There are few better things than publishing an awesome/successful blog post. But for every blog post that I publish, I have a post that I DIDN’T finish. I lost inspiration, or couldn’t figure out what to say. Whatever it was, SOMETHING caused me not to publish the post.
Today I’m going to share some of those posts! Obviously I don’t have the whole posts written, but I’ll at least give you the title of the post and explain what it was going to be about.
How to Plan a Wedding When Your Fiancé is from Another Country
I drafted this post, but shortly afterwards I realized that I didn’t really know what to say. There were a few things I could talk about, including how to decide which country to choose, and how to coordinate different traditions/customs, etc. But I couldn’t figure out how to put the pieces together.
Costa vs Starbucks in The War on Coffee
This was in the middle of my Costs/Starbucks obsession phase. I was going to analyse the two coffee shops and figure out who REALLY had the best hot chocolate and food items. As I started to put the post together, I just felt stupid X_X It suddenly seemed like such a bad idea.
What’s the Best Place to Buy Your Domain Name?
This was in response to a Bitchin’ Book Blog question and I think the reason I never published the post was because I could answer it in one word: NameCheap.
Why You Shouldn’t Have Links Open in a New Window
I have a feeling most book bloggers will go “WTF” with this one, and I think that’s why I decided not to publish it.
In the techy online world, it’s considered annoying when people make links open in a new window. It’s annoying because it takes away a person’s control. If you don’t make links open in a new window, you—the reader—can pick and choose which links open in a new window all on your own (middle click or right click then “open in new tab”). You have all the control.
But if a blogger manually makes a link open in a new window, you can’t stop it from happening. And you, the reader, may not want it to happen! This is when you lose control over your browser and how you want to navigate the web. It’s annoying.
However, I don’t feel like this mentality extends into the book blogging world, which has quite a few non-techy people who may not know how to open links in a new window. So… bleh. I didn’t feel like preaching.
Why I Don’t Like WordPress Theme Frameworks
This one has been sitting as a draft since February 2014! However, a recent post from a web hosting company (which was pro frameworks) may have inspired me to finally finish this post!
It seems like everyone and their mother (developers and non-developers) love frameworks like Genesis. I HATE THEM!!! I feel like nobody talks about why they hate them, so that’s why I wanted to publish the post so badly. But then… I don’t know. I guess it seemed like a ton of effort to actually explain it.
The Best Way to Get Book Bloggers to Delete Your Email
I never finished this one because it felt so “been there, done that”. Loads of people have written posts on bad review requests and I didn’t feel like I had anything new to offer.
Things I’m Tired of in Young Adult Books
This post was going to be all about the “zap of electricity” people feel when they touch the love interest for the first time. I’m SO sick of that!! But before publishing the post I wanted to compile tons of screenshots/photos of this happening in books, as a sort of “evidence”. But then I kept forgetting to take those photos, so it never happened.
Why it’s Better to Use the HTML Editor than the Visual Editor
I don’t think non-coders would ever switch to using the HTML editor, which is understandable. So what’s the point in ranting about the visual editor? I didn’t want to make people feel bad about using it.
How to Create a ‘Sandbox’ Version of Your Blog for Testing
I’d still love to publish this post at some point, but OMG HOW TO EXPLAIN IT?!?! This tutorial just isn’t fun to write at all. The actual process isn’t too hard to do, but it’s LENGTHY and there are quite a few complicated steps involved and that’s effort.
How to Change Your Blog URL – A Walkthrough
Similar to the above. Plus it’s hard for me to really explain how to do this when I don’t use cPanel, but I’d probably have to write my guide using cPanel since that’s what everyone else uses. But it’s hard to write a guide for cPanel when I don’t even have it!
WordPress Plugins That You Must Have! (round 2)
Someone asked me to post an updated version of my 15 must-have plugins for a WordPress blogger post. What’s changed? What’s new? etc. I thought that was a great idea so I immediately drafted the post. But then I realized two things:
- Not much has changed. At all. Maybe I could make one or two comments, but is that really worth a new post?
- I actually use FEWER plugins. I’ve become a plugin minimalist. I use as few plugins as possible and code as much as I can myself—everything from SEO to my email subscription plugin to my “ask me a question” feature. And if I use so few plugins, am I really in a position to recommend plugins? I don’t want to recommend ones I don’t even use!
