Blogging · Me myself and I · Thoughts

Between bloggers – How to have a successful hiatus

Cyranny

First of July. This morning I told myself…

Dang it!

Yes, dang it, with the “taking a break from blogging”. First and foremost because, let’s be honest, it wasn’t a real break from the Bloggosphere. During my pause, I still worked on a daily basis on our now one month old Word of the Day Challenge. (please do visit, if you liked WordPress’ Daily Post!)

I did stop writing, though. At first, I thought I would write somewhere else during my hiatus, write a journal, or fill napkins with handwriten useless poetry. But I didn’t. At first it was painfull. Almost physically. I would sit on my couch at night, and think about how I would normally have been writing this or that, or replying to comments, while Chéri watched his favorite shows. I became irritated, and pensive, and the blues hit me a couple of times. And I remembered how much more difficult it is to turn a bad day into a somewhat bareable one, when you can’t write your thoughts…

I cheated. I took some of my blogging-break time off to give Twitter another chance (@CovesTales) and I must say… I almost understand it, now. Almost. (No, I don’t, but I manage to send messages, and I received some “likes” and messages back, so I am guessing my “tweets” get somewhere!)

I thought a lot… Too much, at times. My college philosophy teachers would have been quite proud of me. Or scared. Maybe a little of both at the same time. I thought a lot about Life and about Death, about the big dualities of life, and just basically having long conversations with myself. Which was probably necessary to some extent, but after a while, the lack of feedback becomes annoying, hence the growing need to come back to The Cove for good.

I think that if I want to look back at June 2018 positively, I need to list the good things that came out of my “not blogging” for a month. Hopefully this can help some of you too! (which is possible, since I’ve seen many notices hanging at some of the blogs I follow, saying that their owners were taking a break too!)

So… Good things about taking a pause, and tips to come back strong. Here we go!

 

Getting desensitized to stats

I have to admit, my statistics didn’t go completely flat, during my leave, because of the Word of the Day Challenge. BUT, they dropped drastically. The first few days, it felt kind of sad to see the number of readings I had achieved to get per day almost flatlining. And one morning, my head went into “the dang with it” mode. After posting a couple of short poems pre-come back, I noticed that I was even less worried about how well my posts are doing, now. Every reading is a good one. I’ll take just what comes my way, and be happy with it. At least, I’ll still be blogging, right??

People come and go

When you decide to take a break, for whatever reason(s), one thing that comes to mind is “won’t readers forget about me, and unfollow my blog?” Well of course there will be some “unfollowing” involved, but you’ll most likely be very surprised that it really isn’t that bad. I was even surprised that some people would decide to “follow” The Cove, even though I wasn’t posting any new stories or poems. (By the way, thank you for joining in, you lovely people who pressed the “follow” button during the month of June!)

You might sometimes get the feeling “why should I go back…No one misses me, no one even takes the time to check up on me, and ask if/when I’ll be back!” Now, that’s a normal feeling, and it is just the home-sick blogger in you whining a little. Be honest, I am sure at least one or two people did get in touch with you, while you were quiet. Didn’t they? Yeah I thought so… And aren’t these people just fabulous?? If you didn’t get any offline message, you most probably don’t interact much with your readers to begin with. And this explains that. But regardless who did or didn’t get follow up messages from readers who missed them, what’s great is to see who IS there for your come back! I bet you’ll be surprised!

Setting new goals

I won’t come back full throttle. And I think you shouldn’t either. (unless you were the type of blogger who posts once a month… then go full throttle all you want!! – Sorry, I like this expression… Full throttle! Full throttle! Full throttle! Ok, this should be enough for now!) I won’t because I wouldn’t last a week, at the pace I posted in the past. I might get back to being my old blogging self, but not overnight, that’s for sure. Another reason is that I want to be able to keep up with comments. That’s one of the things that pushed me into taking a break. I love interacting with people, and leaving comments unanswered really troubled me. Now, me myself and I have agreed that I will post less, and maybe not reply as fast as I used to, but I’ll make it a priority to have a good connexion with people who take the time to leave me messages! These are my goals… Yours may be different, but a blogging hiatus is the best timing to set them for yourself!

