We’ve talked about blogging for vacation a couple of times before. If you’ve been able to schedule and plan accordingly and if everything went well for you (it didn’t go as well for me), you might have found yourself awakened from a stupor after the Holidays. When you’re blogging every day for weeks at a time, the momentum is maintained and you’re always on the go when it comes to writing posts. However, when the momentum is broken, you might find yourself having to start from scratch.

It’s not easy going back to business right after a long break and yes, a week or so is a long break for a blogger. However, you have to get your momentum back and you have to get it back soon. Your stack of posts would soon be depleted and you’d be left without a choice. Would you believe it if I told you that I only had one complete day’s off during the Holidays and even then, I had a difficult time going back to work the next day?

One way to ensure you won’t completely be in a stupor during vacation is to allow yourself to think of blogging. Not the whole day, of course. Instead, get inspiration from what you experience during vacation and plan posts for it at a later time. That way, you’re still attuned to the blogger side of yourself. Even so, it’ll still be a little difficult getting footing since it’s the routine or lack thereof that will get to you. When you’re working, you have set hours of work a day for a particular project, at least, ideally. It will be hard getting back to that routine when you come back.

Here are some tips I, myself, plan to implement to help us all out get back on track:

1. Go Back to Basics

Think of yourself as an athlete who’s gone on a training hiatus. Naturally, you’d have to start from point 1 in your training routine when you start again. You can’t run 20 kilometers on your first day back, that’s absurd. Same thing with going back to blogging. If you’re used to churning out 20 blog posts per day, it might not be realistic to expect yourself to be able to do as much on your first day back. For one, you’ll still have Holiday hangover, admit it. And another, as was mentioned, you’re yet to get your rhythm back. If possible, cut down on your work output on your first day back, even the next day, if that helps you get your footing back. As long as you get a feel of how it is to be back to work, you’ll get back to your old habits pretty soon.

2. Re-examine Your Schedule

Whereas before, you do your tasks like clockwork, you might need to take a glimpse at your schedule for the day once in a while. Make sure you’re aware of what you’re supposed to be currently doing. Try to stick to your original tasks, although I believe you can cut off a bit on time. For example, if you’re used to doing 1 hour or social bookmarking per day, cut it down by 30 minutes only in the meanwhile, until you get used to it again.

3. Read Your Past Blog Posts

Sometimes, when you’ve been away for a while, you seem like you’re in a haze, forgetting what it is you’ve done a mere week ago. To be able to remember what you’ve been discussing lately so as to pick up from where you left off, read your most recent blog postings. Get a feel of how things were before you left and you’ll be writing out your next post before you know it, I know I did.

4. Don’t Procrastinate

While I suggest cutting off on workload and schedule, I would suggest going back to work, even for just an hour’s worth as soon as you get back. The more you try to put it off, the more difficult it’ll be for you. Try your best to concentrate and within a couple of days, things will be back to normal.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 am and is filed under blogging. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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