Death By Blogging. It sounds like the title of a cozy mystery novel. Maybe I'll even use it. (I have dibs if not already taken.) But this is for real. This isn't a mystery novel and it isn't a joke. According to the New York Times, not just any fly by night news agency, bloggers are falling dead of heart attacks with no other apparent cause of death. Here's a snippet of what the article says, "
They work long hours, often to exhaustion...Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla. blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack and in December, another blogger died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third blogger survived a heart attack in December..."
They acknowledge that this is not exactly an epidemic, but is of concern. They also attribute blogging to high stress, weight loss and weight gain, and other ailments. I mentioned this to daughter #2 just now and she was like "Ohmigod, Mom, you've got to get off the computer. You're too stressed out. Take me to the batting cages instead of Borders..." (Where I was going to work on books). Unless there's an energy vampire sucking the life out of bloggers through the net, then I presume that it's overwork in general or perhaps close proximity with the computer for too long, that's the real culprit. This is far different from the post about dreams I had intended to post. I'll leave that for tomorrow or tack that on later tonight. What do y'all think? Do you stress yourself out blogging? Or working in general? Are we putting ourselves at risk? I also have another question. It seems that gay romance is the big seller right now, that it winds up in the #1 and #2 spots on my publishers' top ten bestseller list. My daughter #2 says that's mainly what she finds in the mangas and fanfic, that she has to search hard to find an old-fashioned man-woman romance. Soooooo, do we all start writing gay romance if we want to sell a lot of books? Do we follow the market? Do the majority of readers really crave this type of romance???
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11 comments:
woah!! hehe... I actually find that Blogging is a great stress reliever rather than stressful! Especially the 'vent meme' *GiGGLeS*
And as for the gay reading... I don't really mind either way... romance is romance... it's all good! :-)
Oh BTW, I've got a 24 Hour photo post up now if you're interested and don't want to miss it! :-) xx
Write what suits you - you can't follow everyone else. The market is cyclical and will eventually swing away from the gay market
Hahaha...and when I wrote my gay romance, I thought I was going to come under fire! I probably still will...all the 'heat' is behind closed doors! But as it won't be submitted for at least 4 years, maybe I'll be comfortable enough to put it back in by then.
Death by blogging...my family had threatened to 'kill' my computer if I don't cut back, ha ha...I used to be checking it every hour or so; now it's maybe 3 times a day. And they still say it's too much!
Depends. If I feel like I committed to something then yeah, I get stressed. But typically no, not stressful.
I never found blogging stressing, in actual fact more of a relief, until my bloglines got over 130 bloggers on it, and if I don't read for a couple of days, have loads of posts to catch up on, and get stressed if I don't. I'll quit blogging before it gives me a heart attack! lol.
I'm pretty busy here, but I find blogging to be enjoyable. I don't think I stress too much over it.
I know I shouldn't only follow the market, but one of my publishers did advise that we do so - at least to a point.
I tried that and wrote a vampire romance. It was one of my lowest sellers even though it was supposedly so popular. And my contemporary comedy romance that's not supposed to be a great seller (flooded market) was my best seller by far.
But it still makes me wonder when I see that CL at TEB usually has 6 or 7 books, all MM, in the top 10 and that out of the new releases, the only one to go top 10 this cycle, is the one that is MM. It also happens to be vampire. So I do go hmmmmmmm.
My friend Linda at work tells me I'm over analytical. In my management training session this morning at the day job, we were told that we must be alert not only to the content of questions but intent. I was thinking, but I get overly intent on the intent already. :) I have to pull back and try not to read too much into people's words.
Molly - why are you waiting FOUR years to submit anything? What gives?
Vi and Corky, I guess the grass always seems greener as I would love to get so many comments and have such a loyal following on my blog. I'd be in blogger heaven!
How do you guys do that, btw???
Hi Ashley - I find blogging de-stresses me! I think the risks come from sitting in front of a computer all day, eating, snacking (gulp) and not doing any exercise or even going for a walk. (looks away sheepishly).
As for the writing - I agree with amarinda - write what suits you. You'll chase your tail otherwise as the market is so fickle. Anyway, if #2 daughter had to search for an old fashioned romance, maybe there is a niche in the market for more up to date old fashioned ones!
My editor tells me over and over--write what you truly want to write...all the other stuff is just stuff. I really don't do well with stories my heart isn't in. So don't worry about popularity. People will read a well written book that grabs their hearts.
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