2) Myself, although I do receive replies to posts when I haven’t written in a few days asking where I am, which is nice, makes me feel like people are wanting to know I’m okay.

3) I don’t manage my time well. I usually get online when I wake up in the morning, but I know I shouldn’t, as it causes me to have to hurry with other things. I get online when I get home and usually I have to decide how important it is that I’m online versus reading a book or getting other things done.

6) Sometimes it keeps me from eating, but it means I eat later on rather then when I would normally eat, so then it’s harder to go to bed since I JUST ate.

8) I don’t recieve that many emails. I make it a priority to reply as soon as I get mail so I don’t forget if I have replied already, unless I need time to think about what I want to say. You could also choose days to read/reply to a certain number of emails, say you will reply to 10 emails every other day or something. Or try to do an amount of read/reply when you wake up each day. But give yourself a time limit.

9) Sometimes, but then I think that I really should call someone or go do another activity which would be better then sitting at the computer all time.

10) Decide on certain days you will write a blog, for instance choose Tues, Thurs, Sat for the days you will blog and the other days you will have free time to do anything else, reading, spending time with kitties, etc.

11) I’m subscribed to about 15 blogs and I have them linked on the side of my blog, where luckily blogspot.com tells me the amount of time it’s been since they updated, that way I don’t have to go checking them all. I enjoy reading the blogs I read, sometimes they motivate me to write about a topic they covered.

mel

My blogging schedule is fairly consistent. I post 5 days a week, answer my comments, visit other blogs (I follow about 100 via a reader), check emails, and if time permits do some social networking. It’s time consuming but I love it. I have a real job, so I have to work my schedule around that.

As for your blog, well, I love it . . . Your’s and Miss Crunchy’s are my favorites and I read them through Google Reader . . . not every day, but I do read each post and often many of the comments. Take a break when you need it, catch up when you need it, and we’ll all just be glad to see you again when you post next.

1) Yes and no. I pretty much blog when I want and when I feel I have something worth sharing. That’s often every day, but sometimes not and sometimes I’m just too damn busy with “real life” to blog.

2) However, when I check my stats and see them plummet on non-post days, I worry that people will abandon my blog if I don’t entertain them. Luckily, I can whip off a silly post or rant fairly quickly. I only agonize over the “deeper” posts or ones that I know have potential to offend folks.

3) I set a time limit in the morning for reading blogs. Then I get chores done. Unfortunately, if I decide to write a post, that often gets tossed out the window. Editing, linking, and uploading photos sucks up a ton of time!

4) My sweetie has learned to deal with my blogging obsession. Since he has his own interests, it’s not too much of an issue. Fighting over who gets to use our only computer on the weekends is the bigger problem. ;-)

5) We spend a lot of time talking about things we’ve read in the blogosphere. I don’t think this means I’m stuck in cyberland because what we learn gets applied in real life. I can’t begin to tell you how much our life has changed since I started blogging. It lead me to reading many, many others and has lead to my sweetie finding new sources for information.

On the other hand, I sometimes fail to appreciate the beauty around me on a bike ride because I’m busy composing a post.

6) The act of blogging has had no impact on my health. What I’ve read, otoh, has. Thanks to folks like Sharon, I lose a lot of sleep these days.

7) I have not resorted to alcohol or drugs. I have turned to chocolate for comfort – again from the stress of the information, not cyberland. It would have been the same if I’d learned all about peak oil, the extent of climate change, and the tanking economy from current books.

8) You asked “How do you manage your e-mail?”

That’s easy. I didn’t include an email contact! I have made contact with a few bloggers through their listed addresses. Sometimes we click and develop a relationship off-blog, sometimes not. I try to be sensitive to the likelihood that their email boxes are overflowing.

9) Blogging does not make me feel lonely, but it can make me feel isolated. In the blogosphere, I’ve found many people I’d love to hang out with in real life. In real life, I’ve found precious few people locally that share similar beliefs. It’s a double-edged sword.

10) I think honesty in comments and posts is as important as being “nice”. It’s not a bad idea to let readers know if you’re going to be postless for a bit, and perhaps invite them to explore your blogroll.

11) I don’t care for reading blogs in a reader so I click through my links and favorites. When I’m running a challenge, I try to check in on every single participant at least several times per week. I also try to check in with blogs listed in the blogroll that often at least. If I have time, and it seems to be less and less these days, I try to look at all the blogs that link to me every week or so. Then there are the other green blogs I like that don’t link to me.

