2 Things I've learned about blogging during a break

You can't go away for 2 months and expect to pick back up where you left off. It just doesn't work that way. Yet that's what I'm desperately trying to do right now, three weeks after becoming a Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy. There are two things I've learned that you can use to advance your blog as well.

1.  Have a plan for your absence.

The truth is that I had a plan initially for my absence. I was going to turn the blog into a simple two month devotional for the time I was gone. The problem is that I didn't execute. I have a notebook with almost enough notes to have written the devotional, but I didn't plan well enough to get the posts written in time. In short, I did not execute properly in order to deliver a good product, or any project at all, for that matter.

2.  Come back patiently.

Because I failed to execute, I am now faced with coming back into the blogging world with a new project, a new domain name, and very few steady readers since I basically ditched them all when I left the blogosphere. I came back a few weeks ago trying to regain my former edge immediately and it hasn't worked. It's going to take some serious thinking, writing, and hard work to get my readership back. If you leave your readers...well, get ready to work even harder than you were working.

While I was gone, I had less than half of my usual monthly page loads. Yet I still had pageloads! I could have been providing my die-hards with information, but I didn't execute. Don't be me, be proactive and execute. And if you go away, be patient upon returning.