Lurkers: Unite!
I wanted to create a post geared towards the lurkers out there—the people who read blog posts but rarely comment. Then I realized… I had no idea what I even wanted to say. At all.
What’s the Point of Reviewing the Final Book in a Series?
This post is actually almost done, but I’m not sure if I want to post it! The gist of the post is:
Final books in a series usually get the fewest views/comments, because people are required to have read the rest of the series before they read that review. So, naturally, fewer people have the “prerequisites” to even read the post at all. If final books in a series often get 0-5 comments, it can feel really discouraging to even take the time to write them.
So I analysed all my series posts to figure out how many followed this trend of having VERY FEW comments/views. Here’s a tiny snippet:
Across the Universe trilogy
- Across the Universe (#1): 6 comments
- A Million Suns (#2): 4 comments
- Shades of Earth (#3): 2 comments
Crash trilogy
I think the reason I’m hesitant to publish the post is because I don’t want to run around doing too many “waaaa, what’s the point?” posts. I guess the whole idea just seemed a bit stupid once I had it all laid out.
Name & Shame on Twitter: The Fastest Way to Solve Your Problem
This post was inspired by a few companies I’ve been in touch with. I have a problem, I email them, they don’t respond. I email them again, they don’t respond. I resort to shaming them on Twitter (like “UGH, @SomeCompany won’t help me AT ALL! No response for 2 weeks”) and finally I get a response.
I wanted to talk about how unfortunate it was that this is often the case. Companies don’t care about assisting you until their public image is jeopardized.
The post made me feel a bit mean though, so it’s still sitting as a draft.
How Much Effort Do You Put Into Your Reviews/Blog Posts?
I drafted this post back when I used to make quote graphics for books. I wanted to talk about how I spent more time making the graphic than the review itself. This was kind of a case study of Orleans by Sherri L. Smith and how I had to spend a ton of time making the graphic. Then I got discouraged and didn’t publish the post because I DNF’d the book. But I did include the bulk of the post at the end of the book review.
Cool idea, I have plenty of unfinished posts as well. Mostly they’re just headlines because I tend to start a draft whenever I have an idea and then either write it or delete it at some point. I think I almost never abandon something I’ve already started unless it’s really not working.
I always use the html editor and I’m not a coder. 😀 I think it’s because I was on livejournal for a while and sometimes the spaces between lines got really messed up when I used the visual editor, and if I wanted to switch between visual and html, the html editor turned into sömething very much not user-friendly. When I started on wordpress I never even bothered with the visual editor anymore because of that. Also, it makes me feel cool to know some html. 😀
Yeah I do the headline thing too! As soon as I get a post idea, I create a new draft with the post title. Sometimes I never fill out the rest of the post though.
Yay, another HTML editor user!! *high five*
“My favourite book bloggers”, “My Top 5 Virtual Book Tours” etc… These are some of the topics I’ve come up with. Maybe next year 😀
Haha, maybe next year. That’s what we always say, isn’t it? 😉
Ha! I’m guilty of spending more time on the graphic than the writing. It’s getting ridiculous, actually. I have so many abandoned posts, too. I can’t bring myself to delete them, though, because I keep thinking … someday, maybe. There’s one I started in which I rank the Batman movies best to worst, but then I realize that (a) I don’t really care that much about Batman and (b) the list doesn’t need much of an explanation.
Same!! I never delete those old draft posts. You never know when you may want to finish them. 😛
Hmm Batman rankings. That’s tough! Whenever I even see the word “Batman”, I say “Mr Wayne” in my head in the Bane voice. It happens every time.
Some of these I would like to see as whole posts. I also see the decline in comments with last book in series reviews, but I am never discouraged to post them. Who cares about comments? I mean, yeah, it’s cool to get a lot of them, but I don’t base my posts on whether I will get a high comment count or not. Like you said, you gotta think of the lurkers. Some of my highest viewed posts get the least comments.
