Absences

Original “Grinds My Gears” template. Annoyance level 1. Image: FOX.

You know what really grinds my gears? When people up and leave their blogs for a long period of time only to remember it months later. This blog post is actually a dig at myself for being absent from cyberspace for eight months. Whoops.

There are some really great blogs, webcomics, books and YouTube series I follow. Nothing grinds my gears more than when there is an extended absence between blog posts/comics/books/videos.

Sure, you could argue, “But Caroline, the author has to have time to come up with inspiration!” This is a very valid point. J.K. Rowling took many years to write every Harry Potter book. As I am currently reading three different book series, the absence between books isn’t too difficult to bear. When I have to wait over a year for another Pretty Little Liars, that’s when my gears really start to grind.

A note at the back of a book or a blog updating schedule makes absences less annoying. If you promise your fans a consistent updating schedule, you should at least attempt to stick to it. Jeph Jacques of “Questionable Content” makes filler comics when something gets in the way of posting a comic online. I, however, don’t have such an excuse.

I could sit here and bore you with the fact I mainly updated this blog for journalism classes and when I was done with those classes I didn’t have time to update my blog. But that’s a story for another day. This is probably the closest to an apology y’all are going to get. Sorry ’bout that.

Another thing that grinds my gears about absences is a lack of acknowledging being absent. Everyone gets busy; that’s easily understandable. But if you make a promise to keep up with your blog for the readers, at least let them know you’ll be AWOL for a while. (Again, sorry guys.)

It comes down to this: Shit happens. Everyone knows that. If you’re going to take an extended leave for whatever reason or for whatever you do, let people know. This allows for people to roughly know when to expect an update on you or an update on what you’re taking a break from. Courtesy goes a long way in the world.