I’m feeling stressed about working on my book. I have to get a draft together for the spring tutorial for my Stanford writing certificate. My parents will be living near me for two months, so we will be compressing a lot of visits into that time period. And lately, every day work gets out of hand and I don’t get to my writing.
So I was thinking that it would be smart to re-post or re-blog some posts that I liked but that didn’t get a lot of traffic when they were first posted.
But how do you feel about re-posting versus re-blogging? If I re-blog, you will have to follow the link to get to the original post. That way you can join the commenting over there, if you see fit. If I re-post, you get the whole post on the page, looking fresh as the day it was written. And it would start with a blank slate for commenting.
I’d like to start this right away and keep it up until fairly early in January. I’ll still be around to read other blogs and to respond to comments, but the time I would spend writing posts probably ought to be spent on the book for the rest of this month.
So which is it? Re-blog or re-post?
Thanks for taking the poll and letting me know how you feel!
On another note, when my kids were in town, we all went to see the ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo. We had a good time together, although I was not impressed with the customer service of the zoo management. Here are a few pix from that night.
I could have written this post myself, Luanne. I’ve been contemplating doing the same during the holiday season. Coming up with ideas and writing posts steals my free time that I really should be using to work on my book. I vote to re-post!
Thanks, Jill. I appreciate your vote! I hope others will weigh in and let me know. I agree with you that you need to work on your book. Unless we just start posting paragraphs from our books, we are never going to finish otherwise! I have heard of people doing that, but I always go back and revise so much I can’t imagine any tiny section that wouldn’t be changed haha.
I don’t see anything wrong in re-posting. If you spent a lot of time on a particular post and it was only viewed a few times because your audience was smaller at the beginning, you’re giving your current followers something new. At least that’s how I see it.
It’s a bit like regifting in that it has good intentions but it isn’t the same thing. That’s a tough one. When I want to scoop out time to write I will sit down and prepost several entries spacing them about five days apart. Posts don’t have too be long to maintain presence. A quote, a list, a photo all contribute to your blog presence.
Happy writing!
Cricketmuse, ugh, I was hoping it wasn’t like that, especially since I spent sooo much time writing some of those posts and only 25 people have viewed them. I thought something I had put so much heart and time into would be more meaningful than a quote written by somebody else?
It’s frustrating, isn’t it? Some posts get attention and others don’t. It’s hard to figure what attracts attention.
I think this is a great idea – a way to get posts you really liked back into the world to be read by more folks. I like the cleanness of re-posting vs re-blogging, but I’m also feeling I want to know they were from an earlier time. If you can do it in a way that tells me you’re honoring your book-writing time and you’ve picked some of your favorite posts, I’ll know what’s going on and may actually be MORE inclined to read the posts (which I do anyway – 🙂 )
Ellen, thank you so much. Yes, I should have explained that I definitely will start off each post (if I re-post) by saying that I posted it earlier and why I am doing this. I appreciate your input!
I’ve been doing this from time to time too–sometimes because like I don’t seen to have time to blog that week, or sometimes because I just need some downtime from blogging, and sometimes because I really liked a post and want it to get more readers and comments. I usually just reblog it. So I’ll be interested to see what your survey recommends. Best of luck with completing your and writing certificate.
Deborah, I have noticed that you do re-blog (is it re-blog or reblog?) and I like to read work you’ve posted before that I haven’t found. I admit that I rarely go into archives unless I am directed there. Otherwise I probably would never get anything done hah. Thank you for your wishes for me with the certificate!
I voted for reposting because I love pretending, and pretending with others is even more fun!
Love. this. comment. Hahaha, YES!
I may even resort to similar pretending on my own blog, of which I’ve been horribly neglectful. 🙂
I’m with you and Jill.
Thanks, Anneli! The actual votes are 50-50 right now because most people who have read haven’t responded to the poll, but I do like the idea of offering stuff I worked hard over to more people when not too many read to begin with . . . .
That’s what happened with my blog too. I have some not too bad posts in the early days, but I didn’t have as many followers then. I’ve been tempted to re-post them, but wasn’t sure what to do.
I think I may have broken the tie (for now) when I voted for re-posting.If there was originally little feedback on some of these hard-work posts, you are not really losing much, and you’re also giving a heads-up that it is a re-post to keep things “honest”. I think it’s a great idea. To me, it is quite frustrating when you take the time to write something original from your own experience that gets little feedback, while other bloggers can quickly post someone else’s quote or cute photo and stimulate some comments and tons of likes. To me, that’s what Facebook is for. While I’m ranting, thanks, Luanne, for sticking with my blog that is sometimes all over the place and perhaps overly personal and hard for others to get into. I appreciate it!
And as of now re-posting has won! Yes, I think I will re-post and even provide a link to the original in case anyone wants to see comments over there. I rarely look at the stats page of my blog, but I decided to see how many views some of these posts have had and I was shocked at how low some of them are, even after all this time. I do know what you mean about a quote or a photo that gets so much attention after you work so hard and spend so much time on a longer post. I think people use their blogs for different purposes, and I want to keep the focus I’ve created on this blog and not use it as an all-purpose. Because, yes, that’s more like Facebook for me. On the other hand, I love some other blogs that are just like that! Thanks for letting me know your thoughts, Ian!
Enjoy your break!!
Well, not a break, but at least more of a writing focus on the book for a change.
Just re-post it, and put a link to the original post if people want to check out the original comments. 🙂
Yes, I like the link idea a lot. Doing that. Re-posting won.
I go for re-posting… I’d wondered about doing exactly that myself – enjoy your break, and have a happy Christmas
Thanks, Valerie. Re-posting won, and I will be doing that. I’ll let readers know I’m re-posting and provide a link to the original. You have a lovely, magical Christmas!
I’m trying to figure out how I’ve managed to miss your recent posts! You’ve been so kind in coming by and commenting on my blog. I guess I still need to work on how I have subscriptions set up 🙂 Anyway, I voted for re-posting and am glad to see it won 🙂
I always feel rushed while I am reading, posting things and checking up on my friends and fellow bloggers! The changing holiday scenery is so beautiful and very nicely presented. Happy Holidays and I am blessed with your continued support of my posts!
That’s how I feel, too, Robin. You’re not alone!
Pingback: Dutch-American Elms | Writer Site
Best of luck on your book writing. Mine has really taken a hit this month as I prepare for baby (so has blogging), and I look forward to getting back to it when some of the dust settles over here. What am I saying? It probably won’t settle for years…so I’ll have to figure out ways to adapt. But good idea on the reposting. Look forward to reading!
Oh, how I laughed when I read your rephrasing here. Hahaha. But I don’t want to discourage you by telling you more about THAT story ;). You are in a great place to have to slow down a little for the new baby. So much better than I was when we adopted our kids. I was starting with everything all at once. If I had taken the time to get a better headstart on where I wanted to be before the kids things wouldn’t have gotten so bogged down for me. So you will be fine!
Thanks so much for the encouragement. I need it right now. I am swimming in baby details and in danger of losing focus on the book…which I guess is okay for awhile, as long as I come back to it (which I plan to). To everything, there is a season, I guess!
Hi Luanne,
thank you for liking buddhalaugh. i appreciate your support–If i only had more time to read!