Hugh Roberts is a wonderfully entertaining blogger and writer. Recently he has been writing a serial blog story titled, The Truth App, which has caught a lot of attention and interest due to his writing style and his uncanny ability to create great suspense in his short stories. He is a friendly, likeable person who loves to mingle with his fellow bloggers.
Fun and games aside, Hugh’s recent post really hit home with me. It’s entitled, “Are You Letting Your Blog Get Out Of Control?” As writers and bloggers and people who have to still do real life, many bloggers question one another about how they handle keeping up with so many blogs to read, commenting, posting, and getting other things done. After all, there are only so many hours in a day.
I know that I have found myself overwhelmed with this same dilemma for some time now, trying to find ways to minimize my blogging time which has certainly put a huge dent into my writing time, because I enjoy reading so many blogs and interacting by commenting on many of them. I don’t want to ignore my blogging friends, and I certainly don’t want to stop replying to those who take the interest and time to read and comment on my own blog. But it’s approaching the time where I have to reorganize my priorities, and when I came across Hugh’s new plan to organize his blogging time, I found myself in agreement with his approach and in the next few weeks I’m going to try and restructure my own blogging system.
In these past few weeks, WordPress has been doing some wonky things to my website and causing some sign-in confusion with several of the blogs I subscribe to. My original subscribing method when I started blogging was to ‘hit follow’ on the top tool bar of the wordpress blogs. When I came across other bloggers I wanted to follow and wasn’t finding the ‘follow’ button, I signed up for emails of those posts to come to my inbox. Through the past few years, I don’t need to tell you what my inbox looks like. But to make matters worse, WordPress keeps changing things with the way their program is structured, and in the past few weeks I found that when I visited many of the blogs I follow, I noticed on the top bar of those blogs that it wasn’t recognizing me as a previous follower. So I began hitting ‘follow’ again.
As though I wasn’t getting enough posts by mail, WordPress then began sending duplicates of the blogs I was already following and receiving in my inbox, even though the top bar had told me I wasn’t following. When I hit ‘follow’ again, I got double the emails. Now I think this has something to do with Google thinking I’m two people as I have two Google pages (one of which I hardly use), and I have two Google email addresses. I think depending on where I’ve last signed into and then go comment on a blog, that’s how WordPress recognizes me, so don’t be surprised if you’ve seen my avatar on your blogs twice beside the ‘like’ button.
With this all said, I think I’m going to start unfollowing the blogs I enjoy from WordPress, in efforts to reduce my overwhelming email, and instead, just subscribe to those blogs and then I’ll just receive the direct emails from those blog posts. That will be a start to decluttering. As for plan B, have a look at Hugh’s idea for blog organization below:
“If I had children I would do all I could to make sure they never got out of control. I do the same with my dog, Toby. When he was a puppy I took him to training classes and, on the odd occasion when he does disobey me, I put what I learned at those classes into place to make sure he behaves. Fortunately, I’m pleased to say that he behaves most of the time.
If we can do this with our children and pets, then shouldn’t we also do the same with our blogs?
Occasionally I hear other bloggers say they feel guilty because they do not have enough time in the day to read all the newly published posts of the blogs they follow. This is also true of myself. . . .” Read more below:
Source: Are You Letting Your Blog Get Out Of Control? | Hugh’s Views & News
D.G. Kaye©September 2015
DGKayewriter.com 
Much of the same happening to me. Also I love Hugh and find his blog very entertaining and helpful and yet somehow I missed this one of his. Good post, thanks.
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It seems many of us travel in the same blogging circles. The good things is we will usually find a great blog reblogged again for those who’ve missed. 🙂
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I know the dilemma Deb, and I try my best to follow that given advice… Oh and I agree about all the changes that spring up.. Glad to say though the disappearing comment boxes have now subsided… So some one kicked some gremlins out 🙂 thank goodness..
Hope your week is not too overwhelming at WP xxx Hugs Sue
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Lol Sue, you do make me smile. I’ve noticed quite a few blogs lately, with author overwhelming views on keeping up. I thought Hugh’s blog was a great plan to organize. 🙂 Have a great week my friend. xo 🙂
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You too xxxx
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I’ve been having the duplicate emails too,though thankfully not in huge volumes…the inboxes are already bursting at the seams. There seems to be a bit of a wave of feeling about tidying up at present.
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Interesting to find so many of us in the same boat. Hugh’s post was timely! 🙂
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Perhaps if wordpress stopped twiddling with things that do work and allowed us a better set up with how we follow folk, it might help….
