Symptoms frequently include:
More than 100 unread posts in Bloglines
Anxiety over not writing a post for a week
Profound guilt over not responding to comments
Profound guilt over not commenting on your friends’ blogs
Jealousy at how your favorite popular bloggers always seem to keep it together
Joy when you realize a new Blogline entry is really a typo correction so you don’t have to read anything new
A feeling of torment and grief when you read another blogger’s post linking to your design and then talking about how they plan to make lots and sell them
Questioning your sanity for ever having started a blog in the first place
Guess I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. Humor is good therapy for me. It reminds me to not be too serious about life. My other sure-fire strategy is going to my studio and working on my WIPs.
Inspired by Craftlog’s Ice Pops quilt I plan to make one for my cousin’s October arrival. Enlarged copies of Caitlin’s paint by number set, maybe a small art quilt?
Only one more row to go on my hand pieced 6 block sampler.
My Halloween quilt collapsed into piles while my sewing studio was temporarily turned into a guest room for my parent’s visit last week.
Strips of Kona cottons ready for piecing into a commissioned self-portrait mini-quilt for a parent in Leil’s classroom. A stack of blue jeans in the background needing knee patches before school starts next Wednesday.
** A HUGE thanks for all the good book love. Wow! You girls know your fiction. I decided to read The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck to start with. My plan is to make a list of everything shared in the comments and create a stand alone page that can be referenced by all of us. Just what I need, an addition to my to do list 
**
I love your idea of making a quilt from that beautiful paint by number set. It sounds like you have a lot on your plate right now.
Never feel guilty for not blogging … the blogs and posts I like best are those whose authors have something interesting to say. Sometimes, days may pass before having something interesting enough
ha! I love your syndrome definition/identification system. and your WIPs are inspiring as always. now to make a lot of them and sell them!!! just kidding. i’m feeling quite trampled myself.
Keep plugging away at that list, and don’t feel bad if some things might even fall off the list before you get to them. Don’t sweat the little things. Remember: your blog, your rules. Post, browse and respond only when YOU feel like it. And a bit of sage advice I ran across: don’t compare your insides to someone else’s outsides. BTW, that paint by numbers quilt idea looks way cool
ha! I have a chronic case of that.
great wips!
Remember only do what is fun !!! Clarice
Blog fatigue syndrome, I’m pretty sure I have a case of that! Oh my, you sure have a lot of WIP’s. That halloween quilt has peaked my interest.
So talented and full of energy and ideas and a young family, too. I’m not surprised you feel overwhelmed. Take a deep breath and only do what makes you happy.
So funny! And what a relief to know that I am not the only one
“A feeling of torment and grief when you read another blogger’s post linking to your design and then talking about how they plan to make lots and sell them”
A personal favorite of mine as well. I love your WIP photos – chin up and keep up…;)
I hear ya. BFS and Crafting F.S. has hit here – luckily the holiday weekend and subsequent trip are going to come just at the right time.
I’m sorry to hear that someone is planning to sell something they based on a design of yours. I guess this type of thing is not new, just a lot faster and more obvious in the “blog world.” Still sucks.
And is it me or have many, many blogs started really being about selling things lately. Probably just me. I need/am taking a break too.
Maybe you just have WIP F.S. Good grief that is a lot of stuff to do! Fun stuff though.
I hear you – I was gone a weekend and had over 200 posts – seems like everyone chose that weekend to update!
Don’t feel bad for not posting – your blog, your rules. I also don’t generally comment unless I have something to say – I don’t comment unless I really have something to say – like right now.
I’m with you, Kathy. Having your ideas make someone else $ would be enough to wear me out. I go between wanting to just stop and wanting to make some $ of my own. It’s not the money, you know – it’s the validation. I appreciate that you don’t post everyday. I’m always excited when I see you’ve updated on bloglines because I KNOW you have something to say.
I’m glad you’ve gotten your craft room back. You are so creative to think of quilting from a paint-by-number pattern. It seems like such a logical step, but one that I’ve never heard anyone take before.
I took a day to not blog this week. It felt good. I did check email, but didn’t comment anywhere – it was good for me, since I seem to have become a bit addicted here lately, and yes, driven by guilt. Rest this weekend, get some sewing done, some reading and come back refreshed when YOU feel like it!
I’m honored you’re reading The Good Earth. It was moving and helped me understand my own culture better (I was raised in Taiwan). I thought of another couple of books that I’ve read recently – both oldies but goodies. You may have read them, I’m not sure: Black Like Me (excellent) and God’s Smuggler (a Christian classic). Here I am recommending it without even knowing your religious preference.