Getting your Mojo back

Now this might be just me, you can tell me if you’ve been there too. But blogging daily for almost three years, conditionned me to be a pretty spontanious writer. If something spoke to me, I wrote about it. I rarely kept a subject for the next day, or the next week. Let aside the Cybelle & Vohne series, I didn’t know in advance what I’d write the next day. Even after just a month away from my stories, I feel it hard to find that back. Just today, I have been working for a couple of hours on a story I wanted to post. It is dark and pretty dramatic compared to what I usually write, but I wanted to give it a try and see what the feedback would be. For some reasons, halfway through it, I just started having doubts, and double thinking everything. I guess that creativity is like a muscle, and it gets atrophied and overcome by reason after a while not using it.

 

So, yes, I guess I can say that I am “officially” back…

Have you taken a break from blogging too, lately? How was it for you, and what did you learn from it?

 

77 thoughts on “Between bloggers – How to have a successful hiatus”

    1. Thank you, SonofaChaCha 🙂 It is good to be back 🙂 I’ll (try to) be more reasonable, that way I should last longer… I realized that with the months going by, and the people adding up, it was getting overwhelming to reply to everyone AND keep posting as much as I did… Hopefully, I’ll get my mojo back quickly and start stalking everybody again 😛

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      2. Talking about that… I had an idea, while thinking about you the other day. Well about your blog. And I might be coming up with a challenge you could be interested in… (I know… I’m just back from my break, and already have the crazy brains planning things…)

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  2. Glad you are coming back.
    You needed the break but I’m glad you are getting your Mojo back.

    Yes I’ve taken a break, as you asked the question “what have I learned?” that I might not be coming that’s what I learned

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    1. Thank you, Giant 🙂 I am sure you’ll find your way back too… You’re just too tired to blog actively right now. Take your time, stick around and we’ll be waiting for you 🙂 *Hugs*

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  3. I know I’d need a break if I posted every day. I sometimes fear I won’t have enough to say, even posting twice a week or so. I’d hate to post something I didn’t like, just for the sake of some unreasonable schedule I’ve set for myself. I’m glad you’re back, and look forward to reading.

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    1. Thank you Candice 🙂 Glad to be back too… I think pacing is a very personal thing, the trick is to be constant. And I agree, posting just for the sake of putting something online is not only time consuming and unrewarding, but I think people can feel that is is not genuine too!

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  4. I post so irregularly I have never really needed a break, though I used to make a goal of posting more often (and quickly burned out). I really look forward to seeing more of your writing again, though. 🙂 xxx

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    1. We all blog in very different ways, which makes blogging so interesting 🙂 Every blog has its signature, and it is perfect that way! Glad to be back too, I hope to get the story telling going soon… but probably not today, it’s just too dang hot LOL

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      2. After sunset, things are more comfortable… I think I drank at least three or four liters of water!! And I transformed my bath tub into a mini pool 😛

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  5. welcome back precious … know Brutus will be as overjoyed as I am! I had told him that you couldn’t disappear completely as writing/creativity is in your blood … you thrive on it 🙂

    I had a few weeks off in April plus a few months off late last year due to other commitments. I do post daily 1-3 max but enjoy the commenting and replying as much as posting. So everything in moderation 🙂

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  6. Welcome back! And I’m on Twitter too. Look me up @acflory. It’s an odd place and a lot more complicated than I would have thought possible, but starting to be fun nonetheless.
    I do understand your need to get away from social media for a while. I try to approach it on my terms but don’t always succeed. Way of the future, right?

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    1. Found and followed you on Twitter 🙂 I am always glad to find bloggers there! It feels like having a more direct connection with fellow wordsmiths!

      Sometimes it is good to back up and look at the whole picture for a while… Hopefully I’ll have learnt something 😛

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      1. Hi Cyranny! Found and followed you too. 😀
        I totally agree about the connection. It always feels like discovering old friends. And yeah, getting a bit of perspective is always good.

