Laura’s Blog

Dear Blogging Barista,

I am going on vacation for two weeks and I don’t plan to blog while I’m away. I can’t find the time to write posts in advance, so I know my blog will be nothing but “dead air” for a while. Should I give notice to my readers that I’m not going to be blogging during that time?

People ask me this question all the time and I admit – I struggle with it, too. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed that things have been quiet in the Blogging Bistro during the past three weeks. That’s because I have been on vacation!

My son celebrates life at the beach

And no, I didn’t forewarn you that I’d be away from my computer. I had good intentions of keeping you entertained while I was away. I was going to crank out a bunch of posts the week before I left and pre-schedule them. But we took on several new clients that week, and my first priority is working with my clients. I was going to write posts while I was at the beach. Yeah, right. The sand, sea, and sun beckoned, and I couldn’t muster up any motivation to write.

But even if I had gotten around to writing and scheduling those posts, I wouldn’t have told you I was going on vacation. It’s one of my unwritten blogging policies. I think it stems from reading far too many blogs in which the author announces that she’s taking a break from blogging. She claims she’s announcing her departure as a courtesy to their readers, but I wonder whether it’s more to stave off her own guilt.

When bloggers do warn me in advance that they’ll be gone, I tend to stop reading their blog. Why? I don’t know. But a psychologist could probably explain it to me.

Far too often, bloggers announce that they’re going to take “a short break” and I don’t hear from them again for months. Telling people you’re going to stop the presses gives some bloggers carte blanche to stop the presses – forever.

Finally, I believe bloggers get easily misled into thinking too highly of ourselves. “My readers will worry about me if I don’t blog! How will my fans get through their day without reading my wonderful nuggets of wisdom?”

Trust me; your readers will survive without you. The earth will continue to spin on its axis. The sun will continue to shine (everywhere except Seattle, that is, where the rain will continue to rain). The sad fact of the blogging life is that the vast majority of your readers don’t care about you. Not much, anyway.

They care about themselves. They care about what they are going to get from your blog that will solve their problems or make them smile. They will continue to function relatively normally if they don’t hear from you every day – or even every week.

So give yourself a break, dear blogger. If you need a vacation, take one. Don’t apologize. When you return from your blogging break, you’ll be rejuvenated and ready to pound out witty posts (like this one!) that ooze humility.