To blog or not to blog?

Well, when I said I was going to get back to a regular blogging pattern this month, I guess I kind of underestimated how many other demands would be placed on my time. It’s been a pretty hectic couple of weeks. On the bright side, things are starting to settle down, and it’s looking like I’ll get to take that long Memorial Day weekend like I was hoping.

Of course, when you’re a freelancer, “things settling down” usually is code for “I have no more work lined up so I’d better start hustling to find some before this latest infusion of money runs out.” Incidentally, if you need to have a book critiqued, edited or formatted, my schedule’s wide open after the holiday.

Sooooo…

I’m kind of at a crossroads as far as this blog goes. I’m writing this book about self-publishing, and yesterday I was writing about author platforms and how all you really need is a mailing list and a website where you can have people sign up to it. You don’t really need a blog, although it does have certain advantages, the biggest of which are that it gives people a reason to keep coming back to your site and it keeps your website relevant to the search engines.

And I stopped and asked myself: do I really need this blog?

And then I answered myself: I’m not sure.

Really, those last two reasons I mentioned are the main reasons I’ve been concerned about carving out time to update this space. But really, the only things I’m getting out of it at this point are guilt and stress. I’m certainly not getting a ton of traffic or a grounded community of loyal readers. I get a little interaction, but only from people I already interact with regularly on Facebook. For that matter, anyone who really cares about what’s going on in my life follows me on Facebook or Twitter and are kept fully abreast of how things are going, and anyone who cares about my writing and when I will finally get around to finishing and publishing another book is presumably signed up to my mailing list.

So exactly what purpose is this here blog serving in my life at this point?

I’m going to be pondering that question over the next few days, and what the alternatives are. I’m pretty sure I don’t actually know how not to be a blogger, at least long-term, so we’re probably not looking at a complete shut-down. At the very least, I may leave a link to the archives on a static author website, and update it sporadically when I’ve got news or just need to get something off my chest. But as far as spending the time and energy to blog on a regular basis, that time and energy would probably be better spent on my writing and publishing blog, where it’s a little more crucial to get some traffic flowing.

So, that’s on my mind. What say you, readers? If there’s anyone who would really miss it if I stopped blogging here regularly, now’s your time to speak up.