The Quiet Concert: The Funk is Over!

Jan

2015

The Funk is Over!

Welcome to Thoughts for Thursday! This feature is our outlet to talk with you about whatever we currently have on our minds. It might be bookish, it might not! Now for this week's thought:

The Funk is Over!

For a while there, I felt like I was in a review-writing funk. For some reason, the words were just not coming to me and I was really struggling to write my reviews. I've never been one to crank out a review in 20 minutes, like I know some of you can, but I could usually write one in, say, an hour once I got going. But it stared taking me SO LONG just to write something that didn't suck and that caused me to keep putting off writing them. I've had this happen before, but not for this long a period of time and that's when I really started to worry that I had somehow burnt myself out - why else couldn't I find the words to express myself anymore? I was scared of what that would mean for this blog if that continued. I didn't want to be forced into taking a break, but for a little while there, I could see no alternative...

I don't know if the funk was a consequence of me being overwhelmed with everything going on in my life - I was super busy and stressed for a while there - but it took a very low-key Christmas break for me to finally ease out of it. My Fall semester of school ended, work slowed down over the holidays and for the first time in forever, I had consecutive days in a row with nothing to do except unwind and relax. I had plenty of time for reading and blogging and it was around then that I noticed I was getting my grove back.

As I got back into the swing of things, I realized that confidence had played a role in my review-writing funk. During the funk, I was beginning to lose confidence in myself as a reviewer, but after writing a few reviews that I was proud of with relative ease, I started to regain what confidence I had lost and things just kept getting easier. I knew I could do it and so I did. After a couple weeks like this I have caught up on reviews for the first time in a long time and I feel like I am on solid ground again, which feels great when starting a new year.

I don't know if those of you who regularly visit our blog noticed any difference in quality - I tried not to publish anything that wasn't on par - but if you did, thanks for sticking it out with me.

Now to turn it over to you guys, has this ever happened to you? It's super scary and I'm wondering how you might have dealt with it. It took a well-timed break for me to recover but I was lucky for one of those. Is a break from blogging the only answer otherwise?

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mel1704 86p · 533 weeks ago

I didn't notice a difference, I think you (and Ashley) are a great reviewer, but it's good to hear you are back and confident in your work again :)! I sometimes have certain books I just can't review. No matter how hard I try, it never turns out the way I want. I've had it with Heir of fire for about two months now, so frustrating.

1 reply · active 532 weeks ago

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Nicole · 532 weeks ago

I definitely struggle sometimes to review books I LOVE LOVE LOVE, like Heir of Fire. It's so much harder to say why you immensely loved a book than why you didn't. But I knew my funk was more than just that since I was struggling with EVERY review. But yes, glad it's over and thank you!

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Nick · 533 weeks ago

I go through funks like that too and make the decision to step away from the blog to re-energize. I always come back feeling refreshed and with a new found enthusiasm for review writing. As bloggers, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves I think. I always fear that if I don't produce new reviews frequently, I'll lose my viewers. I have to remind myself that this is a hobby more than anything else! Hopefully, you won't go through anymore funks, but don't put too much pressure on yourself! :)
Great post, Nicole!
My recent post Blog Tour Stop : Origin of Angels by Christie Rich

1 reply · active 532 weeks ago

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Nicole · 532 weeks ago

I am so afraid of taking a blogging break even knowing this is just a hobby and I am doing this for me! I put so much pressure on myself and I don't know how to stop. :( Even though I hope I don't go through any more funks it's entirely possible I will and I might have to force myself to step away, as scary as it might be! I do think it is healthy to take breaks...

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Kay · 533 weeks ago

This is kind of weird and I know you kind of already know this from my posts about being behind in reviews, but I JUST had a review funk. Sadly we were review funk sisters. I never felt like writing them and when I did I was pretty sure they were crap. It was frustrating and very worrisome. It didn't help that I had this huge pile of post-it notes (notes from books I read) staring at me every day, just sitting there on my bookshelf taunting me. Then I saw this review pile up type post over at Buckling Bookshelves and knew it would help my problem. I wanted to start the new year off on the right foot, so I wrote a handful of mini reviews in compiled posts (they will be up on my blog later this month so you can see what I am talking about) and now I am back to never having more than three reviews to write at a time and so far so good. I like mixing up the type of reviews (mini, straight to the point, gif, like and dislikes, etc.) to keep it fresh, but I can honestly say that once I got through that big pile I felt a hundred times better. I now enjoy writing reviews again and it seems to come a little easier.

