Sometimes You Just Need A Break
Welcome to October! I know it has been two weeks since I last posted, but I promise that I have some great content coming up on the blog for this month. The time went to good use since I've spent these past two weeks re-evaluating my content and finally taking batch writing seriously. I’m working on streamlining my category topics down to only three:
This Thing Called Life- life issues and lessons
Notes About Us-social commentary
The Writer’s Lounge -writing tips, inspiration, and the business of writing
I had to do something about my categories since I noticed that I wasn’t writing about many of the ones that I had listed. These are the three topics that rose to the top because they were the ones that I continually gravitated toward, so they must be the most natural for me to write about. Probably the single most important thing that I accomplished during this break was coming to this realization. I think I may add one more that’s related to personal style sometime in 2017, but we’ll see where some of my other goals take me.
Why Breaks From Blogging (Or Any Craft) Are Important
First, let me give you some history behind my blog. The focus of my blog has changed over the years as I have become clearer about what I am trying to achieve with it. I’ve actually had a blog since 2007 when I started blogging for class assignments during my first graduate degree program. Back then, I had to use my blog to give critiques on different media outlets for case studies I was doing for class. After graduating from that program, I started calling my blog “Reasons and Roses” and that was my first attempt at lifestyle blogging. I intended for Reasons and Roses to be a well-rounded, magazine style lifestyle blog with topics ranging from fashion to entertainment to relationships, but it ended up being more of a fashion blog than anything else.
In 2013, I went back to grad school again, and this is when I decided to use my blog to promote my writing. I changed the name of the blog to NicholeONichols.com, and I redesigned the whole look of the website. Most recently, I went through a phase of trying to be a book review blogger similar to one of my favorite literary blogs, Modern Mrs. Darcy. It didn’t take long before I let that go because that was still diverting away from what I really wanted to write about. In the midst of trying to think of yet another way to re-organize my blog, I stumbled upon this article about personal blogging from Ashley Thomas of WriteLaughDream.com that changed the way I approached this blog forever.
I finally accepted that I am a personal blogger, which is something I had been running from since starting a blog because I was apprehensive about writing about my personal life for the world to see. Ashley broke down the art of storytelling and personal writing in a way that made it clear to me that it was exactly what I should be doing with my blog.
I’m also working on my first book of poetry, and this blog gives me a way to connect with potential readers and build a larger business around my writing and the products and services I want to provide to other writers. I also see my blog as the first step to building the media company that I’ve dreamed about since high school.
All of these different revelations about the purpose of my blog came to me during breaks. Some were two weeks, some were years, but each time my blog went on hiatus, it was because I needed to do some self-work and some deep research to make my blog make more sense with the goals I have as a writer, content creator, and advocate for other writers, especially black writers. I’m really liking where my blog and business is going now, and even though I consider it to still be in its infancy, I know some big, exciting things are around the corner.
Sometimes a hiatus is needed so that you can do the self work and research that's necessary to realize your goals
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A post about my most recent “break revelations” ( ha! I kind of like that!) will be up on Friday. It’s all about what I’ve learned about consistency, even in the midst of being inconsistent.
Welp, that’s about it. See you Friday!
What are the most important lessons that you’ve learned during your blog breaks?
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