Sorry that I haven’t posted a second blog this week until now. First there were grades to turn in for the end of term, manuscripts to read for fellow writers, then the flu knocked me onto the couch for 24 hours, and when I pulled free of that all I wanted to do was revise my novel and finish the baby’s room in the two weeks (just two weeks!) I’ve got before fall semester starts.

Oh, and I had an ultrasound Tuesday that estimated my baby’s current weight at 7 pounds, 9 ounces. Um, I’m only 36 weeks along. This means the baby’s either coming early or he’ll be 9 pounds by the time he gets here. Yikes!

So yeah, I’ve been feeling like it’s time to concentrate on finishing my novel before it gets shoved down to a much lower priority. A writer friend of mine sent me fantastic chapter notes that I’m working from right now, and it’s exciting to see how close I am to being done, finally doing much smaller revisions than I have on previous drafts.

But in the mean time, I’ve obviously put off blogging.

It’s sort of a tricky question as a writer. To blog or not to blog until you’ve published is a debate all by itself, some people telling you that agents and editors will want to see your web presence while others say it’s completely unnecessary. But then what about once you’ve established a blog and you’re trying to maintain followers and consistency? Should the blog come before your work on your writing? Which is more important?

The writing is, and yet  . . . the blog’s important, too. I admire writers who find ways to balance both, consistently posting interesting blogs without sacrificing too much time on their manuscripts.

So what do you think? Where are the lines? How do you find that balance?

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9 thoughts on “To Blog or to Revise?”

  1. Good post. I have the same dilemma. I think that I’m beginning to find “that balance” though. Unlike you, I’m not writing a manuscript but yesterday I wrote a short story and thought, “this would be good for my blog”. So I posted it on my blog and people loved it.

    So at least for me, instead of separating blogging and “writing”, I write for the sake of writing and let the rest take care of itself.

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  3. I struggle with this all the time. I think my blog schedule helps, because it means that on the days when I’m not supposed to blog I can (hopefully) work more on my book.

    I also try to combine my blog with what I’m working on or reading. Like I write a review a week for the books I’ve been reading (I’d read them anyway, whether I blogged about them or not), and then I always come across interesting issues in my writing or in newsletters I get, so it’s just stuff that I’m thinking about anyway. (And the blogging actually helps me improve my writing because I’m really thinking about writing technique.)
    Not that those things make me perfect in balancing, but it helps. 🙂

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    1. I agree. All that does help. I usually blog about some issue I’m working out in my writing or something I came across in a book. It’s definitely good when it all ties together like that. 🙂

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  4. The writing’s always most important. But I also think the blog can help the writing, whether it’s getting the old neurons firing, or finding community.

    As always, though, if it gets to be painful, stop! 🙂

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    1. Amen to all that. I really love blogging, actually, but I think I’m going to have to cut down to once a week for a little while until I make it through the end of pregnancy and the first six weeks of babyhood.

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