out.
It is sad about Instagram, I do wonder how much longer I will keep with it, as it is exhausting making sure I manually look everyone up and like and comment in the hope that insta shows their posts in my feed, and thats just it isn’t it, if not everyone understands that, then how can the cycle ever be complete?
Anyhoo… I love what you do so don’t stop, I particularly love your blog more than anything. I consider you one of my biggest sources of inspiration and my lovely friend who I met on one of these apps… Twitter I think? And I know who to come to when I just need someone to tell me to get on with it lol. So YES, we do need you! (I still haven’t done that workshop btw).
I’m with you on the wordpress thingy, I use it for the business blog as I think its nice and cohesive, but I kept vgl with blogger, I do think it just takes practice though, and remembering to share to your google+ profile too.
Hope you feel better about it all soon xxx
Ah thank you so much lovely, you are one of the first people I met through blogging! I’m already feeling so much better for just getting this out there and reading these gorgeous comments – it’s giving me the push I need to focus, and post with my heart again rather than worrying about stats and commercial gain, so it’s all good! I’m not sure what the answer is with IG – I think again it’s a case of posting with joy rather than worrying about numbers etc – your pictures are absolutely stunning, so don’t change what you do! Really hope we can meet up in the summer xxx
Dear Tamsyn
I am not a blogger but I am a creative person with a love of words, nature and to use your phrase, my much loved home is often my anchor. I am a fourty something early years teacher who alas, feels she does not have time to feed her creative soul as much as she would like outside of work. Therefore, the select few people that I have found on Instagram to follow give me so much pleasure and go someway to help fill that void by sharing in your endevours and often giving me inspiratiob by watchinv like minded people do their thing. You being one of them. I just wanted you to know. (Writing this in my lunch window before my class return.)
Oh Tamsyn, what a great post and such a relevant topic – I can totally relate! I am SO up and down with the blogging thing, but when it comes down to it, I really do enjoy getting a post – however sporadically – out there. I’m lucky these days if I get even one comment on a post, although I can see that people do secretly view them, so that’s something! Although tempted a few years ago, I never made the transition to WordPress, ( mainly because i hate change), and i’m quite please that I stayed put, and for some reason, although i love looking at other peoples pinterest boards, I never really got into making an effort with one of my own. Instagram I absolutely love, but it’s awful the amount of old ‘friends’ that simply fail to come up on my feed anymore – It’s as if someone has chosen who I can and can’t be friends with. That said, when I get really fed up with things, I tend to take an Insta break and disappear for a couple of days, which clears away the cobwebs, and best of all, I’ve met some wonderful people such as you, that I can now count as friends, so all in all, it’s still a positive platform. xxx
Hello Paula, thank you so much, I totally agree with all of this, and most importantly you are so right about the wonderful people I have met through blogging and through Instagram. I have made some absolutely lovely, dear friends, and you are at the top of that list – how amazing is that? We really do have to see the positive, joyful side of this little online world we have created for ourselves. I think that a well deserved break from it from time to time is just what I need to reignite my passion for blogging! xxx
Hi Tamsyn! I so get your frustration, and this whole insta-blogg-everything-world feels slightly unfair very often! It can drain energy big time! Hope you’re able to stop and feel that you breath in and breath out and are present in this very moment, no matter how much instagram try to mess it up. You’re doing very well “out here”, keep up the good work! Love from Maren Ingeborg @villabetulablog
Hi Tamsyn!
I’ll cut to the chase! I dislike negativity and whinges, I just keep on doing what I love and don’t give a damn about the nay sayers cos life and blogging (and ig) is exactly what you make it ! I never take it all too seriously either.
Your blog is beautiful and I’m so pleased you are blogging again yay !!!!!
Best Ashley
Hi Ashley! Ah I know, I normally try very hard to put my fingers in my ears and go ‘la la la’ very loudly haha! You’re right though, that’s the best attitude to have about it all! Have a great weekend!
Hello Tamsyn, I do not have a blog but regularly look in on your site for inspiration it is uplifting and it helps to know there are other people in the world that love the colours and patina that you do so well. I am currently taking early retirement with the plan to start selling my shabby chic craft on line and so will be launching into part of this world which is a bit scary. Your posts on photographing have been really inspiring please keep going xxx
Hello Gaynor, thank you so much for taking the time to comment, I’m so pleased you like what I post, that means a lot! I wish you lots of luck with your new business, what an exciting time for you! Best wishes, Tamsyn xx