Just Say No to Blogger Guilt

Are you reviewing enough? Are you reviewing your ARCs by release date? Are you even reading them all by the release date? And what is with that huge TBR? You're not falling behind, are you? If you fall behind, you'll never catch up. Oh, and while I'm at it - that author you LOVE, yeah - you hated her last book. What is that about? Now you have to review it. What are you going to say? You're totally going to hurt her feelings. You suck.

Book blogger guilt. It's dangerous. It can spiral out of control into the dreaded blogger burnout. I think it's time for many of us to take a step back and realize that the pressure we're under - well, we're really putting on ourselves.

We all want our blogs to be fantastic. We want to offer fresh content as often as possible. We are so enthusiastic about the books and authors that we may get a little out of control at times. We set ourselves up for disaster and eventually it gets us.

Never feel guilty for not reviewing enough. Are you reviewing at least one book a week? That may not sound like a lot, but that ends up being 52 books a year. Over 50 books that you managed to read and then sit down and write a thoughtful review about, while juggling real life. That is awesome.

Never feel guilty about missing ARC release dates. So your review didn't go up by release date. So what if it's a few weeks, or even months late? I'm not advocating requesting ARCs you know you won't be able to review on time, by any means, but life gets in the way sometimes. As long as you had planned on doing it on time and then managed to follow through on the commitment when you could, you've done all you can. Try not to make a habit of it, but no one expects you to be superhuman.

Never feel guilty about your TBR. Yeah, I know. It's huge. And growing. It's taken on a life of it's own and may someday kill you in your sleep. Those are just the risks we take as book lovers. But seriously, all those lusted after books made it to your shelves and stare at you with disappointment. I get it. I've got over 800 surrounding me right now. I will get to them. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, or in the next few years - but someday. When the world gets crazy and we slip into the world of Fahrenheit 451 - I'll hide these suckers and have years of secret enjoyment before I run out. See - glass half full.

And never ever feel guilty about not liking a book. This is a big one. Before book blogging, most of us never even considered an author when forming our opinion of their book. But now we're telling the world our opinions and yeah - the author will probably know we disliked the latest book. And yes, that is a frightening thought. BUT, you're all about honesty as a reviewer. Sure, you may be her biggest fan on the entire planet - but if you didn't like the book, you didn't like it. No amount of beating yourself up is going to make the book better.

As a blogger, what makes you feel guilty?