Thursday, July 9, 2009

Meme-holic

You know you do too many blog memes when
  • you have a meme for every day of the week, or
  • you look on meme aggregator sites like The Daily Meme for new memes because you worry there are some you're missing, or
  • you start new memes just for something to do, or
  • you can only tell what day it is by what meme you're filling out.
I do too many memes. Recently I've been participating inI've considered joining Thursday Tea, and it bothers me that I don't know a book meme for Saturday. (I even started a meme- Tuesday Thingers, a weekly meme about LibraryThing, lived on my blog for 30+ weeks before I passed it along to Wendi's Book Corner.)

Now, memes can be great, especially when you're just starting out with your blog. It's a great way to network with other bloggers and fill in those days when you just don't have anything spectacular to say. Maybe you're in between book reviews, or maybe you just want to add something a little different to your blog. That's why I joined Tuesdays with Dorie, a baking meme based on Dorie Greenspan's wonderful Baking: From My Home to Yours, and why I've considered doing Monday Movies and other non-book-related memes.

But too many memes, and the blog just feels stale- like the blogger is relying on someone else to provide the content instead of taking the time to come up with interesting posts. I know I need to cut back on the number of memes I've been doing. Granted, I was at a conference this week and didn't have time to post, so pre-packaged memes helped me fill in posts for a couple of days that would otherwise lack new content but it depresses me that up till now all I've had this week are meme posts- and I imagine it bores my readers.

So what to do? I have fun with memes. I don't always do every one listed above every week, but I usually do. But it's starting to become a drudgery. So it's time to pare down.

Sunday Salon is a general-update, free-writing meme; that'll stay.

Teaser Tuesdays can go. Same with Wordless Wednesday. Neither meme is really about writing, which is the reason I started the blog. So I'll scratch those.

Tuesdays with Dorie is fun but realistically I'm not going to complete every baking assignment every week; maybe that one will be done on a do-when-I-can basis!

Booking Through Thursday and Musing Mondays are basically the same kind of meme- answering questions about books. So one of those can go. Which one will probably vary.

Friday Finds will probably stay; I like sharing my new books with my blogging friends and it's an added opportunity to talk about books before I get around to reviewing them.

So three memes a week- that's all I'll do. Even if it means fewer posts overall, I'll leave it at that. I swear. Really. Unless I don't want to.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this! I am like 5 weeks into this reviewing for authors and connecting with fellow bloggers so I fell right into the meme black hole...
I do Monday Mind games (my creation)

Freebie Friday (also mine)

Sundown Sunday (mine too.... but the same idea as your Sunday one)

and a self created Morning Meanderings that comes out on mornings I find a great review on someone elses blog.

I t may not seem too bad, except today I did the Whats on your Desk Wednesday (yes, I know its Thursday)... and started to think about what I should do on Tuesdays.

Yeah... back to reviewing ; )

Anonymous said...

I am enjoying the memes as I just started my blog last month, but I think once I get into a regular rhythm of reviewing, I may cut back on them. But posting that link to The Daily Meme is dangerous for the Meme-holics.

Anonymous said...

I know exactly how you feel. I've cut down on all the memes that I used to do. I do Sunday Salon, Musing Mondays, and Booking Through Thursday only if I have something to say. If I feel like I don't, I won't post.It feels good cutting down on memes and challenges.

Anonymous said...

I only do maybe two a week, but if you're looking for a Saturday one, there's always Weekly Geeks ... http://www.weeklygeeks.com/ :p

Anonymous said...

I only do one, Teaser Tuesday. I am always tempted to do more because are some fun ones, but I don't like when other blogs have too many, so I try to keep that in mind. It is a nice idea to use them for vacation time though!

Amy said...

Weekly Geeks goes live on Saturday (though it can be done any day!) and I host a bookish meme for Christian fiction readers...which I don't think you are. ;-)

avisannschild said...

I've been thinking about cutting back on memes too. I do four: Mailbox Mondays, Teaser Tuesdays, Wondrous Words Wednesdays and Friday Finds. Very occasionally I participate in Booking Through Thursday as well. I enjoy them all but they are time-consuming (especially if you visit other bloggers' posts and comment every week, as I try to do)! I'm just not sure which to stop doing...

