Interesting post over at Men with Pens called When do bloggers get a break? The post got me to thinking, do we? Do we get a break from blogging? You did not know this, but I have been out of the office for the last 3 days. Yet, you saw a blog post each of those days. Did I take a break? Yes. How did I do that? It was simple; I either have someone give me a guest post or I do the posts in advance.

Should we take a break? Yes. Can it be done, yes. One tool I have just started to use is an “editorial calendar” and it has helped me greatly in keeping a handle on all of the blogs I publish. If you are not using one, you should. I have found since I started to use one, it is actually easier to come up with ideas to blog about. Do I stick to it as far as topics, no. Sometimes there will be a topic that will jump up at me and I just have to blog about it. When that happens, I just push that planned post to a different day or do two post that day.

I am a firm believer that when you have a popular blog, your readers almost expect you to post on a regular basis. And when you happen to miss a regular day, they notice. They notice because you should be developing a relationship with your readers. And if you are, they will miss your posts if the post are not there.

So, to manage some time away from your blog, use an editorial calendar to schedule your postings. Take advantage of guest bloggers if you can. And do some post in advance and schedule them to go live while you are away.