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That would sure help a lot Sue. We often get sidetracked with the technical shenanigans that happen with WordPress which can become quite a time suck at times. 🙂
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I could live without some of the ridiculousness…
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Ditto that! 🙂
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We have had problems with our email account this entire day. First of all, my husband got flooded with all of my email messages this morning (TONS since this is launch day for my weekly blog!) Then I was blocked from sending out my own email messages to various and sundry people/agencies, signaled by a terrorizing ERROR message. However, I think we may have gotten that problem solved after a day of phone consults. Oh, dear God, I hope so!
Fortunately, at this moment, WordPress is not causing me trouble. But I don’t want to push my luck here. I see your post hit a nerve. Carry on, Debby. And remember to breathe!
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Wow Marian, that sounds like a scary email situation – your hub was getting your emails? Almost sounds like your email got possessed. And then you got a terrorizing error message? Make sure all your anti virus is functioning. As you know Marian, in this technical world, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. This week WordPress is behaving for you, and apparently not for others. How often do we hear about glitches from others? It’s good to share our computer woes because there always seems to be someone else who falls into the same shoes and is grateful to hear the advice from someone who’s just been there. I hope your issues are fixed. 🙂
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Great stuff… Blogging can certainly become exhausting at times… Even more, when we are trying to enjoy our time beyond the screen… I guess that when it happens (or when we feel so!)… we should step back a little bit or post less often… However, I think that we shouldn’t put blogging aside! (Ever!) 😉 Balance is the key…
Love and best wishes, dear D.G! Aquileana 😀
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Hi Aq. Thanks for your feedback. I think we both feel the same way. Of course we love our blogging and reading, but we need to enjoy doing other things that life has to offer, sometimes, lol. Blogging is addictive and we should organize ourselves so we can find that equal balance. It’s important to me to respond to my readers, after all we write for them, and they take the time to read. So I’m thinking the more posts we put out a week, the more time will be spent reading and commenting. I personally like to put out 2 posts a week. And I know you post once a week (mostly). Of course your blog is always so detailed like a history lesson and involves quite some time to put together, not to mention the huge amount of readers and commenters you reply to. That’s dedication! 🙂 ❤
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I think that WP is switching from computer/laptop use to smart phone. That’s why there are so many user unfriendly changes taking place. The “follow” on the WP black bar has been replaced by a tiny pop up in the bottom right hand corner of visited page. I regularly check ” Blogs I Follow” by clicking the wheel next to “Blogs I Follow” on the Reader menu on the WP bar, keeping them to below 80. I don’t follow post-a-day or single photo posts. This keeps my Inbox at a workable number. I also post once a week (same time, same day) which brings back the fun in blogging which gives me time to set up another fun post for the next week and time to visit all the blogs that have Liked or commented on the current post.
Interesting post Debby. Love Ralph ❤ x
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Amendment ….. I have just checked the Reader menu on the WP bar and they’ve changed “Blogs I Follow” to “Following” 🙄
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Thanks Ralph. I’ve seen that also, only I seem to be following some blogs twice from 2 different google email addresses, and some by email yikes! I will start unfollowing those that I’m following twice, so don’t get scared if it says I unfollowed you, because I won’t, LOL ❤
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Thanks for sharing your discoveries here Ralph. I’ve seen the little ‘follow’ on the bottom right, but my double follows occurred while that option was still on the top bar. And I do know your blog technique (after so many years lol) Your posts are always so entertaining, humorous and I’m sure take quite some time to put together with your little captions, photos and funnies. I also don’t like to blog more than twice a week for same reasons, plus I’m also working on my books, so the time tick tocks away. Thanks so much for adding your comments here. :)xo
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Hi Debby, thank you so much for publishing this post and for including me in it. I am flattered that many professional writers like yourself have found my recent blogging posts to have been so helpful. I’m a great believer in helping others where I can and I never imagined what kind of an impact those blogging posts would have. It’s sheer delight for me to know that they have gone a long way to helping out bloggers, writers, authors and anyone else who gets overwhelmed by the whole blogging experience.
I’m so delighted that you are enjoying reading my current short story series, The Truth App. I’m just about to publish part six of the story and hope it will keep all of you that are enjoying it wanting more. I’ve already planned another two parts of the story but may extend it a little.
Once again. thank you so much.
