As a personal blogger, I’m getting better at recognizing when to persevere and press the publish button on a post and when I shouldn’t. There is a moment of crystal clear clarity that I find myself approaching when I know I’m good to go.
My thoughts flow as they melt onto the page. It’s a great feeling to be free of the struggles to find something to write about. When the fight with my muse is over, I feel like the itsy bitsy spider in the song my mom would sing to me as a child. She sang it to my kids too. We all loved the hand signals that went along with it. Do you remember that song?
But, then there are times when I think a blogging break is in order for me. I lose my ‘why’ and those are the moments I pay close attention to.
How I recognize my top 10 reasons I might need a blogging break?
#1 – I find myself at a loss for an answer/stream of thoughts to reply to a weekly prompt(s) I enjoy participating in. If I resort to asking AI for the answer, I know I might be at that neck-breaking point.
#2 – I can’t figure out the easiest way to combine more than one prompt. For example, combining childhood songs and Cooper Hawks and churches, temples, and spiritual centers. I asked Mr. and he asked ChatGPT – I was still at a loss.
#3 – When the photos I’ve taken over the week are a hodgepodge that doesn’t fit the prompts or I have absolutely no photos to go with the prompts. Surprisingly, I’ve rarely taken photos of churches. We have beautiful ones in our area, but I just don’t take photos of them. During those moments I tend to feel tightness and frustration in my neck making me feel ready to give up.
#4 – No matter which leg I choose to stand on, the challenge of writing the post remains a struggle as I try to regain the focus I need to do the deed at hand.
#5 – No matter how hard I hold onto a fleeting feather of an idea, the life in the idea seems to weaken as my thoughts wisp away in the wind.
#6 – I press on harder, and harder, and wait…and wait…and wait as the blinking line on the keyboard blinks, blinks, blinks. . .
#7- I look for a different angle, but I still end up in the same place waiting for the ideas to flow.
#8 – My thoughts blur and blur and blur and blur to unrecognizable abstract points where the sacred writing ambitions hide.
#9 – My last attempt to recover from the blur factor lacks cohesion. It’s an out-of-this-earth spiritual center in my heart that awakens to try and see the light of the full moon in a foggy sky. Clarity isn’t always the goal.
#10 – I know the fog will eventually lift. I find peace in telling myself it’s okay to say, “Not today, dear, not today!” and I press Publish and move on to greener grass for the day!
Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hills’ Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “a song from your childhood.” Think of a song from your childhood and just write. Have fun! And Terri Webster Schrandt’s Sunday Stills #Sacred Spaces — Churches, Temples and Spiritual Centers
PS – What is your favorite childhood song? What do you do when you battle with your muse? Have you ever seen a Cooper’s Hawk after it has captured its prey? He did fly off with the bird so we didn’t see the rest of the show. Head on over to the links above to check out the other bloggers who joined in on the prompts! If you don’t see me here next week or two, or if you do, you’ll know who won my blogging battles! 🤣😂😉
Birds and sacred spaces might be a challenge in trying to combine the two, but you managed to connect them, Shelley! Quite brilliantly, although it was hard for me to see the hawk chomping on the dead bird. I know it happens, but… I also know that taking a blog break is OK, I recommend them and take them at least for a week once in a while. BTW, if your muse can’t get a theme together for Sunday Stills, I won’t be offended 😉
Thank you for the encouragement, Terri. I felt the same way about the photos. It was quite fascinating to actually see the intensity of the hawk doing what hawks do. At the same time, it was quite disturbing.
Thank you for your blogging advice, I agree. And, thanks for the advanced pass for the next time I can’t get my stuff together for a Sunday Stills post. 😊🤗
The hawk is a cannibal! You publish once a week, no need for a blogging break, Shelley. Have a great new week!
The hawk was intense, that’s for sure. Thank you for your vote on the blogging break!
I hope you have a great week too, John!
You’re welcome, Shelley. ☺️
If you decide to take a break, I’ll understand. I do enjoy your posts, and I wonder if you might not be being too hard on yourself. You know, setting the bar a little higher than it needs to be. I won’t go on, but I wonder. I love your photos, even as hard as they are to see today. Life is like that. I hope you have a good week!
Thank you for the encouragement and the wondering about being too hard on myself. I think you’re on to something! 🤔🧐😊
I’m glad you enjoyed the photos despite the content. I’ve always known the hawks do that, I’ve seen them flying with their prey, but this was the first time one chose our deck for the dirty deed. It’s the circle of life.
Thanks again, Dan, I hope you have a great week too!
We’ve had a sparrowhawk around our garden lately. Thankfully I haven’t seen him catch any birds from the garden.
We’ve seen more Hawks this year. Thankfully, only one this close 🙄 I hope you don’t see what we saw either.
I enjoyed your post, you have a majestic collection of sacred space photos!!
Thank you 🙂 I hope I don’t see what you did too!
Greetings, Shelley. I empathize. I’ve never taken a blogging break, but I have reduced the frequency with which I publish stories. I used to publish once per week. For the last few years it’s been once every other week. Even the current pace seems too much at times, but overall I’m good with it.
Hi! I appreciate your empathy and for sharing how you’ve modified your schedule to make it work best for you. I think that’s so important.
In a way, I wonder if there’s an evolution that happens naturally when you’ve been blogging for a long time.
PS – I so enjoyed seeing all the stunning spring flowers you shared in your post! I wish I had smell-o-vision to smell the lilacs!
I’ve had a personal blogging mantra for many years and it still holds today … short and simple …. blogging breaks are good. … no ifs, ands, or buts … blogging breaks are good. Years ago in a previous blogging life a wrote a post about blogging breaks … it still stands strong today. Well … at least to me. Love the hawk pics!
