To blog or not to blog...what is the compromise?

I have seen several blog posts during the week debating whether an author’s writing time is best spent on their blog or on their actual books. It has been interesting and thought provoking reading, as it is something I have been thinking about myself. I can perfectly understand each viewpoint, but I am confused about which position, if any, I need to take for myself.

In several of these posts, authors announced to their readers that they are abandoning their blogs to focus on writing their books, or they are thinking about abandoning them. One author said that Facebook and Twitter more than adequately served their purposes in terms of staying connected with their readers. 

As a full time worker, I completely understand this thinking. Since my burst with NaNoWriMo in November last year, I have barely touched my current work, and am feeling anxious at times that I am losing the connection I had with it over that month of solid writing. I was able to give attention to NaNoWriMo then because I was between jobs.  

However, since then all my writing has been devoted to blogging, and I am now preparing my posts for my upcoming blog tour, but to fit that in as a full time worker means getting up early to write when I can. I also snatch time on weekends between the necessary things like shopping, cooking washing and appointments. I also enjoy writing the blog, so it’s not really that I resent doing that as opposed to getting back to work on the next book, but because the next book is a sequel/companion volume to Mine to Avenge, I am almost feeling that there is a need to direct my energies more into that, as I don’t believe there should be too big a gap between books that are part of a series. 

The opposing viewpoint is that a blog is an essential means of keeping connected with readers and building your readership, particularly for debut authors. It gives readers an opportunity to find out more about you and your book with the depth that Twitter and Facebook don’t necessarily have. It is recommended as a valid way of using your writing skills to market yourself and your book. 

So in a sense I am torn. I want to spend more time on my current work in progress and yet I need to work on building my readership. The question I am asking myself is, what is the compromise? Is there a compromise that other authors have found? I am wondering if the compromise is somehow in changing my approach to this blog and working out how to best use it to continue promotion and maintain contact with readers while giving time to the next book. I will continue to ponder the question to see what I come up with and would welcome any thoughts and ideas.