Several years ago I read a humorous blog post by comedic mystery writer Anne R. Allen about “slow blogging.” I laughed and enjoyed it, but I was also relieved. Back in 2012, most successful bloggers were recommending that anyone who wrote a blog should post something new every day.

I’d never attempted that schedule. I knew I’d spend all my creative energy on my blog and have nothing left for writing my novels. But I worried about my choice to post something new only once a week.

Ms. Allen’s thoughts on slow blogging reassured me.

She listed eight benefits to less frequent blogging, some more serious than others, but the gist of it was that you’d probably have an active blog for many more years if you paced yourself, you wouldn’t overwhelm your blog readers, you’d enjoy it more, you’d have time and energy for writing novels, and that quality over quantity would draw an audience.

With Ms. Allen’s bolstering behind me, I carried on posting once a week, missing only a few times when a cold virus laid me low or a family emergency pulled me away.

Then, in the spring of 2015, I found myself head down in my doorstopper novel Fate’s Door. I had four other stories that I planned to publish on the same day that I released Fate, and it had been over a year since I released anything new.

I didn’t want to take any time away from the novel.

So I didn’t. My blog languished while I wrote 2,000 – 3,000 words a day of fiction. And I refused to feel guilty. Surely, when you were on a hot deadline, skipping the weekly blog post was the very essence of slow blogging.

I finished the novel at the end of July and sent it off to my first reader.

Then I returned to writing blog posts with what seemed pent up ideas and vigor. Not only did I write that week’s post, but I wrote extras to have ready when my first reader gave me her feedback and I dove back into the novel to revise it. I ended up with more than a dozen blog posts “in the bank” by the time I’d completed two revision passes on Fate, prepped all five books for release, and then clicked the publish buttons on Amazon.

I envisioned those extra blog posts as lasting through a good portion of the time it took me to get well started on my next novel. Especially since I felt moved to write a new addition to my banked posts every now and then.

We all know what happens when plans meet reality.

In my case, the retina of my left eye tore, taking me out of the writing game completely for a while. Then I discovered that my next novel required a lot more research and world building than I’d realized. And here I am, nearly 40,000 words into that novel (which feels great, btw) and every single one of those banked blog posts is up and live for you to read. 😀

(Except the one announcing the paperback edition of Fate’s Door, which (a) can’t be posted until that paperback is available – soon, and (b) probably won’t ever be posted, because I’d written of the the newly released novellas making good stocking stuffers and the new novels being great for under the tree. Yes, it was December then, while the Fate paperback will be released this June. I’ll need to draft a new announcement.)

My deadline for Tally the Betrayals is not nearly so pressing as the the one for Fate’s Door. But I’m totally immersed in the world – the Bronze Age of my North-lands – and I don’t want to take time away from Tally to research the blog posts I have swirling in the back of my mind.

I’ve already been a bit erratic in posting my last few posts, waiting until Saturday, or even the next Monday, before I clicked the “go live” button. I thought about skipping this week’s post altogether.

But then I realized I could give you all a head’s up. Tell you that I’m head down in Tally and that blog posts may be sporadic for a bit. I enjoy blogging a lot. But right now, Tally has me in its grip. 😀

ETA: In the comments below, Anne R. Allen – author of the post on slow blogging that I mention above – said: “I guess maybe it’s time I blog about blogging again.” While I was reading her blog a few days ago, I discovered that she’d made good on that promise. As usual, the post was excellent, I’ll share the link: What Should an Author Blog About?

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