Hi Frank! Thank you so much for sharing your blogging words of wisdom and your appreciation of the Hawk photos.
I shall preach the ‘blogging breaks are good’ mantra to myself too!!
Life and death on your deck is amazing. Great photos Shelley. Just do whatever you feel is right, I’ll hang around 🤗
Thanks, Brian – despite the content of the situation/photos, it was fascinating to see a Hawk do what Hawks do.
I appreciate you and your blogging buddy support, thank you so much! 🤗
Well done on putting your thoughts down on paper and tying the photos into the post – very clever! Take a break when you need to is my advice 🙂
I hear ‘ya! When you don’t know which leg to stand on, then blogging is a trial that can knock you off balance. I sometimes take a month off entirely, but this year I’m just reducing my presence in blogland. You and I are lucky in that we write blogs for fun and connections, not money and stats.
Hi Ally, I agree – well said! 😍 We are lucky that we write for the reasons you stated. I can’t imagine working full-time at my other job and trying to make side cash on a monetized blog. 😏🤔😫
Me neither! That’s why I emphasize to anyone who pays attention that I write a *personal* blog.
Ah, and it is such a lovely mantra! 🥰😍😊
What I’ve noticed from the blogging community is that it’s very forgiving! I’ve taken good long breaks and the core followers are always there when I come back. It should be fun, right, so if it’s not fun take a break, I say! Or, do it in a different way? Maybe a post of just photos–responding to a prompt with images only, say. I started taking guest posts because I realized I just didn’t have the time to devote to the blog, myself, that I wanted to. It’s helped so much. Now I can enjoy the posts I do write. You know I’ll be here if you take a break, Shelley!
Excellent points/advice, Rebecca 😍🤗
I was wondering about your change to guest posts. Your questions show how much fun you’re having and the words just flow. I bet that makes it easier for you to work on your WIP and other writings.
I’m so thankful you’ll be here if/when I take a break and return revived 🤗
We have a Coopers Hawk too. He got a mourning dove last week. Lots and lots of feathers left. We didn’t see the actual hit We saw him after he was on the ground with it. He flew off with his dinner. I feel sad, but they all have to eat.
I wondered if you had Hawks too. Where there are a lot of little birds and easy prey like the Doves the Hawks seem to hang out. We had a different Hawk yesterday, one that goes for the gophers. You’re right, they all have to eat.
If you decide to take a break we’ll wait. I don’t have a ‘muse’ so much…most of what I blog is for me, to remember later, what I did and when and with whom.
Thank you, Dawn, I appreciate your support and encouragement. I like that approach to your blog, it makes it that much more personal and relatable. 🤗
Wow! Fantastic photos! The bird pics are so powerful and impressive! I’ve taken blog breaks…we all need them sometimes. Glad I found you…hopefully we’ll reconnect upon your return. 🙏
Thank you, I appreciate your feedback and your warm greeting here on the blogosphere! I hope we reconnect too!! 😊
I’ve not taken a blog break to date but that doesn’t mean I don’t need one … if I had a couple of weeks to my own I feel I could declutter the house and return revitalized … I look around me and realize that something has to change, but blogging and the whole picture-taking, walking “thing” is a welcome change from a life of work drudgery that I feel I need it to go forward, strange as that may sound. I like the photos of the Cooper’s Hawk, despite his having nailed his prey and allowed you to photograph it. You’re lucky he didn’t demolish it in front of you. Earlier this week I was returning from walking at the Park and a Mallard duck had been killed in the middle of the road and a crow was feasting on it … I thought I’d be sick on the spot.
I think it’s important to focus on what part of blogging gives us the most joy. You’ve found the balance with the walking/photo taking as a happy contrast to your workday. That’s a good thing!
I appreciate your feedback on the photos – I know your heart is so kind and protective of wildlife, I’m sure the photos were hard to look at too. I’m glad he flew off to finish his feast, I don’t think I could’ve watched that! Sometimes when I see animals that were hit by cars on the sides of the roads, I feel sick too.
Yes, it does give me joy and balances out the part of my day/life that does not give me joy, so that is a plus. The photos are hard to look at but it happens … people say “well the hawk has to eat too” but I just prefer it concentrates on mice, voles, not my furry friends. I one time was walking and heard horrible screeching overhead and saw a Peregrine Falcon (we had several around in those days) chasing after a medium-sized bird … the eerie noise of the bird that was prey as it knew its life was in danger, then no shrieking, was unsettling to me. It’s hard being a bleeding heart. Today, I was standing on an overlook at Lake Erie Metropark. I don’t know why I looked down, but there was a fish head with eyes looking at me – ugh. Thank goodness I didn’t step on it. I wondered if a fisherman fileted it on the spot, or it was a bird dropped it before finishing it off. Ewww. I am behind in Reader, but your post today shows up in notifications – I see you made your decision. I liked your answer – noncommital. 🙂
I agree, it’s all a bit unnerving to watch critters do their thing. Growing up with a dad and brother that hunt and fish, I learned to process what happens, still isn’t always easy to do.
Yes, and I’m giddy…I don’t know why? But trying to figure out what schedule was harder than I thought so noncommittal it is!! 😅
It’s not pretty to see or hear. You’ll get done with your big project all the earlier and have time to read in the tea house.
I hope so!
Shelley, it’s never a bad thing to take a break from writing and blogging. I’ve done it myself when I feel there is nothing to say, the prompts make me go “meh” or when life in general (time) gets in the way. Take whatever time you need and come back when you are inspired and the time is right.
Thank you for your advice and words of encouragement, Mary! I admire you and your blog and how you make it fit your life so well! Thanks for being such a great blogging buddy!!
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