Monday, January 12, 2009

Blogpression

I apologize for the lengthy hiatus I have taken. I have a good reason.

Alright -- perhaps not a GOOD reason, but a reason.

I have "blogpression."

I realize that I may catch flak from those of you who have suffered true clinical depression. Well, flak away; I believe that I am currently in the midst of a form of depression.

It isn't writer's block: I've been there before and this ain't it. It also isn't burn-out; I was pretty burned out after NaNoWriMo, but this? This is something different.

I am not sure what it is. Perhaps I am still feeling a little post-election let-down. Maybe it's the cold outside? A rare form of influenza? Whatever it is, I just cannot seem to get up the "oomph" to post a blog entry. I still have some ideas, but they just are not popping up as frequently as they used to do.

Is this common with bloggers? Does it always happen at some point? The constant gasping for mental breath?

I want to blog; I want to share my thoughts with you. I really do. I just cannot seem to actually get the words down in pixels, though. Not even a post about religion. Not even something humorous, pithy, or sarcastic. There's always something else that I can do instead. The mere thought of blogging is as daunting as preparing for a marathon. And all of this is really bothering me.

And it's not just writing; I don't believe I have visited my "daily read" blogs more than maybe twice since Christmas Eve. Again, it's not a lack of interest -- just a lack of... something else.

Please. PLEASE, gentle readers. If you have any thoughts or suggestions -- or even just words of empathy -- please let me know.

Yes, I know this sounds like a shameless plug to get some responses. I don't mean it to be. I just need some of you in the blogosphere to give me some hope that this will pass and that this blog won't just turn into a stagnant pool of muck.

Please?

6 comments:

Scott B. said...

We don't know each other, but you aptly described the exact same feeling I've been fighting with for about a month or two (I hadn't heard of the term 'blogpression' before, though).

I've done a bit of reading, and it seems like most bloggers do this from time to time, especially following a big upswing in readership or a big event (say, the election for you)...there is the need to let things settle for a bit.

I don't have many solutions or ideas for you, but one I've been toying with a lot is employing more guest-authors to take up some time while I figger out what my issues are.

Iguana Montana said...

Welcome, Scott, and thanks for your comments.

It is good to know that I am not alone out there. My Blogpression (a word of my own creation, so far as I know) seems to be slowly lifting and I had a couple of really good ideas for posts yesterday. Maybe all that is needed is to force one's-self to actually just write.

Break the logjam as it were.

I am still down, but I think I am on the upswing. I am still eager to hear any other ideas, though.

Janci said...

Sorry, no ideas, but I can at least say that I know exactly what it is that you are going through. I'm having the same problem (though judging from your post you haven't noticed). I have tons of stuff to write. Have even saved drafts of several posts. But I just have not gotten around to actually sitting down and writing and posting like I used to. Like you said, there's always something else I could be doing. I'm no help, but at least you are not alone in it.

Peter R. said...

I think I know what you mean. I occasionally hit spells where I feel completely unispired. It's not that there aren't interesting things happening upon which I could copiously opine. I just don't feel like it. I usually get over it by posting a few crap posts (usually in the form of lists or links to someone else who is doing a good job blogging) and eventually I get the spark again.

James said...

What you are describing is certainly very real. My wife has suffered from depression at different times in her life and I wish it wasn't so real because it effects every aspect of life.

I was a missionary for LDS family services for a while and I was able to meet some very good people, including general authorities that have some very strong feelings about depression and how to help cope with it.

In any case, we miss you on our blog as well. Your voice of reason has been missed and is still very welcome.

Michaela Stephens said...

I understand what you are going through too. I'm fighting it as well. Janci has the right idea--keep trying to write and save the posts you generate even if you don't feel up to posting them. (I have a folder called "In Progress" with about 20 different posts that I have accumulated from fits of industry that couldn't be finished for whatever reason.) When I'm in a deep "blogpression" and don't feel like generating anything from scratch, I open my "In Progress" folder and start rereading the stuff in there. I may find something that just needs a little tweaking before I post it. Sometimes it is nice to tweak and revise on those days when I'm not up to generating material.

Another thing you can do is comment on other people's blogs if you're not up to posting on your own.

Blogging is a complex process.
It requires something to say.
It requires time to formulate what you want to say.
It requires energy to generate the thought and words and overcome the writer's block.
It requires the desire to say it.
It requires confidence that what you say is worth saying.
It requires conditions in which other things of greater or equal priority are not clamoring for attention. (And of course there are those of us who blog in spite of higher competing priorities...)

You'll make it through! New thoughts will come!