Best wishes,
Hugh
xx
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Hi Hugh. No need to thank. As you know, I like to post about helpful things for writers here and your blog post really hit home with me. As you can tell by the comment I left you on that blog, I thought your organization process for keeping on top of blogs was fantastic; something I’ve found myself struggling with a lot in this past year. I love your theory and plan on applying it. I have to find a way of ‘unfollowing’ some of the blogs I seem to be following twice with my alter ego, lol. Thanks again, and I look forward to the next part of the Truth App! 🙂 ❤
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Here’s the response I left at Hugh’s site. Thanks for your reflections. We are jugglers.
“Thank you for sharing your sensible system. I’m rarely a ghost follower. If I like it enough to read it, I respond most of the time. If people blog more than once a week, then I usually limit my responses to once a week. This makes me limit the number of bloggers I follow. My priority is writing, I remind myself. It’s too easy to spend hours reading blogs instead of facing my own blank page.”
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I love this Elaine. Thanks for sharing your own strategy. I’m thrilled with the feedback and ideas I’m getting from this post to help make my blogging life a little easier. I’ve also noticed I get duplicates from my subscription to your blog. Don’t fret if you get an ‘unsubscribe’ from me soon. I wouldn’t dream of leaving, lol, I just don’t need two notifications for every email. Somehow I must have signed into many blogs with my alternate gmail address which is sending same blogs to both addresses. 🙂
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Great post. My blog is a personal diary of my treatment for PTSD. So If I have to make a choice between reading and writing a post, I choose to write. I do try to keep up with everyone and I am blessed with a core group of readers. And yes…I don’t know why the programmers would remove the easy to find follow button with a pop up button that doesn’t pop up automatically and then vanishes when you try to click it. I sometime think that programmers don’t use the software or lose touch with those of us who just want the program to work.
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HI Robert, thanks for visiting. It seems this post has garnered a lot of attention because so many of us share the same problem trying to prioritize our writing, yet keeping up with the blogosphere. Thanks for chiming in. 🙂
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You’re welcome. There is much to learn, and fortunately there are also people from whom to learn.
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DG, I soooo relate. Every issue you mentioned, I also have. But I have not been successful in dealing with it yet…
Have a fabulous Friday. Hugs
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Hopefully all the lovely comments here can help give you more organizational ideas Teag. It’s amazing to know we are all facing the same overwhelming emails. Have a great weekend. xo 🙂
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I caught myself kind of using the WordPress follow button like a bookmark, and I hate to think of how many blogs I technically follow! I eventually came to a similar solution to yours, and email subscribe to those I know I want to read on a regular basis (plus I have a special folder set up for them all to go straight to, so they don’t get lost in my inbox). I also use Evernote for bookmarking and have an ‘interesting blogs’ notebook in which to stash anything I’d like to get around to exploring properly but am not quite sure if I want to subscribe… maybe it is more complicated than I thought!
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I do the same with Evernote Claire. I’m so happy to get feedback from so many wonderful bloggers here, as we all seem to be in the same boat with overwhelming inmail. Folders are a great idea! 🙂
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Hi Debby,
I featured this post of Hugh’s in my Weekly Link Roundup.
I am the Janice messenger service here to deliver you my latest post since I know you aren’t receiving them anymore.
http://wp.me/p6x6vQ-1pp
Did you get my message that you are not on the Email list or the WP.com list?
Please sign up again, so you don’t miss my posts. Thanks!
Janice
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First of all, LOL – the Janice messenger! Ok, so I left you a message on your blog last night saying I was ‘unfollowing’ and resigning up for your email instead. When you fill in your email, a message pops up that says I will get a confirmation email. I never got it, after 3 attempts, and I was afraid I was going to get 3 emailed subscriptions. This is crazy! I will pop over now and try again and message you the results. Oh and thanks so much for sharing my post! 🙂
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In response to your post, I have heard others say they have a problem with duplicate Emails from the same person, but I “only” get duplicates from one blog.
Janice
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Interesting! Consider yourself lucky, lol.
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I understand this dilemma and recently my inbox became clogged with pages of notifications. I stopped all notifications via settings on WP and now trying to keep up via the WP reader….but…. blogs like yours (that don’t show up on my reader) might not be coming through by email, so I will refollow by email and see if that fixes… oh what a palaver 🙂
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Thanks Cat. Yes, I posted awhile ago that my blog may not show on reader, that’s why I have ‘follow this blog’ by email on my sidebar. Many don’t realize that when someone self hosts, they may not get WP reader exposure. 🙂 Thanks for signing up.
