Blogging inspiration: taking a break

I’ve really appreciated the activity I’ve seen on Twitter lately, supporting bloggers by telling them it’s okay to blog the way you want. There seems to be this pressure – that we put on ourselves – to follow a checklist if we want to feel like bloggers.

A lot of this happened while I was having a break from posting so it was encouraging to feel it didn’t matter I wasn’t currently setting posts live and that didn’t stop me from being a blogger.

I hate taking blogging breaks, but this year was particularly hard. I know it’s not all about the statistics, but I’ve really seen an increase in numbers recently and feel I might – finally – be doing something right. I’m never going to be a big blogger, but I love what I do and that’s good enough for me.

Sometimes, though, it gets too much.

Are you starting to struggle to think of content? Is it getting too much to keep on top of everything?

I’m stubborn; everyone who knows me knows it. Stopping something, even for the right reasons, felt like giving in. But I wasn’t giving the blog the attention it needed: I wasn’t promoting posts, I wasn’t scheduling social media and each weekend was a frantic rush to write the following week’s posts.

It wasn’t fun.

Although I wasn’t posting, I was still writing and scheduling content. Without the pressure to sort out social media and promoting posts, I could take the time to enjoy what I was doing. I was spending more time editing content, playing with layouts and trying to improve images. I’m happier with my content.

You’ll notice throughout this month and into the next, I’ve had a slight change of style of how I present the reviews.

Scheduling social media

Scheduling social media will never be a thrill. I’ve used Tweetdeck for a while and it works fine for what I need. But I’ve also just discovered Buffer and started using that as well. I have a convoluted system but it works for me in knowing where I’m up to with scheduling.

I’ve just been introduced to Later, a scheduling platform for Instagram. The best part is you can set up the posts on the computer, which is hopefully going to reduce the number of typos I keep making in those posts.

With Facebook and Tumblr both having scheduling options on the platforms, I’m now better at getting myself organised. I’ll spend some time at the weekend setting everything up, but I then know if I’m exhausted after work, I’m not letting myself down by not doing it.

Does anyone know any free platforms/apps to schedule Pinterest content? I’m coming up short!

I’m also hoping to get a new camera! I’m so fed up of just using my phone. Currently, I’m borrowing an old one from my brother while I figure out what I want. I’m really interested in improving my photography, so watch this space!

How about you? Do blogging breaks leave you inspired?

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