I Took a Two Month Hiatus From Blogging and Here's Why
Wow, it has been a long time since I sat down to write a blog post. Okay, okay, two months might actually not be that long but when you unexpectedly take a hiatus from blogging after spending the majority of the year writing everyday, it feels like forever!
I’m happy to report that this blog post will officially mark the end of my unofficial hiatus from Made in Mom Jeans!
That feels good to say but honestly when I stopped blogging back in October in order to give myself a little break, I had no idea whether or not I would come back.
Friday morning I woke up feeling different. I woke up feeling this surge of creative energy that I had been feeling throughout the month of December while doing Vlogmas (on our family vlog channel, Chasing Chamblees) but it was met with a new excitement to get back into writing and a determination to succeed at blogging. Don’t ask me what “succeed at blogging” means really because I haven’t gotten that far yet but I realized something during my hiatus that you may or may not be able to relate to. I am terrified of success.
Unless I let you take a glimpse of the backend of my blog, you would have no idea that in September, the blog saw over 20,000 page views with over 9,000 unique people stopping by Made in Mom Jeans. That month I saw more traffic than I had seen the entirety of the previous year. So now, it probably seems absolutely crazy to you that just a month after having my most successful month, I left without saying a word. Alright, I did mention it on Instagram and maybe even Twitter but as far as the blog goes and any Facebook group I managed, I disappeared.
I didn’t even know why I was taking a hiatus other than I realized that I was completely burnt out from writing, using up all of my creative energy on meeting number goals or posting consistently three to four days a week. I was managing a Facebook group, a book club, running a killer monthly email and time literally just got away from me. I remember waking up on November 1st and realizing that I hadn’t even start the monthly newsletter. Oops. That was the moment I realized that I needed to take a step back. I needed to self-edit as it were.
I did something I hadn’t done since throwing myself into blogging and that was picking up the camera and vlogging. With the upcoming arrival of our baby, I knew I wanted to capture the moments before, during, and after his birth. Vlogging and YouTube and video content in general gives me an outlet that writing somehow doesn’t cover. For the past two months, we’ve been vlogging quit a bit and if you aren’t following our vlog channel, you’ve definitely missed a lot! I love that we’ve made so many memories and can look back on them for years to come while we’re waiting for little boy to make his appearance in the world. After vlogging for most of December, I decided to take the last week and a half or so off completely from social media and YouTube and whatever to just spend time with family and enjoy our vacation. There is something so special about being mostly unplugged for the holiday season. It was this time away from everything that really let me reflect on what I wanted 2019 to look like.
I mentioned before, that I realized I’m afraid of success. I’m afraid of what 20,000 people looking into my everyday life, the deepest parts of my soul, looks like. I’m terrified of people turning on me and calling me a sell out if I start making regular money via my blog. But I realized that the ones who really matter, you guys who keep showing up week after week, video after video, post after post just to say hey, or see how we’re doing, are the ones that truly matter. I’ve had so many people reach out and say they miss seeing me on Instagram, or miss reading the blog every week. And I realized that I let my fear of success, my fear of failure, get in the way of what this whole things is really about: helping other people.
I am kind of (okay, not kind of, really) just free writing this post so I’m not sure if any of this will even make sense but I felt it important to lay the last couple of months out for you all before I just pop back in here with the content you’re used to seeing. I don’t know what the rest of 2019 is going to look like, especially with the arrival of Baby Chamblee just around the corner, but here is what you can expect from me moving forward:
A regular posting schedule here on Made in Mom Jeans- I am committing to one blog post per week right now, probably on Thursdays. There may be weeks where there are more blog posts, I may get hyped and go back to the previous scheduled, but right now I know I can sustain one blog post a week and that I can continue to get one blog post a week done after the baby comes. I’ll be keeping you guys posted on any changes that I make to the schedule moving forward but for now, keep an eye out for a new post coming on Thursday to truly kick off the new year.
Continued vlogs on the Chasing Chamblees YouTube channel- I am not sure how often we’ll be vlogging but I hope to get at least one vlog up per week. Not for any particular reason other than I love vlogging and editing videos. We had such a blast doing Vlogmas and I’m excited to watch our YouTube community continue to grow as the year continues.
The AM Coffee Collective Community- The AMCC community is open to any woman in our community. The Facebook group is FOR YOU GUYS. This is your place to ask questions, get recommendations, vent about the latest episode of your favorite TV show, etc. It’s a place where you can connect with other members of the community! Of course, I’ll be there to interact with you guys as well but I want you to know that it’s 100% your place to post things, not mine! I may start a discussion here and there or poll you guys about the types of content you want to see but other than that, the AM Coffee Collective Facebook group is all you.
As far as the newsletter and book clubs go, I’m not sure when/if those will get back up and running. I need to take some more time and reevaluate and lay out a plan for each of them before starting up again, if that’s the road I decide to take. I’ll definitely keep you guys posted on what I decided and, as always, please let me know if you have any suggestions, strong feelings, etc.
Lastly, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me in 2018. Whether it be on this platform or another one, I can never truly put into words how much your support has meant to me. I hope you’re just as excited about 2019 as I am!
