Fantasy Dreamer's Ramblings

I use to read about three to five books a week. Now I’m down to about a book a week and this has been really bothering me. Plus I keep buying books but when I look at my bookshelves, I feel a little depressed because of all the unread books I see there. And I’ve actually started feeling guilty when I buy a new book because of all of the unread books on my shelves. Also, I’ve found myself leaving comments around the blogosphere like, “I’ve bought this one and I hope to read it soon.”, when I use to read books as soon as they were published.

Your probably wondering what has slowed down my reading, right? Well it’s blogging. I love blogging and I started it because of my love of reading but for the past several months, blogging has slowed down my reading. A lot. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy blogging and visiting everyone’s blog, and I feel guilty when I don’t. Also, I’ve met many new book friends through blogging and it’s introduced me to many new authors and books that I feel I would’ve otherwise missed out on. But I work full time and I still have a family that depends on me in the evenings after work. So in the evenings after everything has settled down, I can either read or go blog hopping and/or write up a blog post. I’ve been trying to do it all, and have experienced a serious lack of sleep because of it. I’ve come to the realization, that I just can’t do it all.

And I also feel like I’m doing more of my living in the online world instead of going out and experience it because of the need to be tied to my laptop. I’ve actually stopped working out and taking my dog for walks to get to the settled down part of the evening quicker. And maybe the house isn’t as clean as it use to be. I want to do these things again and I’m sure a cleaner house would benefit everyone.

Some of you may think I sound whiny or selfish, maybe both. But you know what? I can’t help it, I’m just not happy with the state of things right now. Because, being book readers yourselves, would you be happy? The thoughts of the holidays coming up have actually made me feel a little panicky because I really don’t know how I will be able to keep up with everything. Maybe I’m just putting too much pressure on myself, but I’ve always given most anything I do, my 100%.

All the above has brought me to a blogging dilemma. I’ve been trying to find a comfortable groove in the blogging world but I have yet to find it. So, I’ve actually been thinking of hanging up this blog and just be a casual blog reader while hanging out on Goodreads and Twitter, and let them be my medium into to the book world. Because I do realize when it comes down to it, I’m just a reader.

But on the other hand, I don’t want to give up my blog. I have a Catch-22.

What I’m asking here, how do you do keep up with the blogging world and have a life outside of it?

Surely, I’m not the first person to have this dilemma in the blogging world. Right?

This is not a farewell, I just thought I’d post this question out here to see what everyone else thought or if anyone had any suggestions. I have a couple of reviews I still need to post and a few other blog obligations before I make any decisions.

Funny, the song by The Clash comes to mind, Should I Stay or Should I go?