Down in the Slumps

So in case you haven't noticed, there hasn't been much activity here on the blog, and that's because...

I'm in a slump.

Lately, I just haven't felt motivated to read anything.  And blogging feels like a chore, like I'm obligated to do it.  I'm sure there are reasons, good ones, for why I feel so blah about all this.  Some of the ones I can think of are:

• Too many books - I never thought I'd ever say this.  It evens feels kind of blasphemous to write it here, but in this case, it's true.  I have so many books from BEA, and books I've gotten since then, literally stacked on my floor because there's no room for them, and it's overwhelming.  I feel like there's no way I can ever get through them, and it makes me not even want to try.
• Disappointing books - Reading a disappointing book is always a guaranteed way to put me off reading for a while.  Unfortunately, the past couple of books I've started (but not finished) have all been kind of on the blah side.  And not finishing any books means not having anything to review.
• Lack of content - On the blogging side, I don't currently have anything to review so I haven't been posting anything.  And I don't want to post only memes.  So I end up feeling obligated to come up with something creative to fill posts, which makes this feel like a chore.  And honestly, who likes chores?
• Laziness - I'm being completely honest here, so I'll admit that part of this is simple laziness.  These past few weeks have been crazy at work, and then it was my sister's birthday, and then it was my birthday, so I didn't feel like doing anything.  I decided to relax and be a couch potato, and getting back into the swing of things (including exercising & eating healthy, not just reading) is hard.  So yeah, part of this whole slump is my own fault.
• Stress - Starting next week, I'll be back in college.  I'm going back to school for a small business certificate program.  And even though I'm one of those crazy people who LOVES being in class and learning things, I'm also really nervous.  I'm nervous about the classes themselves, but I'm also nervous because the whole reason I'm going for this certificate is because I want to start my own business.  And that's not just nerve-wracking - it's also really scary!

So yeah, these are my excuses... I mean, perfectly good reasons for why I'm in this slump.  Hopefully it doesn't last too long, but until then, I'm going to try to put together a few guest posts for now, to keep my poor blog from suffering.  And while I'm getting those lined up, I'm hoping that some tried-and-true solutions that have worked in the past will help pull me out of my slump.  I'm going to be re-reading some old favorites, putting together a schedule (I crave structure!), and working on creating a unique feature for my blog.  Cross your fingers that one or all of those work.