This week’s prompt: Have you ever wondered why a passionate book blogger might suddenly stop posting or delete their blog without notice?
I have wondered this, I’ve also mourned this, repeatedly. I don’t deal well with change, and I don’t like when I get used to something existing that helps me feel calm and safe and then it stops, you know, existing. Doesn’t matter if it’s a relationship, a favourite lip balm, a TV show or a blog. I’ll take quite a while to recover, in some cases I won’t ever truly get over it. There have been some that I understand, even support. For example Allison Paiges has stopped making videos for her YouTube channel, which was my all time favourite (I stopped watching YouTube at all once she quit, because I just couldn’t). But she shared a post on her YouTube community page explaining that, as those of us who’d been watching her for a while were aware of, she’d been struggling with her health for quite a while. She gets a special type of migraines (I’ve forgotten what they are called) that mimic or are like seizures, and that have been getting progressively worse. She had to take a medical leave from her online work indefinitely so that she could rest and recover. I am so glad that she did. It was overdue, and I had been worried about her for a while. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to how much I’ve missed her kind, enthusiastic, real content.
So when someone does stop blogging or takes a break, I tend to assume that it’s because they have a full life outside of blogging, including real jobs that actually pay them for their skills, along with families, hobbies, friends, etc. People also stop because they’re just not feeling it anymore. Life moves on, and so do they. There have been so many wonderful blogs and bloggers that I have followed and loved (some I was even friends with) who don’t post anymore. It’s sad, and I haven’t got quite as close blogger friendships as they were, but in each case I understand. The one thing I will say is that it’s always great if a blogger is going to stop if they do a little goodbye post, because I do definitely wonder. If for no other reason than so that us loyal followers don’t worry!
What about you guys? Do you wonder why bloggers stop blogging? Are there any who have just disappeared who you still miss? Anyone you don’t understand why they quit?
The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly blog link-up that gives participants a different book-related question to ponder each week, and allows them to share their thoughts, find new blogs to follow and connect with new readers. The Hop was originally created by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and is now hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. To see a list of upcoming prompts go here.