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    1. Thank you for the reblog, Steve! I am glad to see that my words spoke to you 🙂 I think a lot if not all bloggers come to this point eventually. As long as we learn from it, I guess it is a good, natural thing… xx

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  9. So glad you’re officially back! Also happy to read about your lessons for June. 😊 It’s easy to get caught up in blogging and trying to figure out what this comment means, or those stats, or what it means when someone you thought cared suddenly disappears…but what’s most important is to just keep moving forward…the rest will sort itself out…

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  11. So good to have you back 😚 and thanks for the likes and retweets. I had many bliggi blogging breaks usually because of bad mental health. What I learned? I love it. And the blogosphere is a great community 😊

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    1. 🙂 You’re most welcome Bee 🙂 Always a pleasure to share if it can help a little!! I think blogging is a fantastic way for people with mental issues to connect with others and get support but it is a healthy thing to know when to take a pause from it, when it becomes overwhelming 🙂 *Big hugs*

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  13. I am happy you are back and of course I miss the stories and poems, but do what you need to do. I think like Judy said, all of the prompts are a bit overwhelming. I don’t look at stats but I do love comments. I try to read as many blogs as I can. It’s a great outlet for me since I’m basically a homebody out of necessity, not choice. But each to his own is my philosophy. Selfishly, I’m glad you’re back.🤗

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  14. I haven’t been really ‘on a break’ but I’ve been on a break. Which makes no sense, I know. I didn’t plan to take a break but I don’t know if I can continue blogging. I’m having a lot of trouble writing and when I do, I hate what I write. And when I come to read everyone else’s blogs, I feel like a failure because everyone else can write but I can’t. It makes me far sadder than it should. It’s painful. But if I’m not around here with my friends, I’m also sad… and lonely. I don’t know where to be… or what to do.

    So, my not-really-a-break showed me that a break is good and bad. I did sort of fall into posting less… and just being around less in general. Maybe that’s my new ‘routine’… but again, it feels both good and bad. And when the painful boredom strikes, I want to be here more… but it’s just not working. Nothing seems to be working… except escaping, which I can’t do at least 90% of the time. I really need that lottery win so I can stop being chained to my house… because I know that’s killing me.

    So… how as my kind-of blogging break been? Eh. I don’t know. And… basically, I’ve said nothing at all in this comment and I should probably shut up now!

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    1. Awww Gorgeous… You’re not really on a break, you’re just trying to find your way. I think you need to speak up, and we’re here to try to help you. Don’t stop writing just because you think others are tired to read you. It is just an impression you have…

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      1. Every day I see tons of post notifications and I feel awful because I can’t post anything. It shouldn’t bother me so much but it does. Maybe I need a real break… from everything. I don’t know…

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      2. I don’t like the phrasing “from everything”… You are the only one who knows if you get more positive or negative out of blogging at this moment. If it is better for you to take some time away from the internet and social medias for a while, I know people will wait for you to come back when you are ready. But it you’re going to feel worst taking a distance like that, maybe you should just de-activate the email notices you get for now, and just focus on visiting blogs when you feel like it, and not worry everytime someone else posts something…

        If that makes sense?

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      3. It does make sense. I’ve been trying to find the answer to exactly that.

        I just meant “from everything” blog-related. I’m not sure if it makes me feel worse to be here or not be here. I think the answer is both which is making it hard to know what to do next.

        Not being able to post makes me feel so incredibly boring. My life is so empty that I have nothing to talk about. That’s how it feels and I don’t like it at all.

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      4. What about trying to stay away from WP for one day and see if it is worse than a usual day? I am not trying to push you out (au contraire, I hope it will show you that blogging is making you feel a tad better).

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      5. I kind of did that unintentionally. I honestly had a better day. But I think that was because it was when I was at my mom’s… and I wasn’t bored at all… I was in a completely different situation than usual. I think my biggest enemy is boredom… and without money, I can’t fix that.

        Maybe I do need to leave. But I don’t want to lose my friends. And leaving would be like moving away… people lose touch… friendships fade… memories fade…

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      8. I might have an idea to cope with your boredom for 0$… We’ll discuss this tomorrow, if you want. It is a bit late tonight…

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  16. I have only taken a few breaks, and my stats dropped like a hot potato. (I hated that feeling). But, it really wasn’t that my stats dropped, I just missed reading and writing daily. I felt as if I lost a limb reaching out to the world. Even now… I’m between two homes housesitting pets, and my laptop follows me. I don’t think I would have handled a full week away from blogging and reading. 🙂

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    1. Dear Machk… Dear Maeckn…

      Dear Cali-Sweetheart! I am back indeed. Not full throttle, but I’ll get all my mojo back, eventually 😉

      So glad to see you too!!! Seeing your picture in my comment box is always very mood uplifting 🙂 I hope you’re doing great, Gorgeous!! *Lots of luv to you and DJ* xx

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