)
I understand your feeling overwhelmed. Don’t feel guilty if you can’t read everyone’s blog. You have to have content for your’s, too, don’t you? I wanted to leave some suggestions for reading on the last post, but didn’t get around to it. So here goes:
The Bean Trees – Barbara Kingsolver (love this book)
Any Michael Connelly book – excellent
East of Eden – Steinbeck
Of Mice and MEn – Steinbeck
The Kitchen-god’s Wife – Amy Tan
Fences – a play by August Wilson (really, an incredible read – you know it’s good if James Earl Jones played the lead)
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – I used to teach high school and so still love that kind of fiction; this one was very well written and you might like reading some of the stuff your girls might read soon)
Okay, hope these help.
I hope you have a good three-day weekend, Kathy! :0)
100 unread posts on Bloglines? I must I have that many every time I log in. I think that’s what’s contributing to my fatigue syndrome. I just whizz through everything, barely taking it in, rarely jumping over to people’s actual sites anymore to connect/comment. Maybe we should ditch it.
I love your w.i.p.s! Quilt like the wind, lady.
Oh my! I hope that my post linking to your lovely table runner is not the one that you’re so upset over. I loved your runner, and was inspired by it, but I did not copy it. And most importantly, I do not intend to make many and sell them.. I make things for my own pleasure.
My runner has elements that show inspiration from yours, the use of the large print, the complimentary pieced squares, but my runner has traditional piecing that reflects my own quilting background. If indeed it is my post that has saddened you, I offer my heartfelt apologies. Pam
I was wondering what I had, thanks for giving it a name. ; )
Loving the quilt ideas, wonderful as always.
A quick response to Pam. I’m most definitely not talking about her lovely tablerunner. I love her tablerunner and I love every post I read where someone makes something using one of my tutorials or feels inspired to incorporate elements of something I made into something they make. It’s what I love about blogging so much, sharing ideas and inspiring each other.
My little, teeny, tiny gripe is people that use exact designs or tutorials from someone’s blog to make items that they turn around and sell. I never liked people that looked at my math test answers either
Thanks for letting me know. I didn’t want you to think I was stealing your design. Pam
I enjoy reading whatever you post whenever you post. My motto, is
if it isn’t fun, why do it?
Love the quilt ideas!
I like that new term BFS! I usually get it anytime I see that other people always seem to have new projects and ideas to share on their blogs. But then I realize that I started a blog to motivate myself to finish more projects and share with other like-minded people. That’s when I feel better again.
I like that you share with all of us. Don’t feel guilty when you don’t want to post (or have enough time) … blogging is supposed to be a fun thing. Keep it fun!
Sorry to hear that someone is directly copying you and making a profit to boot. Our teachers at design school used to tell us that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery – huh! I always thought that it meant that the person copying you couldn’t think of anything on their own. Inspiration is one thing, without it the art world wouldn’t expand and grow. But 100% copying is just sad. Don’t let it get you down.
Ah, and two books to add to your reading list. I enjoyed these, entertaining but also a little contemplative:
Pope Joan: A Novel by Donna Cross
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
I too know the feeling, as if we have to apologize for going away and not posting for 5 days. Then you clear Bloglines and go back 3 days later and there are simply too many posts to read. 4 hours later and you have done your duty and oops, no sewing today. You feel guilty because they all come to see you, and you must go see them…and comment. Not really because you have to but because you want to…but it gets tiring and sometimes saps the creative energy!
Feel free to not respond!
I can so relate to your Blogger’s Fatigue syndrome. I’m still trying to catch up after being gone last weekend and working long days this week. I get a little bit caught up then 15-20 more people post! At least I finally got a post of my own up.
i’m suffering from extended blog fatigue, so i sympathize mightily. your WIPs are lvoely, and i’m very sorry to hear about the design theft. happy reading, happy crafting, and happy living — enjoy!
The paint by number idea sounds like a great source for paper piecing inspiration! The difficult part would be deciding where to make the sections.
And I got a nice giggle from your blog fatigue list – I know exactly where you’re coming from there!
Oh I think i go through that same syndrome at least once every couple months!!!
May your blog fatigue disappear and may all your WIP be finished!
Hope you get over your blog fatigue soon! I love reading The Good Earth. I’ll take it out and read it again.
I sympathize with your fatigue. I try to write something every weeknight – since I blog mostly so that my family will stop harassing me every day to ask me for updates on Otis – but how many different ways can you spin yet another boring story about a 17 month old baby? And it takes time away from (theoretical) artwork. But I find that I feel less guilty if I announce that I’m going to take a break, as though I were relieved of my “duties.” But then the phone calls start pouring in, and I have to start screening calls and making up stories again.
I empathize with your torment and grief over the theft of your ideas. You have such original ideas, and write such clear, excellent tutorials so I can see how tempting it would be for someone to try to capitalize on that. A compliment for sure, but still abusive. I’m so sorry.
I agree life should never be taken too seriously. Switch computer off. feet up with the book of your choice and you will soon be over the fatigue.
WoW! Your signs/symptoms of BFS are right on! Just so you know, please don’t ever feel that you need to respond to my comments on your blog. Just know that it is always MY pleasure to read your posts and see your amazing creations. – I know you are a busy mama. I TOTALLY understand!! Really!