Musing Mondays #4

Posted August 18, 2014 / Musing Mondays, Weekly Memes / 11 Comments

musing monday

Instead of the [other] questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
TOPIC: Book blog posting schedules and “original” ideas vs. memes

This topic has been on my mind a lot lately. I came across a post about how memes are less original than other types of posts. To an extent, this is true.. The point of memes are to get people talking and link up with other bloggers. Without memes, I wouldn’t know of some of the bloggers I’ve come to enjoy following. I started this blog with the intention of reviewing books and giving recommendation lists, without much of an idea of what book blogger sites actually look like. I started seeing these weekly meme posts on some blogs and thought it was such a cool idea to generate conversation, especially when you’re not sure of what to post. I quickly engulfed myself with five different weekly memes (one for each weekday). I never really consider it a chore to make these posts; I enjoy them. Sometimes it can be tedious but mostly it’s rewarding. Once I link up with others, I bring traffic into my blog and can talk with other bloggers. I can see what books they’ve added to their TBR list, what books they finished, and one some of their all-time favorites are. I don’t think that keeping up with weekly memes is unoriginal. Everyone curates their own lists and content for their posts. It’s not like everyone out there is responding with the same answers. I can see that it isn’t completely original because you’re relying on someone else to supply the topic, but you’re able to share your picks and get feedback – who cares why you’re talking about it as long as you’re talking! I decided to cut out one of my weekly memes because I didn’t enjoy the topics. Otherwise, I’ll keep up with my four other memes until I decide I don’t want them anymore. I don’t join these memes because I have no original ideas of my own – I join them to follow along with other people and see how others answer. Sometimes I feel like I post too much when I have 3 posts in one day, so I hesitate to create any more original posts on top of those and completely flood everyone’s feeds. Maybe my memes are holding me back in that way. I guess I just need to allow myself to do whatever I want – allow myself to skip a meme for a day if I can’t think of a good enough answer. My posting schedule consists of four weekly memes, a review every other day, and whatever bookish challenges I’m participating in. Generally, I will post 2 or 3 times per day. Once my 30 day book challenge is over, I’ll be down to 1 or 2 posts per day. Is this too much? Not enough? I’m curious about other people’s thoughts on this. I don’t often get annoyed by blogs posting too much. I think the one type of post that does bother me a little are cover reveals – just because that day I see the same book cover on countless blogs.

What do you guys think? Are memes unoriginal – the less memes the better? Do you like memes for the reasons I do? How often do you post? What kinds of posts are more annoying than others to see?

2014-08-02 22.50.11

11 responses to “Musing Mondays #4

  1. What an interesting topic – I have seen blogs I love that participate in lots of memes and those that do none and I can’t say I prefer one style over another. In some ways as you say, it is good to go through posts on a ‘meme’ day to check out what everyone else is reading; I try to keep Tuesday evenings free because I participate in Should Be Reading Teaser Tuesday and I find that is a great way to see what everyone is reading and get a small taste of the book at the same time.
    Memes are also useful if you are busy as they can be wholly or partly prepared in readiness for the right day which is great. As my blog is really a review blog it would be fairly empty for most of the week if I didn’t participate in the memes and I do like to give a shout-out for the books that are on my TBR.

  2. I like this post, and I totally agree that memes can offer so much, and since we can prepare our own topics or thoughts, what is unoriginal about that? I am annoyed when some say things that downgrade how others are blogging. We have the opportunity in our blogging life to write about what pleases us and connect in our own ways. Without memes, I wouldn’t have “met” the bloggers who show up now for my reviews and my “original” posts.

    Thanks for sharing! And here’s MY MUSINGS POST

  3. I started participating in a few memes when I first started my blog–as a way to connect with other bloggers and because at the beginning I really had no idea what I was doing! 🙂 I still participate in several weekly memes, but if a topic just doesn’t work for me, I have no problems skipping a week or two. I think memes are a great way to connect with bloggers who share your interests–I’ve started following a lot of bloggers who I never would have “met” if it hadn’t been for memes!

  4. I’m decently new to actually doing memes. I used to just post my reviews. Although, I started to see a lot of memes and decided it was a great way to have conversations. I do one a day, skipping Thursday and Sunday. It’s fun to see what everyone else things about a book or idea. I’m decently new and so I think it’s a good way to start following bloggers. I don’t know if that will change in the future but so far it’s pretty fun! Here’s my Monday Musings

    • Yep! It’s fun and a good way to get started. I have a feeling I’ll cut back at some point but it’s nice to have something to post regularly, especially if my reviews aren’t coming as much as I’d like

  5. I like the conversations that memes start. I always find it fascinating how a bunch of bloggers start with one topic and spiral into a million directions.

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