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Did you start off with WP, Debby? or did you go straight into self-hosting? Sometimes I have problems commenting. Today I couldn’t reply via my notifications, but only for your blog, I had to visit the site to comment
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Yes I did Cat. And after a year or so, wordpress won’t do a lot to help out a self hosted site. That’s why I have a ‘follow this blog’ on my page to subscribe to posts, for those matters. If you subscribe and get a post by mail, you are able to comment through there as well on reply, or if you’re reading the post by mail, just click on the link of the blog to comment, that way you don’t have to type in the url to get to my site. I hope this helps, I know it’s so darn confusing. I think wp just makes things harder as time goes by for those who went self hosted. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day my blogs aren’t even on the reader anymore. 😦
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I don’t know if I got this post. When was it published? I usually get your posts. I subscribe. I am linking back to your post in my post tomorrow. I’ve never written a post about a reaction to a post before. I agree. You touched a nerve.
Janice
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Thanks Janice! I posted this Wednesday. WordPress has been acting weird for many lately. My box is full of duplicates. I’m wondering, did you sign up for my posts here on my page, or did you start following my old page on WordPress, like I see many people do, which gets redirected here, but soon it won’t redirect. Many people aren’t aware that by signing up direct on a page for posts, they don’t have to rely on the reader. 🙂 You will notice I unfollowed your blog by reader, and now only receive posts (I hope) LOL
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But you are not following at all. I checked my Email list & my WordPress list.
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I am now! 🙂
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Hi Debby,
You are still not on my Email (or my WordPress subscriber list).
Concerned I missed getting this post, I tried to subscribe again since you mentioned a new site, but it said I was already subscribed.
Janice
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This is a comedy show already isn’t it? Janice I’m in, I got the confirmation, I joined from my other email, d.g.kaye.writer. Have you checked your emails in the last hour? LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
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Thanks for the reblog Janice! ❤
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Internet sites are a bit like supermarkets, aren’t they? Continually changing which aisle you can find stuff in, apparently to keep your experience ‘fresh’.
I prefer to know where I’m going so I can keep the time spent at a minimum.
Rather the same with WordPress and its frequent changes – I so wish they’d leave it alone, on the grounds of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.
Obviously this will never happen, so I recently had a sweep out of sites I was getting emails from, and now just follow them via the reader when I have the time to look. I keep only my favourites coming in by email (which includes yours, of course), and it has freed up a whole load of time, especially on Monday, when most people, myself included, seem to blog as we are told it’s one of the best days of the week to do so.
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First of all, I’m honoured, lol. And it seems so many are not happy with the constant changing of the wordpress forum. I like your method of organizing the emails by reader but if you scan down the reader, will it show you all the blogs you follow, or only what’s currently been posted by them? Also, there are some blogs (like mine) that the reader won’t always include, or should I say with the changes, may no longer include my posts because I’m self hosted and I think WP will no longer link my old blog to this one. So, if people don’t subscribe to my blog they may lose access to my posts. This whole guessing game can be so annoying. But I’m glad you’re still around here Deb! :)<3
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I realise I will only see the most recent posts from sites I follow, and I may lose some altogether, as you say, but that is why I’m keeping on with emails from my favourites 😀
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Okay, I hear you. Just wondering what the reader is doing these days. And from the reader, you can always click directly on the post and look for other blogs there if you wanted to. I like your simplicity! 🙂 PS Check out my latest blog, lol.
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Yay – congrats on the new book, and thanks for the shout out 😀
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Thanks again Deb! ❤
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A new book! Congratulations! I read your comment, I’ll tell Merri. I am linking back to this post AGAIN in my Sunday article. Goes live at 2:00 am California time.
Janice
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Thanks Janice! You’re a doll! 😉 ❤
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It’s got to the point for me that if I get down my e-mails under 40 a day then I’m keeping up. My e-mail box (mostly from bloggers) usually has close to 90 a day and so I too have to adopt a system; otherwise that’s all I’d be doing . No writing. No spending time with friends. No cooking. No going to yoga classes.
I am trying to respond less often but with better quality. Sometimes though I just click a like because I want the person to know that I appreciate his/her post but either don’t have time to leave a comment or have nothing in particular to add.
Hugh’s system makes a lot of sense. I also find myself adding bloggers that are more in line with my target audience.
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As usual Carol, we’re on the same page. 🙂
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