Don't worry, I have loved every review you have written and didn't notice any difference. I'm so very glad you are feeling better about writing reviews! You are a great reviewer, remember that. :)
My recent post Series Review: His Fair Assassin by Robin LaFevers

1 reply · active 532 weeks ago

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Nicole · 532 weeks ago

I definitely agree that as reviews stack up the feeling intensifies and can become SO overwhelming. I am going to make a real effort this year to not let that happen but with school that can be hard. I have tried switching up the way I write my reviews in the past and have found that that helps but my reviews sometimes take a life of their own. My problem is that I am the type of person who needs the review to come out perfectly the first time - like I can't move on to sentence two until I am happy with sentence one - but sometimes it's best to just get your thoughts written down even if it's a jumbled mess. *Sigh*. I'll work on that too. At least I am good for now and hopefully this doesn't happen to me again anytime soon. *knocks on wood* I am glad you were able to get out of your funk too. And thank you for the kind words!

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inspiringinsomnia 26p · 532 weeks ago

I feel like I could have written this myself! My review funk has lasted five months and counting. When I stopped blogging in August, I think it started a vicious cycle: I'm not blogging, so therefore I cannot review. And then: I cannot review, so I cannot blog. Mine wasn't so much a lack of confidence as the belief that I was physically and mentally incapable of writing a review. (Or IS that a lack of confidence? LOL.) The problem was that I had a whole bunch of e-ARCs that were published during my hiatus, and I HAD TO write something about them. I knew a full review wasn't possible, so I thought, "Well, perhaps it will suffice if I just wrote two or three sentences on GR. And I couldn't even do that!

When I forced myself to come back to blogging last week, my first review was a negative one, and it somehow just flowed out of my head. Well, "flowed" for me - I'm not one of those 20 minute review writers, either. And I started to think, "OK, I can do this." But then yesterday, I wrote my second review, and it was a positive one. And it sucks. And I knew it sucked when I clicked "Publish." It's a couple paragraphs of a synopsis and a sentence saying, "I liked it." But it was for a finished hardcover provided by a pub, so I didn't feel like I could avoid posting at all, or just trying the "two sentences on GR" approach. So now I'm back to thinking I cannot review.

As for you, I KNOW you know how to review, and I'm glad you got your confidence back. Would you send some my way? :)
My recent post Review: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

1 reply · active 532 weeks ago

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Nicole · 532 weeks ago

Steph, no lie, your reviews are among my favorite and that is why I am so happy you are back. I have always found them to be insightful and well written so I KNOW that YOU know how to review too. So I hope you start believing in yourself again too, because you are an asset to this community! I PROMISE! I think we all go through these struggles...

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joyousreads 92p · 532 weeks ago

Woot. So glad you're over the funk. It sucks when that happens. I also managed to crank out a few reviews. So much so that I've got a full schedule for the next two weeks. WHAT?! I know right?

Looking forward to reading your reviews, Nicole...I mean. I always do anyway. Lol.
My recent post Confessions of an Addict [#35]: Unrelated Observations and Pointless Conclusions.

1 reply · active 532 weeks ago

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Nicole · 532 weeks ago

Thanks Joy! It is so nice to have reviews built up, isn't it! This is the first time Ashley and I have schedule ahead (more than like a post or two) for at least a year, I think and I feel so much more relaxed.

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littlebookstar 68p · 532 weeks ago

Yes! I used to write reviews very quickly, but my review funk didn't start until last year. I could see why since I was in an on/off blogging and reading slump. When I got back into my blogging mood, I kind of wrote my reviews slower and a bit unorganized. I think another cause for the funk is that I feel like I'm just repeating myself in each review that I write. A lot of books that I've read are similar, and often I feel the same thing for the books that I have read.

1 reply · active 532 weeks ago

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Nicole · 532 weeks ago

Ugh I can so relate to this. In fact, I think this is another common problem we bloggers face - reviews sounding them same. When you've been reviewing for a while, and reading all the books, there are only so many ways I can say you liked something, hah. Especially since you can only give away so many details to avoid spoilers, so that vagueness adds to the sameness from review to review!

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Pam@YA Escape · 532 weeks ago

Well, I love your reviews, but I understand when it's a struggle. I feel like I just say the same things over and over and over again, and I don't know how to fix that. I've actually been thinking about taking a break, but then it makes me a little sad. Right now I'm reading books I don't plan to review (they're adult) and it's pretty nice to just read and not worry about reviewing. It's going to catch up with me soon, though.
My recent post Stacking the Shelves (78)

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musicplusbooks 59p · 531 weeks ago

I've recently gotten out of a pretty big funk as well. I just found it so hard, almost impossible, to start writing. Once I do, everything just sounds rambly because my thoughts were bouncing around for too long. I think I've gotten a lot better so hopefully I can keep it up. Best of luck Nicole!
My recent post STS #56: Must Catch Up With ARCs