I complain, but at least it’s not this! As of o-dark thirty, the family and I are off on our bi-annual (That means every two years right? Because semi-annual is twice a year? That has always confused me.) Tour de Relatives. This Olympic worthy sport includes a 3,000 mile round trip through six states with three wee children and a pregnant lady. Basically we’ll be touring the wide variety of basements available between Minnesota and Nevada. Not to dis Lance and the boys but our Tour definitely trumps their Tour for scale of difficulty. It’s the only time in my life when I want to make the person who invented the McPlayland an official saint. (Random trip trivia: Did you know that the state of Nebraska has NOT ONE McPlayland? We will show what we think of this by climbing on every state monument we pass by.)
All of which is to say I will not be blogging for awhile. Yeah I could have lined up guest posts or busted my butt writing two weeks of posts in advance or even blogged from the road like so many of you intrepid blog-buddies do but that all felt like work. And just to clear up any misconceptions you may have: I do not get paid to blog. Not that I went into this with the intention of making any money (true story: I started this blog just so I wouldn’t have to yell the latest research study I read down 6 treadmills) and so I’m not complaining. But I am taking a break.
As many of the basements we will be sleeping in are so primitive as not to have WiFi or Internet access, my on-line time will be spotty. I won’t be visiting all of your wonderful blogs. I won’t be “up” on the latest breaking fitness research (read: which celebrity is pimping which diet by standing in a bikini on the cover of some mag). I will be slow on comment moderation and e-mail. Has anyone ever died of Internet withdrawal? I might.
Or I might come to a blogger epiphany about what exactly to do with this blog when my baby is born. I have 3 months left for those of you counting as eagerly as I am and two things are weighing heavily on my mind:
1) I love doing this blog. Love it. (Number 1 reason why I love blogging: YOU. I have met some of the greatest people through this gig and have learned so much from every single one of you.)
2) This blog is a ton of work. What started out as a small endeavor has grown to something much bigger than I ever anticipated. While I’m thrilled to have so many readers – I squee with joy every time I check my site stats (feed crack, yo) – and your kind e-mails are truly the highlight of my day, the work of moderating, dealing with advertising, products, guest-posting and all of that other behind-the-scenes stuff is getting overwhelming. (Want to hear another blogger’s take on this? Check out the much-respected MizFit’s post today.)
You know what else is a lot of work? A new baby.
A quandry, as you can see. I will of course pick the baby over the blog which leaves me with trying to figure out what to do here.
There are great things afoot here at the GFE – lots of giveaways to do, celebs to skewer and insights to overshare – but the main thing is MY BOOK. I know!! I have a Great Fitness Experiment Book! It’s written (and not from my blog – new stuff!). I have a publisher. I have a tentative release of “late 2009.” I’ll let you know the rest of the details when I know them.
So what does it all mean for this? I’m not sure yet. I’m hoping all the exhaust I’ll be inhaling getting to that fresh mountain air will trigger some Great Fitness Ideas. In the meantime, I’m all ears if any of you have suggestions!
Enjoy the blog silence.
Love from the ether,
Charlotte
Congrats on the book! And, of course the baby. And, taking some much needed, er, rest while traveling. (I can't imagine it's "rest", but you know what mean.)
Enjoy your visits 🙂
(we have wifi if you need a break on your drive
(and things to climb on)
Charlotte, #1, you need a much deserved break & vacation! Good for you!! And #2, as small as my blog is, it is still work & I don't get a lot of things done I need to get done or SHOULD be getting done so I understand that as big as you are AND then the baby!!!
I am so happy for you & the book deal.. very exciting!
As we always say in blog world, do what feels right & good to you and FOR you. We will so miss you while you are gone now and if you decide to not continue BUT this is your life & you need to take care of #1 you! And that family too!
Enjoy your time away! And yes, I would go thru withdrawals!!! I always have internet access when I am gone.. so far! Now, if I ever get rich & get that deserted island somewhere, not to worry then! 🙂
Rest now, while you still have a few months of sleeping (mostly) through the night.
To be selfish, I confess I will be sad about the silence part. There are loads of blogs out there, but this one was special. Might have something to do with the author.
Have fun on your trip!
Should I mention again how Merry would make a great name for a baby? Okay, okay. I just thought I'd ask.