All told, more than a couple hundred blogs to look at periodically. I have a few favorites that I hit every day but I’m learning to step back and curtail my reading. I simply can’t read everything and still accomplish what I need to get done in real life. It’s kind of like my reading list: I’ll never get to read every book in the world that I’d like to read. There simply is not enough time!

But yes, I do feel pressure to keep up with reading the other blogs.

Sometimes, my post is just telling people to check out others – that way, if you’re feeling pressure to have “something” (which you shouldn’t), you at least have a presence.

I get on when the mood hits. If it’s at work, then I make up work time later. I try not to spend too much time online…life is just as important!

I don’t manage my e-mail. Actually, personal e-mail is fine; work is so overloaded I can’t ever stay on top of it. It’s about managing expectations – I tell vendors don’t e-mail me; I sometimes even put on my out-of-office saying you’re going to have to wait.

How do I read blogs? Believe it or not, being a Web person by day, I don’t have a reader – it would be one more account to remember! Instead, I bookmark a prized few and stumble on the rest.

the only pressure I feel to post is from myself–and I aim for 2-3 posts a week–BUT I don’t feel bad if I don’t manage to do that–life happens.

It is easy to get sucked in to reading blogs–so I use blog reading as a reward for myself AFTER I have finished my other computer work ( I design on the computer alot)

I don’t get that much e-mail (thank goddess!) and I admit I am not good at answering comments left on my blog ;-(

Blogging makes me feel much more connected to other artists and craftpersons ( I have an art/craft blog) and I love getting feedback on my art and other crafty creations.

I read blogs through Google reader and have about 60 blogs in my reader–but I don’t read all of them everyday.

I love it, but I also sometimes resent the time it takes up — not the writing time for me as much as the headspace it consumes when I’m out doing other things. That headspace used to be reserved for my fiction work.

I read stuff in Google Reader, which is super helpful for my links round up every day. But that can get out of hand. Last week, while I was away, I accumulated 1,000 plus posts to catch up on. I’m only 500 into it so far. It’s silly to feel pressure from that, I guess, but I do.

Oh, and I had to decide a few weeks ago to stop checking my readership numbers. It was making me insane.

I think about blogging topics often, but then promptly forget them.

I do think you lose readership if you lay off the frequency too much, like twice a week. But there is no point of stressing yourself over the frequency.

I usually don’t subscribe to blogs, because I am more likely to ignore my email. Plus, reading comments is half the fun.

Anyhoo, summer is here. Relax, enjoy the outdoor more, and stop worrying about the blog :) My two cents anyway.

2) The pressure comes from a faulty multiphasic capacitor buried deep in my brain.

3) I once got totally lost in the hard drive and had to be extricated by The Geek Squad who rushed to my house in a Volkswagen with a little blue light on top.

4) No…she doesn’t resent the time I spend on the computer because I lock the door and put ear plugs in my ears.

5) Oh yeah…my wife accuses me of having squirrels in my brain that deposit story nuts there. I tell her about them, sort of all mixed up and abbreviated and she just says..Oh? Yeah?

6) The diet never suffers and I go hiking and biking regularly…as compared to say using treadmills and stationary bicycles. I had to peel my eyes from the screen once and they have not been the same since. Have a better Viewsonic LCD monitor that is much better on the eyes now though.

7) I have maybe a dozen beers a year and maybe some wine on special occasions. Never use it as a drug though since I never inhale.

8) Delete, delete, delete, delete.del…oh wait, I know that person.

9) For the answer to that question I must defer to Ernest:

“Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer’s loneliness, but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.” Ernest Hemigway

10) I write because it keeps me sane; although some may argue that point profusely. If someone reads…great! If they comment, even better. Now, if someone could just, teach me. how to punctuate?

11) Both…I subscribe by e-mail and by reader. I scan the e-mails and read or star the ones that look the best. The reader ones tend to accumulate and then I read them when I have time.

Extra stupendous double bonus answer: I completely understand Crunchy Chickens decision. I have been in the middle of house hunting, (moved this weekend and finally have a huge yard for a garden and a basement to keep surplus veges) and the government funds that kept my consulting business alive (or at least breathing) completely dried up so I am also looking for work and I had a major eye problem which is now under control and then life threw a couple more curves at me. Referring to the immortal words of Kenny Rogers; I knew I had to fold ‘em. Something had to give and it was the Least Footprint blog. I have posted from time to time (and will get back to it regularly when life settles down) but I no longer put pressure on myself to write it; even though I thoroughly enjoy it. I was beginning to feel redundant since I didn’t have the time to develop my posts like I wanted to.

Love your blog FPF but no pressure from me. You have my respect for all you do re: plastic and it is your blog that woke me up to the true realities of how sinister the stuff really is.