Hiatus Reflections: Back from the Blogging Abyss

hi book besties!

There's nothing more motivating and humbling than scrolling through your past writings. The quality and errors make you grimace, but you flinch at the sheer enthusiasm and passion in the tone—their consistency, their fire.

Those were my feelings as I delved into the deepest recesses of my blog, started in 2020, where I posted consistently, almost every week, with a drive I can't seem to dredge up now. Filled with bad formatting, typos, grammatical errors, and childish sentences, there were genuine gems: books I'd forgotten I'd fallen in love with, and some truly banger post titles and ideas.

So, where did it go? Why did the posting slowly peter out? Life happened, and social media trends shifted me from long-form writing to Instagram posts—making trendy graphics and adding viral music. I began to believe, and to some extent I was right, that long-form blogs and reviews had lost popularity. Once deep in Bookstagram, it's hard to imagine anyone wanting those wordy reviews over pretty, short, eye-catching posts and reels.

I only ever started an Instagram account to drive more traffic to my blog. Although I have the occassional fun creating lists and designing posts, it took me long hours to make the most basic designs, and I never had the same creative flair for graphic design that I do for long-form writing. But I still do enjoy being part of the Bookstagram community, and it's a neceassry tool like any other. So I decided to power through.

But August 31, 2025, hit differently. Writing has never felt so hard. My brain feels out of material, will, hope, and mental control to type the words. Especially bad on the days college seems to take up all my energy. But there were so many ideas floating before—bookmark this thought, write it later. It never happens. The elusive silver thread floats away, leaving me grasping at straws. I write my best reviews right after finishing a book. So when I delay writing them, and try to dredge up that same insightful review a week later, my thoughts have slipped away by then. I don’t take detailed notes while reading, but this made me think I probably should start.

Yet here I am, turning these notes into my comeback.

As some very wise person person Tumblr said, "You can't edit a blank page."

If you're reading this, thanks for sticking around. I'm so excited to dive into the books that pulled me through—no slump in reading, just in sharing. I hope you're looking forward to the fun conversations about books as much as me.

What's your slump-buster read? Drop it in the comments! And don't forget to catcm me on my Instagram @aamnaiswriting_