A book!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!!!!! Like everyone else, I will absolutely support any decision you make. Yes, we'll miss you if you go, but a baby takes precedence over a blog, definitely!
Have a GREAT (and well-deserved) vacation, and take care of you and yours!
Enjoy your trip Charlotte! Just a suggestion for when the new baby arrives – maybe a once weekly blog for a few months? Enough to keep the readers from total withdrawl, but hopefully not enough to burn you out? Then you can just gradually increase as you feel able….whatever you do, I'll keep reading!
J from Newfoundland.
ok I had the most BIZARRE dream last night about the two of us traveling together.
and yes, you were wearing striped OTK socks.
what does this have to do with your post? nothing 🙂
except to remind you that to so so many of us you are far more than just a blog writer and, at this for this woman, I want you to do whats best for you.
even if that's taking a break.
I am thrilled to death about the book, and am so amazed you managed to write it along with everything else you do!
There is no other blog like this one and of course I selfishly want to read it every day. In fact, I think instead of taking a break, you should start posting every hour or two so I can read new posts all day long!
Oh wait, you have a life???
I think a break sounds like a great idea, and I hope you have a WONDERFUL WONDERFUL time.
On the one hand, I'm glad you're taking a vacation and I'm thrilled about the book deal (super super super thrilled in fact).
On the other hand, what am I supposed to do without your blog as my first morning stop? I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I'm going to be sad in the silence. I may have to contend with going through your archives and re-reading.
Blogging is a lot of work and a lot of people negate that hard work. Do what feels right but rest assured, your random ramblings and oversharing will be missed while you're gone.
I'm with the others who will miss reading your blog every day! But everyone is entitled to a vacation. As to the rest, I'd be sad if your blog disappeared altogether, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Congrats on the book and I hope you have a great trip!
A little blog-silence haiku:
I boo at silence.
Sulking alone at my desk.
Where to find my fix?!
Have a safe and lovely trip.
Have a wonderful time on your tour!! Naybe you will design your own version of the Livestrong band!
I'm sorry you don't have any relations down my way 🙁
Congrats! Good Luck!
I just left a comment a few minutes ago on Mizfit's blog about what a great team you, Miz and Cranky would make.
I'm SERIOUS…you guys need to talk!
amazing blog. I was just searching through google for some good exercise blogs and came upon this one.
and I absolutely agree. And I am saying this from my personal experience and experimenting. Infact I now have an ebook too that shows a simple yet effective method of creating a healthy office lifestyle without the need to take any exercise equipment to the office as some people suggest !
heres the ebook:
http://www.exercise-rant.com/hol/healthyofficelifestyle.html
and my website if you want to rant about not being able to exercise !
http://www.exercise-rant.com
Yay, an end of summer trip! Hopefully your kids have lots of in-car activities. I used to spend a lot of time kicking my parents seats whenever we drove anywhere (how did I make it to adulthood??). Enjoy, and hopefully you don't get too tired! OH, and drive safely! Roads are dangerous things sometimes.
I am too a little sad about the hiatus. I read about 10 blogs, and I always saved your posts for last, because they usually leave a smile on my face 🙂 Though, the decreased blogging in 3 months will be perfect for exams- one less thing that I can claim is more important than making exam open book notes!
Wow, I'm totally going to buy your book! How could I not!? First off, I'm a book fanatic. Seriously, it's a problem. Secondly, I think you're a fantastic writer, and I think I've mentioned this before- I really realllllyyy like how you never have spelling mistakes or grammatical errors that I can find. I know it seems stupid, but I can enjoy your writing much more when I'm not distracted by awkward sentences, and horrendous spelling mistakes.
One last thing- you will be posting pictures of your beautiful baby girl once she's born, even if you don't blog for a while, right??! New babies are just so cute! That could totally sustain me through at least a few months of limited/no GFE. That plus the book, means that I'd barely even notice the break! Think about it.
Enjoy your trip! You deserve a break from time to time-you work your butt off on this blog!
And about the book, "Late 2009" is only a few months away…where might i have a chance to purchase said book all the way down here in Texas? 🙂
Hope you have a wonderful time with your family!
Blog, book, and baby…oh my! Congratulations on them all! I can't wait to read the GFE book. And good luck with the trip. What is up with the Nebraska McD's? That is just wrong.