Lenore Appelhans said...

I still do LT Tuesday because it's become a habit to combine it with a picture of Emmy. And I do Waiting on Wednesday most weeks, but not all. I usually still have enough content to fill my blog with a post a day without relying on memes.

Anonymous said...

I really understand your feeling; I was making a similar observation about my own blog in my last Sunday Salon! The way I do it though, it usually posting on a meme when I feel like it; I don't commit to do it every week, but only when a question or theme appeals to me.

I think they are great though, as long as you "keep them on a leash" ; I love learning on the bloggers through them, and I discovered many great book blogs this way! :)

Meghan said...

I never did too many memes, I believe I've kept it to three or less these days. I dropped Tuesday Thingers because I needed more time for reviews and I got a little tired of a meme devoted to LT. I now do Library Loot sometimes, Booking Through Thursday if I like the question, and pretty much always The Sunday Salon. I love TSS because it's an opportunity to just write whatever I feel like; in theory I could do that any day, but I read so fast that I have reviews posting almost all the time! I need to have that one day which is free.

So, anyway, what I meant to say is that three is a good number. =)

Meghan @ Medieval Bookworm

bermudaonion said...

Hey, you need to do whatever feels right to you. I need a couple memes a week because I can't post a review a day.

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

I still feel like a newbie here in Blogworld, so it probably comes as no surprise that I didn't realize there were so many memes out there!

I started my blog with the plan that I would commit to one post a week. That turned out to be Sunday Salon as that's a great day to wrap up the week's reading.

I did a Weekly Geek or two and I've tried a Booking Through Thursday now and then, but I just don't always seem to get around to it.

It is more important to me to travel around and visit other blogs and post. I like that best.

Elena said...

I currently do one meme, Musing Mondays, but I wonder, seeings as my blog is fairly new (4-5 months young!), should I start doing more, as a way of increasing readership.

If i did too many I'd probably end up having 3 posts a day, which is a bit overwhelming for readers. but Teaser Tuesday looks interesting.

Darlene said...

I like doing memes but I've cut down and if something else like a review or whatever is on my blog that day, sometimes I won't do them at all or post them the night before. I like Cover Attraction, Waiting on Wednesday and Friday Finds because they are such a good way to find out about new books out there.

Bonnie said...

This is a great point Marie! I struggle with this as well and enjoy the memes that are more writing focused. I mainly do Sunday Salon, Mailbox Monday and Tuesday Teasers. It's about balance and change and what works for you. I do think that if a blog only has memes that it's not one I'll read that often, that's just me.

Anonymous said...

I must confess, I always skip people's Wordless Wednesday and Teaser Tuesday posts. Neither seems intersting at all.

Jess said...

I like It's Monday! What are you reading? (over at J.Kaye's Book Blog) and Friday Finds (over at Should Be Reading because I can see what everybody is reading and add some books to my TBR list.

Dawn @ sheIsTooFondOfBooks said...

Good for you, to look back at why you blog and making some changes to realign what you're doing.

I participate in memes off and on, but none on a weekly basis. It really depends on what else I have on my schedule that week, and how busy I am.

I tend to post giveaways on weekends ... maybe that's my predictable post!

Becca said...

I totally get this. I am doing too many, too. I have been having the same thought about BTT and Musing Mondays lately. They have been having similar questions and I think, well, I just answered that on the other one! Since I started working again, I have had less time to post (even if it is a part-time job, it still pares down my time) and so I am thinking of cutting out a few myself. I have never done all of them every week, just when I have something to say, but then I wonder if I am letting people down because they expect it every week. So I will come up with something similar to this this week, too, I have a feeling.

Marce said...

Marie, I can totally understanding needing to focus and concentrate on why you started blogging in the first place. I am only 1 month in and haven't decided exactly what feel I want my blog to have. I do enjoy the memes and have told myself look each week but only post when interested or if I have the time.

Honestly I don't know how some of you find the time to read as much as you do, review, blog and have a life, but I'm glad you do.