A Well Deserved Holiday Break!

So I’ve thought long and hard this year about what I needed to do for myself, and my guest reviewers, as bloggers. I felt myself getting burnt out and I didn’t want that to happen. I had to come up with something to help me still want to blog, especially since it’s mostly a thankless job that makes me no money.  Ok, that sounds bad. But it’s true. I do it because I love to share things with people: author interviews, reviews, book blasts, whatever. And I make no money at all in doing it. Sure I get free books, so that in itself is great, but blogging is something I do just for the love of it. And I love to help authors because I’m a reader and what better way to show the world all the great books that are out there, right? But  recently, I have been starting my weeks dreading having to make up posts. There have been many times I’ve just wanted to say forget it and run away to hide and rock in a corner. But I pushed on, because I made commitments. And I’m not the kind of person to back down from them.

I came up with the idea that I need a vacation. We all take breaks from our jobs IRL, right? I take vacation every August from my job for two weeks. And boy do I need it. Being a nurse is a tough job; you get burnt out quickly. So now I take my August vacation and I take an April vacation. Sure, it’s centered around my kids being off from school, but what better excuse to use, right?

So now I will be granting myself vacations from blogging. I used to think I had to post every day, or publishers would deny me ARCs and tour companies would not include me in their tours. But I’ve come to realize that it’s really not necessary to blog EVERY day. I started taking Sundays off recently. It’s not that I want to necessarily “rest” on Sundays, but I needed that break from worrying about scheduling a post. I wanted to relax on Saturdays with my family and a book. And then I thought, wow, wouldn’t it be nice if I could take a bit of a break, where I could focus on other things rather than worrying  about having to get those posts up.

And then I made the decision: I will be taking a break for the next two weeks. That’s right, you didn’t hear me wrong, from December 20^th to January 4^th, I won’t be putting up posts. Ok, so that’s not totally true, I do have a few posts scheduled. I think there are maybe 2 or 3. These have been made way in advance and are already ready to go. But other than those posts, you won’t see anything from me for those two weeks. And I believe it’s well deserved. I’ve been blogging for 2 ½ years non-stop. No breaks, even when I’m on vacation.

Which leads me to my next thought. From now on, when I’m on vacation there are no posts. I don’t want to worry about having to schedule them before or having to wait for materials for a post that has to go up the next day. I don’t want to stress on vacation. So in April, when my kids are off for Spring break, you won’t be hearing a peep from The Cover Contessa. And in August, when I go away with my family for two weeks, you will notice I am gone. And one again in December of 2015, I will take a break for the holidays.

I think I deserve it. I think I need the rest. And I don’t want to get so burnt out that I decide to quit blogging. Because I rather like blogging and the blogging community and all the other bloggers and authors and publicists and friends I have made.

So, I’ll see you in two weeks. I hope you’ll still come back and see what we have scheduled for the New Year, because there’s lots of great stuff in our future!

Happy Holidays to all! See you in 2015!!!!