Take all the time off you need. I'll miss your blog, but you need to concentrate on you & your family.
dude. good luck on that drive.
totally excited for the book.
enjoy your break!!
I'm going to email you.
Have Fun…we all need a break at times and congrats on your book!!!!!!!!
"I started this blog just so I wouldn't have to yell the latest research study I read down 6 treadmills" ahaha sometimes I suspect that why I started mine, too!
SO EXCITING about the book! I can't wait to hear more about it!!
Have a wonderful trip.
have a great time, you deserve a break! i GUESS ill find a way to get by without your blog for a while…
How about Gym-buddy guest blogs?
Hearing from you once a week or so would be great, also, but I'll miss my daily GFE fix.
cammi99
OMG, congratulations on the book! That is some of the best news I've had all day and it's not even mine! Seriously though, YOU deserve it!
Have a fantastic time on your trip and hopefully you'll be able to get an internet 'hit' here and there.
As for the blog/baby dilemma? I'm with ya on that one.
Pretend you're traveling all the way to Europe and take a 2-year maternity leave. As our socialist cousins can guarantee, your job will be waiting when you get back. It's what I did. And you know what? There are STILL people out there who want to learn Photoshop in spite of the fact that I'm not teaching right now. I'm pretty certain there will be more when I come back. As will your blogerazzi. Just think of how we can now paste up pages from your book in our secret sociopath stalker rooms while we wait for you to go live again! Not that any of us do that. At least, I'm on maternity leave from that. Baby turns 1 tomorrow, so who knows?! Sorry, I'm making you wanna quit more, aren't I?
Charlotte,
I was wondering what your blogging plans would be after the baby arrived. We'll always be here, whatever you decide to do, but I think a good long break for you is well deserved…how on earth did you find the time to write a book? Do you sleep?
Charlotte,
I was wondering what your blogging plans would be after the baby arrived. We'll always be here, whatever you decide to do, but I think a good long break for you is well deserved…how on earth did you find the time to write a book? Do you sleep?
PS – Have a wonderful trip. 🙂
Hey! We used to take that same trip! Only ours went from California to Kentucky to South Dakota and back to California. I don't know how my parents didn't kill us all.
Congratulations on the book! As for baby vs. blog . . . where are your priorities, woman?? 😉 I kid, I kid.
Have fun on the trip, and hopefully we'll read you when you get back!
congrats on the book! Ill be one of the first in line!
Congrats on the book! I am so excited for you, and I'll be buying it the moment it comes out, as I love your writing.
Maybe consider blogging less frequently? I love that I come here each weekday to see something new, but maybe it's more feasable to post twice a week? Perhaps some simple stream of consciousness instead of seriously researched awesomely put together posts? Personally, with the new work situation I'm knocking down my goal for posting per week to 3 times. I also realized that maybe just spewing what's in my head sometimes is good enough. But then again, you have a lot more readers than I do… 🙂
Either way, enjoy the vacation and tour de basements!
Woohoo about the book! I'm late to the party (moving really really sucks) but have fun on your vacay!
Do what you need to do after the baby is born. Blog, don't blog, blog less, whatever! We'll all support you in keeping yourself healthy and sane!
I'd be happy to guest blog for you once the babe comes. I have a couple of my own experiments going on right now….The Zone and running the Twin Cities Marathon without marathon specific training.
Let me know.
Enjoy your vacation. Avoid the computer at all times!
Have an AMAzing trip!
I will miss you–many hopes that you will get *some* rest and relaxation!
Wow, congratulations on the book!
I have some thoughts on the post-baby blog thing: if you don't have time to do everything you've been doing, that doesn't mean you have to quit the blog … there is no rule that says you have to post every single day (that has to be stressful when you are busy) – what if you started posting once a week, or twice – your readers will stick around. There is no rule that you have to have giveaways every couple of weeks – you can do those extra things only when you feel like it.
Obviously, you should do whatever you feel is right for you … but you have so many more potential fitness experiments to do and so many of us would really miss you if you totally quit – so please don't burn out OR quit the blog, especially if you still love doing it. Just redefine what this blogging thing is for you and give yourself permission to scale it back as much as you need to in order to keep it from becoming a burden…
That's my 2 cents. Have a great vacation!