It’s funny how that happens, isn’t it? Whenever I see something like that, I can’t help but think, “WHERE ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE??? Or did a spam bot visit this page 500 times??” 😛
I have an unfinished post about how I disliked a book so much (which is VERY rare-I don’t often dislike books as much as this one) that I went to Goodreads and read reviews about one-third into the book, which mentioned a big reveal at the end…so then I went back to the book and skipped to the end and read the last five or six chapters of the book for the big reveal and…MEH. I get it, I get why I disliked the book and why, and now I kind of understand why the book was written the way it was. I don’t love scathing reviews and didn’t plan to write one, but it was very out-of-my-character to read reviews on Goodreads while I was reading AND THEN skip to the end just to keep reading a book! I just wanted some sort of resolution for why it had to be SO BAD (in my opinion). I’m not upset that I finished it. I held out hope that the unlikable characters would get better, ya know? So I started a discussion post about what I did that I never do to finish a book…and there it still sits. Maybe I’ll finish it, maybe I won’t. The readers of my blog will know that it is out of character for me. The ones that liked the book may or may not comment (they are lurkers typically or email me after I write the post) and the ones that didn’t like the book will likely tweet if they respond at all. So it will get traffic but maybe no comments. So I’m not in a hurry!
For “Why You Shouldn’t Have Links Open in a New Window” it’s funny because yep, I definitely purposefully make it so that all my links on my blog open in a new window/tab. AND I get frustrated when I click a link on another bloggers link and it doesn’t open in a new tab. I know that I can just right click, but sometimes I forget. Even though it only takes a few seconds to go back to the page and reopen it in a tab, it annoys me so I thought I would prevent my readers from feeling the same thing…. only to find out I’m probably annoying techy people 🙂 You can’t win.
Yeah that’s exactly why I didn’t make the post. If you’re used to middle/right clicking when you want to, it’s annoying when it happens automatically. But if you’re not used to taking control, then I guess it can be annoying when it DOESN’T happen for you.
The one thing that annoys me most is when INTERNAL links are set to open in a new window. I don’t mind so much for external links since I usually middle click those anyway. But some people will put a link to another post/page on their blog and use
target="_blank"but that annoys me because I never open internal links in a new tab. 🙁 Then I just end up having to close one window immediately, which is silly.I love this post. A post about not being able/wanting to complete other posts. Looks like those posts were useful after all!
Also, I am WTFing over here about the idea of not opening links in a new window/tab. I hate when I’m reading a lengthy article with reference links that redirect me to a new site. Blah, now I have to go back and open in a new tab because I wasn’t done with the original article yet. Three clicks instead of one! It is all reader preference, personally I am lazy and expect open in a new window/tab to be the default.
I guess it just depends on your habits.
A lot of web developers/tech savvy people are used to having control. So they (we) are used to middle clicking links that we want to open in a new tab.
If you’re not used to that and just rely on the site to do it for you, then I can understand how it would be annoying if they didn’t add
target="_blank"But if you are one of those developer/techie types, it can be annoying if they add
target="_blank"in a instance where you DON’T want a new tab.I am so not techie. 🙂 I just need to learn to right click.
I always thought you keep coming up with original post ideas but this one really kills it! Did you just make a post about non-posts? 😀
There are actually quite a few ideas in there I’d have been interested reading. “Moody” post like the one about Twitter are always fun to read, and I think I’d be interested in your opinion about reviewing the last book in a trilogy because my first reaction is “Why not?”. You should publish it, it’s interesting!
Haha yes I did!! 😀
Hmm maybe I’ll revisit that trilogy post. I think I don’t like how I’ve currently written it. It sounds very negative. Maybe I’ll sit on it for a few more weeks and try approaching it from a different angle. 🙂
I love this idea for a post!! Glad you finished this one! 😀
I like the idea of the Costa vs Stabucks post. I’m a SB to Costa convert.
I paused in shock at the idea for why you shouldn’t open tabs in a new window – tech people I’ve learned generally have different view points than marketers or graphic designers (which is good, I love bringing all these “types” together and seeing the results), as a marketer we were always taught to open in a new window so the user doesn’t leave their place on your website, meaning they can continue browsing etc. without getting “lost”. Bearing in mind this was a few years ago, so I know many people are more computer literate now, or at least more so, but I guess I base the decision on whether or not to do this on the age range and average capabilities of the target audience… (plus I find it annoying having to go back to where I was, I always have TONS of tabs open lol).
Definitely like the idea of the two posts on: the point of reviewing books further on in a series, and on things you’re tired of in YA. Maybe responses to this will help encourage you to finish some of them. One thing I’m tired of is the “I released the breath I didn’t know I was holding” line – when I read a version of this I roll my eyes!
