Book Blogger Confessions: Real Life Edition

Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about blogging-related topics. This meme is hosted by Midnyte Reader and For What It's Worth. So click on the link(s), grab the logo and jump right in! Let's get to know each other a little better :).

April 1 Question: How does blogging affect your *real* life? Are friends and family supportive? Do you find that blogging cuts into family time? How do you strike a balance between the two?

Since I've only been blogging for a few months - and not feverishly - I can't say that my life has taken a drastic change because of that. Of course, I'm still reviewing bought books so far...should I start receiving ARCs or giveaway prizes or stuff like that, I suppose my blogging life would become far more hectic :). (Though, since I'm in Italy, I guess ARCs are largely out of question...). Having said so, when not spending time on my blog, I can more than often be found on Goodreads - hoping to "meet my next favorite book" or gathering more info about those already in my to-read and not-sure lists. And that cuts into family time even more LOL. But I have to confess it especially cuts into work time *inserts sly grin here*. I spend part of my working hours online for legitimate reasons, so it's easy for me to sneak in some personal business here and there. Lucky gal, I know ;).

The only person from RL who is privy to this blog is my husband. I don't know anyone who could be interested in it, especially since I'm in Italy and my blog is in English. Anyway, my husband has this one wonderful quality - he never questions what I do. Whether it's about my hairstyle or the books I read and review. So I guess you could say he's supportive, in the sense that he lets me go my way without thinking that what I do is funny or crazy. He knows I only get involved in stuff that really means something to me anyway.

As for striking a balance, I wish I could be useful  by giving advice - but like I said, I'm (still) a budding blogger, and a lucky person who can blog from work if need be (please don't hate me too much LOL). But one thing I've learnt: while memes are a wonderful tool when it comes to meet other bloggers and chat with them and get a perspective of blogging, they are very time-consuming as well. If you get a lot of traffic through them, you feel like visiting all those kind people back at the shortest possible notice. If you read a post that you appreciate, you feel like letting the blogger know ASAP. That's what happens to me anyway. So, I decided that I'd only participate in this very meme for the time being. What I'm trying to say is, one should probably make up her/his mind about how many memes/contests/cover reveals/etc. one can actually keep up with, and stick to them...
When it comes to reviews, I personally try to take it easy, refusing to feel compelled to post more than once a week. I read somewhere that a blog should have a new post at least every couple of days, in order to prove that it is alive and kicking. Well, sorry, but no. I don't have the time, but aside from that, I firmly believe that posting should be a meaningful act, not a productivity contest. Also, like many of you BBC participants have often stressed, it should be fun! If I feel guilty for not posting enough, or on the contrary, for neglecting family and friends and RL duties in order to post more, maybe I should step back and reconsider the whole matter...

Now, this one should be fun. What about you? I expect the most diverse answers from my blogging buddies :).