Get Up Offa That Slump: A Blogging Extravaganza - The Positives of Blogging

Hello, all! Welcome to the finale of Get Up Offa That Slump: A Blogging Extravaganza! This extravaganza was a three-week long partay consisting of blog posts that hopefully did a number of things: got you back into blogging and reminded you how fun and creative blogging can be. To learn more about this shindig (all the cool kids did it, just an FYI), you can check out the introduction post here and join in anytime!

Now, for today's finale festivities:

Here's the prompt: It's THE LAST DAY. I hope you've enjoyed the Blogging Extravaganza and that it's helped to give you a gentle shove back into blogging, and that it's given you some blogging inspiration. For the last post we're getting just a wee bit serious. Even if you're struggling with blogging, you're still here and you're still doing this; there's a reason why you don't want to quit blogging, and you know there's a light at the end of the tunnel. So tell us: Why are you still here? What makes blogging worth it? Why is it so fun and fantastic and you don't want to let it go? Why do you love it? (And the goods outweigh the few hardships, don't they?)

Here's the thing about blogging (at least for me): it's really hard for it to not feel like work (minus the lack of a paycheck). It's the stress of having to get things posted and trying to get them posted by a certain time and hoping that people will actually look at and read it. Sometimes blogging feels like a chore or a homework assignment and I don't want to do those. Sometimes blogging is hard.

But.

It's impossible for that to outweigh the positives of blogging. We're all here for the books, yes? And sure, sometimes I get to read a book early because I got an ARC but that's not what blogging is about and that's not what I mean when I talk about books. I always call the Twilight Saga my favorite books because yes, I love them, but also because those books made me a reader and aspiring author. If I wouldn't have read Twilight I don't know that I'd have a room filled with over a thousand books, library fees of over forty dollars, or that you'd even be reading this post right now.

Blogging is like Twilight. Just like that book opened a door full of endless piles of books, blogging stretched that endlessness into infinity. If not for blogging then I wouldn't know that so many wonderful books exist; I never would've read some of my favorites and I wouldn't be anticipating books that sound amazing. I'd be stuck seeing what's at Target and Barnes & Noble, and let's be real--their shelves are only a minuscule fraction of all the sensational books that belong in my hands.

And yet, sometimes blogging is about more than books--it's about people. Whether you're a blogger or some friendly bookish folk following all the book-related accounts across various social media apps, you're a part of something. This thing. If you were to gush about a book to a non-bookish person they'd roll their eyes and wait for you to shut up already (and you know you can never shut up about some books). But here, in this bookish community, we all understand that feeling and we all just get it. We get books. We get freaking out over words and characters and stories and maps and ships and endpages and covers and book deals and fiction we wish was non. We may be in our corner of the world, but we own it and it's a pretty big corner. I love it.

Sometimes I think about leaving blogging. I wonder if it's worth it. I wonder if my blog is worth reading and if people actually do and if the time I put into it is a waste. But I think leaving all this would be hard. I mean, there's still Twitter and Instagram and Goodreads and all that, but blogging is another way to release all those bookish feelings and emotions and rants that non-bookish people don't understand. If I'm not blogging about books, even if I struggle with finding inspiration and the motivation to post, then what am I doing?

But there's one more thing about blogging that's simply spectacular. I'm an introvert and I don't hang out with a lot of people in real life and I don't have that many friends...aside from all of you. I have a plethora of friends on the internet. Granted, I may "know" people more than we're "friends." And I always worry if people I'd consider my friend think I'm their friend too and if I annoy them. But I've gotten to know so many bloggers and authors and book-types and fictional characters through this blogging, bookish world--I haven't even met the majority--and it's created this very nice sense of friendship. And I'm grateful for that friendship.

Blogging isn't always easy and it isn't always fun. It can be hard to balance with school and work and life and reading and motivation and inspiration. Sometimes it's filled with drama and sometimes it's filled with this collective freak out over one specific book. It is, in a sense, a very, very mad world. But if you ask me, madness can be a good thing. Your blog is a blank canvas: do something--anything--with it.

WELL! I hope you enjoyed Get Up Offa That Slump and that it helped you in some way, shape, or form. Whether you did one post or all ten, I greatly appreciate your participation in this blogging extravaganza. I'd change some things if I did so, but would you be interested in something like this happening again? Also: THANK YOU.