R x
Yeah I was super excited about that Costa vs Starbucks post at one point. It probably actually made me look a bit like a crazy addict, haha.
I know that a lot of big companies always teach people to have external links open in a new window. This is largely to cater to the non-tech people or older audiences. It’s considered best practice to them because it helps the user.
But then when you look at it from a tech nerd perspective (someone who knows how to open links in new tabs on their own) it gets annoying because it takes away the choice. Tech nerds and people in similar communities like having choices; they like having full control over their browser.
Yeah that “released the breath I didn’t know I was holding” line is super popular X_X I can’t believe authors still use it. It makes readers angry! 😛
I don’t have any I haven’t published actually. But I’m sure I’ve deleted stupid ideas from my calendar before they ever made it to draft.
I have to say, I’d love to see some of these posts. The sandbox one would be great! I wouldn’t call myself a coder – maybe a code dabbler wanna be lol – but i do all my posts in html not visual editor. So you might find more people appreciative of that post than you think 🙂
I love that one of your unfinished posts is about creating a sandbox. I’ve been trying to do exactly that for over a week now and I am having SO MUCH TROUBLE. There are some tutorials out there and many of them use different apps and plugins… and its all so confusing! I’ve tried it a few different ways with a few different apps/plugins but nothing has worked yet. I think I’m getting close though, I’m hopeful to have it figured out this week. So basically… I think that would make a great post! 🙂
You don’t want to use a plugin. 😉 And the only app you should be using is WAMP (Windows) or MAMP (Mac).
I’d love to write a guide, it’s just a bit of a pain, sadly. 😛
Well, too late for not using a plugin! I finally caved and bought BackupBuddy, but I still haven’t gotten it to work. I had tried MAMP before when I was trying to do everything manually and had some trouble, but based on your suggestion I will try it again! Thanks! 🙂
Yeah, I think pretty much everything you post is interesting, even if it may sound dumb to you! I like a lot of these ideas…especially the comments on trilogy final books. I feel that way, too! Especially if it’s not a super popular series (like posting a review of Allegiant or something). Like, when I post my review of Endsinger (and talk about how it shattered my heart into a thousand tiny pieces and I may or may not have PTSD from reading it), will anybody actually care? Because most of them haven’t read the first two books? *sighs*
As for spending time on post graphics, I definitely feel you there…I used to spend a lot of time on my slider images. Sometimes I’m grateful I don’t have it anymore! Every once in a while I’ll have reason to make a special graphic, though! I made a little chart for my A Thousand Pieces of You review and that took FOREVER. Someone commented and was like, “You should do this for all your reviews!” and my first reaction was O__O I don’t have time for that haha!
I would definitely want to see your thoughts on “things I’m tired of in YA” if you had a compilation of multiple things! I’m also a lurker. You should post that 😀 And ugh, new windows annoy the shit out of me. You’re not alone!
‘Why I Don’t Like WordPress Theme Frameworks’ – I wanted to say how I am interested to hear your opinion and then saw it’s today’s post. Yay. 🙂
I also have ideas to make posts with a lot of screenshots from books and always forget to snap pictures.
How to Create a ‘Sandbox’ Version of Your Blog for Testing – I had a local version on wamp server but since I’ve bought UBB I didn’t use it. I don’t think I can install UBB to two websites…
Sometimes I spend more times on graphics then on writing posts too. 😀
I have a lot of drafted ideas. Some are just titles, some are half written. And of course I am going to finish them and post them… someday… maybe. 🙂
I have a really hard time coming up with discussion ideas, so even the idea of having too many titles and not finishing them is completely foreign to me.
I’m one of those people that always right click and open to new tab. It annoys me when I forget, but I always assume it won’t do that, so I rarely notice when people do have it set up to go to a new tab.
Not sure why it took me so long to find your blog but I am following you on Bloglovin after reading this one post because I like your style, lady.
I write about books sometimes, and I write books, less often. I am currently doing a novel-writing project and wouldn’t it be awesome if someday, you reviewed my novel on your blog.
I hope you’ll check out my blog too. I’d love the feedback and the networking.
Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂 Good luck with your novel project!
Excellent idea. I have so many that have been lingering in draft mode that I should either dump them or finish them.
I would have loved the Costa vs Starbucks in The War on Coffee post especially right now because this year’s management presentation and assignment for me is on Starbucks! 😉
Ohh awesome! 😀