Blogging Pressures: What I learned from my seventh month break.

Blogging is a hobby for me and sometimes I just need a break.  Well, more like a seventh month break!   I took a hiatus from blogging because I had lots of work coming in and I just didn't have time.   I felt the pressure and the stress of not adding new content on my blog. Because I felt the pressure I just stopped cold turkey coming here. I was unsure of the direction of the blog and I had so much work on my plate it was better for me to leave Sewing and Crafting with Sarah "out of sight, out of mind".  Comments sat in queue, emails went unanswered, no Facebook updates, tweets, pins, - nothing. 

Over the last several days I have started going through the comments, emails, and updating my blog.  The wonderful thing about the Internet is that it still keeps chugging along with or without you. 

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I have Google ads and affiliate ads on this blog.  My old content was still getting click-through and money was still being made.  Granted it is a small amount of money but my efforts from earlier years was still paying off for me. 

Recently, I sat down and read through the thousands of emails that were sent through my blog, most of it was spam.  However, there were some opportunities I missed out on because I was M.I.A.  I did miss some free product, some extra exposure for some of my tutorials.  But I also learned that I was getting a check from Google, Linkconnector.com, and to my surprise Zazzle.com.   I set-up my Zazzle.com store 5 years ago. The images I designed were now making money and I had sales on a store that I completely forgot about. Again, that Internet keeps on chugging!

Spending the day going through emails made me realize several things.  It is okay to stop blogging for seven months because the Internet continues to work for you.  However, if you are going to take a break here are some key tips to remember:

• Do not change your paypal address because you could miss out on some opportunities for payment.
• Do not close any email addresses -  keep them all.   It is impossible to remember all the places you have given out your email and you may miss out on some extra blog exposure if you terminate an account.
• Keep a log or journal of all your passwords and accounts.  Nothing is worse than trying to guess what password you were using seven months ago.  *sigh*
• If you are going to stop blogging for a while do not close down your blog.  Let the old content work for you.  
• Don't worry when you see an email from the Internal Revenue Service they do not use the email tightwad@.....com  - You are not late on paying any taxes.  LOL
• Lastly, do not apologize for taking a break from blogging.  It is your blog you can stop and start whenever you darn well please.  :-)

Wondering where I have been for seven months?  I invite you to visit the Bowdabra Blog for some really great step-by-step tutorials.  I will still continue to blog at Bowdabra but the holidays are a big crafting time for me and I want to make sure I share additional tutorials here on my blog, as well.