Today, I write with a sadness hanging over my heart. I know this might be unexpected but it has been coming for a while now. This will be the final post of The Bibliophagist. Blogging has been amazing, one of the best things I ever started. I’ll start with the good…

 

Blogging has brought me so many great friends. It’s introduced me to an entirely new world of people who love and cherish books as much as I do. The blogging community is full of amazingly talented and supportive people. People I am sad to be leaving, but it is what’s best for me and my health. The Bibliophagist was a great way for me to practice writing and stretch my creative muscles. Despite all of that there was a lot of time that I had to put into it. That is where the bad things come in…

 

Blogging is not easy, it takes a lot of time and effort. You have to be active in the community, commenting and sharing other people’s posts. That in and of itself takes some effort and time. On top of that, you need to write new posts regularly and they have to be creative enough or appealing enough to draw traffic to your site. Sometimes it is really hard to come up with new ideas that have not been done before. As you all know, I am a book blogger. Being a book blogger, there is an entirely new layer of stress and pressure added. The constant pressure to read a high number of books, the newest releases, etc…it can become too much. I am a person who tends to get stressed out often because I take on too many tasks or I internalize things. It was all becoming too much.

 

Every night, or nearly every night, I was writing a new blog post. It seemed as if I almost lived in front of my computer. Which, I guess would be true either way because I am working on my first ever book. Writing posts takes up so much time, a few hours each day. It took away from writing my book as well as just reading. Speaking of reading…I was pressured to read so many books. Trying to keep myself relevant and active I was trying to read two books a week. I’m a mom so I don’t have a lot of time to read throughout the day. However, I hold many other titles; office manager, safety and compliance officer, freelance proofreader, freelance editor, beta reader, book reviewer, member of B.L.O.G. Unwritten Magazine (publishing and editing department), and housemaid. That last one was a joke but basically true. My days are always busy and full of things to do with not enough time to get things done.

 

I decided this was my best option, what was best for my mental and physical health along with the happiness of my family. Not having this blog is like not having a part of me, but it means more time to spend with my boys and you all know my kids are my life. So, as sad and heart wrenching as it might be…this is what I feel I need to do. Maybe it will just be a temporary break and I will come back after a short amount of time, we will see. I leave you all with happy thoughts and I hope to continue to interact with all of you on Twitter. I will keep my WordPress account open so that I can continue commenting on your blogs and support you.

 

As for all the books I’ve agreed to review, I will still be reading and reviewing them but I will post on only Amazon and Goodreads. I will continue reviewing on Netgalley as well. I hope you can all understand why I must do this and that it really will benefit me. I hope that maybe when I get things settled a little bit I will be able to come back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh…you are still here. Well in that case…

 

April Fools!!!!

 

I do apologize to those of you who thought I really was leaving. I could never do that, I love you all too much. The Bibliophagist is something I started for myself. Yes, I don’t have many followers but I don’t do this just for the numbers. This is my way of connecting with like-minded people, those who love to get lost in a fictional world as much as I do. I’ve met so many great people through the blogging world that I would hate to miss out on potential new friends.

 

On a side note, Blogger stress is a real issue that we need to recognize and deal with. A lot of pressure comes with blogging but we need to remember to take time for ourselves and enjoy life. Don’t feel crushed by the pressure to compare yourself to others or be “as popular.” Be you. That uniqueness is what will bring people to you. Interact on social media but don’t live on your phone. With your eyes on your phone, you miss so much of life. Take a deep breath, go outside, and enjoy a nice walk. If you are questioning why you started your blog, go back and read this… reasons you should start a book reasons you should start a book blog. Remember this is something for you, not the numbers, popularity, or free books.

 

That being said, fear not…for The Bibliophagist is not going anywhere. I do have some fun posts coming up. April is filled with events for me…blog tours, #OWLsreadathon2019, Camp Nano…I’m one busy woman. But I’m a gluten for punishment, I continue adding things to my pile of tasks to get done. I hope you all have a great start to your month, watch out for those pranksters today!!