The future of the blog (my blog)

*Tumbleweed blows past*

...Yeah, it's been a little quiet around here lately hasn't it? I feel guilty that I haven't been around much, but the truth is I have felt so poorly lately and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better any time soon, and I just feel so exhausted all of the time.

BUT the thought of just not blogging at all makes me feel so sad and just annoyed at myself. I really want to keep this blog alive, and so this is what I have concluded.

What do I love about blogging?
Well, first and foremost I just love the real sense of community online, and how friendly and warm other bloggers are. Actually, book bloggers are awesome people! I love finding out about what other people are reading, stalking the blogs of people who read similar books to me, finding out about new and upcoming books, and getting excited about books that I wouldn't otherwise have heard of if not for reading book blogs.

For my own part I enjoy the actual art of writing, and using my brain and language to get my own opinion across. I used to always want to be an author or writer of some kind, but as time has gone by I've just completely lost my confidence in my ability to do it. But with writing the blog, there is no pressure, no deadlines- I'm just writing when I want to/ am able to, and I'm not writing to earn a wage or anything- it's just something for fun, writing about things I'm passionate about- YA books. It feels good to create something, and work at stringing meaningful words and sentences together- even if all it is for is a short book review and not a novel.

So I don't want to give it up entirely but I have come to the decision that I am not going to feel any pressure or need to get a blog post out into the world- if I don't post anything for a couple of days that is fine.

I will write for myself, and for the love of it, and if anybody else wants to read what I write then I love them for it, but I'm not writing to specifically please anybody else. I won't be trying to just put anything up just because I think that other people will expect it.

From now on...
I will not be taking part in any new blog tours or review requests (apart from those I have already committed to) until I feel confident again that I can follow through on any advance planned commitments, simply because I feel so bad if a publisher has given me a review copy of a book and then I'm ill and unable to provide a timely review. I have also missed one promised blog tour stop and I feel terrible about it. So from now on- I make no promises to anybody about what will go up on the blog.

I also won't accept or ask for any more advance galleys, simply because it's not fair on the publisher when I read them all and then cannot provide a review. No more galleys until I am majorly caught up on book reviews. (Bye Netgalley- I will miss you!!)

So, to sum up, I think I'm coming back to my blog now- and look out for a much more regular blog in the future. Or at least I will try!