Written on December 7th, 2006 at 04:12 am by Darren Rowse

8 Signs it Might Be Time to Take a Break from Blogging

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 34 comments

Asleep At The Blog
“English cricketer Jim Young, 57, carried on batting after a heart attack at the crease in Buntingford, Hertfordshire. He scored another 12 for his village team despite crushing chest pains. He collapsed to his knees and was taken off but went back after a glass of water and scored four more to end up on 48 not out.”

Source The Age – Friday September 1, 2006

Sometimes people need to learn when to take a break. Here are 8 times you might need a break from blogging:

  1. bloggers block – one of the first signs to me that I might need a day (or ten) off from blogging is when I run out of things to write about. You know the feeling – you stare blankly at the screen unable to string a sentence together for hour on end. If you’ve got nothing to say – it’s probably best to say nothing.
  2. when everything you do is ‘blogable’ – at the opposite end of the spectrum to bloggers block is where everything you do, say and think becomes a potential post. You start seeing ideas for posts in your breakfast cereal, start blogging about conversations with your wife, write rants on the postman being late….. If this is happening to you it might be time to step back from blogging a little and get a life :-)
  3. when it intrudes on family – it might seem obvious but I’ve come across a number of bloggers whose family life has come close to breaking down as a result of what bordered on blogging addiction. When blogging intrudes upon real life relationships it’s time to take a good long look at things.
  4. when you have unrealistic expectations – one of the problems with the blogosphere is that it can be a place where hype is ’spun’ and where people develop unrealistic expectations of what blogging can do for them. I see this all the time in the ‘pro’ blogging space and would strongly advise those looking at ‘going pro’ to take their time, not rush into any extreme actions (like quitting jobs) until you’ve got a realistic understanding of what’s involved. If you find the reality of your blogging and the unrealistic expectations don’t match up you might want to take a break to reevaluate.
  5. when it intrudes on your health – sometimes our body has a way of telling us to ’stop’. I learned the lesson the hard way earlier in the year when my eyes gave out for a week or two and I thought I was going blind. Give your body (and mind) a break every now and again to rest.
  6. at the end of the week – I come across more and more bloggers who blog long hours 7 days a week. Give yourself at least one complete day off from blogging a week – if you can’t bear the thought of not posting for a day write in advance and set posts to go off while you take some time off.
  7. at vacation time – sounds obvious that you’d take vacations – but I know some bloggers who blog while they’re away on holidays from net cafes. Periodic longer periods away from blogging are good for you, your family/relationships and believe it or not they can also be good for your blog and blog readers (here are 7 things to do with your blog while you’re on vacation).
  8. when your sleep suffers - I know I know – bloggers do their best work late at night when they should be sleeping – but when you find yourself lying in bed at night wondering if your server is still up, dreaming up new post ideas, checking your blackberry for incoming comments or scheming up linkbaiting ideas – maybe it’s time for a break from your blog!

Of course none of this is from personal experience…. (lets hope V doesn’t read this).

I’m pretty sure, knowing the blog addiction suffered by ProBlogger readers, that together you’ll be able to add another 10 or so points to this list in comments!

update: Robert Scoble updates the list with another 8

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