burn baby burn (friendly friday: blogger's burnout)

Last week, when returning a comment to Veshoevious of Taxonomy of My Wardrobe, my attention was drawn to a post she did called 'Friendly Friday: Copying.' Intrigued, I applied and was accepted into the group.

Today's questions are on Blogger Burnout. I'm illustrating it with shots all taken with my husband, Mr. Dot, during a walk in Hampstead Heath last sunday.


Thank you to Katy at Modly Chic for making me feel welcome on this, my first week, and to Veshoevious for doing the post that got me there. If you want to join, just ask Katy.




1. How many hours a week do you spend blogging? Has that number changed since you started blogging?

I'm trying to calculate and it's scaring me: if time 'spent blogging' includes street shooting, fashion weeks, press events, photo editing/adjusting colour balance/dodging and burning.. replying to bloggers' comments which means getting lost for hours in other people's blogs.. PLANS with 'blog friends', sending them and doing posts on THEIR shots.. I'd say more time than I spend sleeping or time I spend with my husband. Not to mention the time I spend thinking about what I'll post and the actual posting process... I'd guess 40 hours in a 7 day week.
That number hasn't changed: I keep thinking it will be less time but these days, it's actually more, with the socialising and what I call 'admin' factor.




2. There is always more you can do, write, read, comment on... how do you limit your time spent on these tasks?

I don't! Hence the burnout! (See above.)



3. Have you experienced Blogger burnout yet?
Oh yes.

How have you dealt with that?

At times, I've posted about it. Sometimes.. it's like with breaking up with a boyfriend, have you ever secretly broken up with a boyfriend as in when they leave that morning you swear in your head you're broken up but by that night you're with him again? Or you are broken up, have a fling, realise a day or two later where your heart is, and he doesn't even know you've broken up. It's sometimes like that.




With regards streetstyle shooting: for example. I saw this girl (and in the top shot) just as I was thinking that I haven't been doing enough going up to strangers and posing them in the middle of the shot (vs the type in the rest of this post: just shooting them documentary style). I asked her and she said she was doing something similar, as a school project (hence the camera).

If you've been here before you might remember me ranting for a while. I'm not yet burnt out on blogging, but rather, lately at the process of going up to a stranger, doing my whole blah blah blah pitch. PLUS in the time since I started (Feb 2009) so many more people are doing 'street style' blogs that it's not feeling new or interesting to me - as much.

(I'm also - and this is going to sound terrible but I'm going to say it - I'm now at a point where the people I actually know, the friends and people I know at fashion week - sorry, but they're starting to be more stylish then the strangers on the street!)

I also then correspond with the subject, send them photos.. all this takes up a lot of time.

That said, I can't help it: all my life, even as a child, I've noticed what people are wearing, where trends are going - it's part of my soul and I could no sooner switch it off than to lose my interest in art, music, food, films.. LOVE - and while I shot so much else that day that I, personally, find fascinating - like this robin that we spent so long with we almost took him home as a pet for the cat - I do find that, when the situation arises, I'll shoot strangers' style. And that is probably the longest run on sentence I've done to date.



My particular burnout isn't necessarily blogger's burnout: it's more specific. Street Style Blogger's Burnout, perhaps. But you lovely people have made it clear to me, publicly and privately, that you connect with what I'm doing. Which is why the burnout seems to pass. So far. And the support of the 'blogging community', as I find my way and my blog evolves... it's extraordinary. Just when I think 'this is a waste of time' I get an eloquent email, like I did last night, from Julie Collier, a displaced Australian from Sydney, living in Manchester, and I know why I'm doing this. The love far overshadows the pain in the ass-ness.

Which is why, despite the burnout, so far, I still ultimately end up posting.




4. This time of the year is always a lot busier than any other time. Will your blogging change as a result?

If you mean the Christmas season, that isn't the reason for my blogging habits changing. It's more that when it's cold, I can't 'street style' shoot in the same way.

My blog has already changed in the past 20 months of its little Blog Life: I started out only doing street style, and lately because of everything else (see above) my posts are increasingly not street style. Hence using these shots to illustrate this post. I'm still looking to report on what people are wearing, but because the weather is colder, 'street shooting' is more about cold weather gear - to get people's 'styles' it's more often inside - for example, at a party or press event.

5. Could you forsee a moment in which you are not blogging anymore?

Of course.

How would you you identify that it's time to walk away?

Excellent question. I haven't a clue. It's like with breaking up with a boyfriend: it's such a hard call. In my case, Reader, I married him.