10 Reasons I Hate Blogging - Beyond Mommying

I’ve developed a very strong love/hate relationship with blogging lately and have even considered giving it up completely (but my supportive hubby has urged me to continue). I love sharing my stories and hearing from other mommies who sympathize with me or learn from me or teach me. But there are also a lot of things I hate about blogging:

I’m not a photographer.

I started blogging because I enjoy writing. And when I first started my blog almost three years ago, I would only add pictures when they felt relevant. I loved being able to just write, hit publish and be done. Then I learned every post should have a picture. But not any picture, a high-quality picture. And it has to be pinnable, too. So now, I spend more time taking pictures, editing them and creating graphics than I do on actually writing my content and frankly, I hate it. I don’t like the time it takes and how anal I’ve become about getting the perfect picture and having pinnable graphics.

I hate social media.

So that’s a lie, I actually love social media. I could putz around on Facebook all day and share every minute of my life on Instagram. But I do hate social media for my blog. I hate how each platform requires you to put in a ton of work through posting, sharing, commenting, liking for little gain. I hate how as soon as I start figuring out a platform they go and change their policies or algorithms and my traffic plummits and I have to relearn the “new” way to actually get my content in front of people.

I struggle to be seen.

I’ve been featured on BlogHer and published on Huffington Post, Mamalode, BLUNTmoms and guest posted on other blogs yet some of my posts go seemingly unnoticed on my own blog. Some of what I think is my best content gets only a handful of views because I have no control over who gets my posts on social media. My mommy and sister can only do so much!

Getting ideas to screen is hard.

I often wish I had a tape recorder in my head to capture all the great blog posts and ideas I think of when I’m in the shower or driving or the thousand other places ideas come to me when I can’t stop to type them up. When I was blogging daily, people would ask where I came up with ideas for what to write and I can truthfully say Ideas are never my problem (I have at least 20 swimming around in my head at any given moment) it’s getting them written out that’s hard. (And it’s even harder to get them published because of all the other nonsense like pictures that go into making a post!)

I have 4 kids.

I’m homeschooling two and also have a toddler and a newborn that are home with me. I can never finish a task without interruption and struggle to get anything done when they are sleeping because I’m so exhausted myself and just want to revel in the quiet! I’d surely be a better blogger were it not for them. (But then what would I write about?!)

There is never enough time.

I just don’t have enough time to do everything I’m supposed to do (see above point!) I’m convinced I could spend every waking moment of every day on the blog, creating content, sharing across social media, interacting with other blogs and bloggers yet still not see results. It seems I just don’t have the magic sauce to make it happen (but I’ll keep trying anyways!)

People can be hateful.

I don’t generally get a lot of bad feedback directly on the blog or my social media accounts but I have cut back and become much more particular about what I post on other sites after some really hateful (and frankly unnecessary) comments on some of my stuff. I know that I am putting myself out there for criticism whenever I hit publish and I can brush off a lot but some people don’t have filters (or a sense of compassion or respect for differing opinions and experiences) so I’ve learned how to protect myself by keeping certain types of things close to home which is sad because in a way I’m limiting who gets to see my words.

Success is elusive.

Blogging isn’t like other things where once you make it, you’re good to go. You can have one viral post that brings in crazy amounts of readers and traffic and then within a few days be back to the abysmal numbers you had before. And there are a million tips floating around out there for how to “make it” but what works for one isn’t a guarantee for all and I find myself constantly chasing those little blips in my stats only to end up right back where I started.

It’s a job that never ends.

It’s only been recently that I’ve felt like I could leave the blog for a few days (or a week!) and it not implode on itself. But generally, a blog that is left unattended does tend to slowly wither away. Blogs constantly need new content to keep people reading as well as social promotion to keep people clicking over and it seems no matter how much I try to plan ahead, I’m always still managing things while I’m on vacation, doing things with my kids or trying to generally live my life.

Blogging is always changing.

Just like how social media channels continually change their algorithms and ways they deliver content, the world of blogging itself is constantly evolving. What worked and drew readers before doesn’t work now. The rules for a successful blog aren’t the same as when I started a few years ago and trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t and what is bad form versus what’s best practice can feel like hunting for Bigfoot!

Pin this vertical, pinnable image! All the reasons I sometimes hate blogging