After a lot of travelling in the past couple of months and frankly not a lot of blogging in that time, I’m still finding it a challenge to get back into a rhythm of regular posting.

I seriously doubt I’m the only blogger who has ever experienced this particular manifestation of blogger’s block. But it is ironic, or even reprehensible (if I wanted to give myself a really hard time, which I don’t) to reflect that my backsliding has been occasioned by my flying around the world to tell people about blogging and other aspects of social media.

And it’s not that I have nothing to post about. On the contrary, after a couple of weeks in China, including presenting and participating at ad:tech Beijing, and a couple more weeks in the USA, including being part of BlogWorld Expo, I have so many experiences to recount and ideas buzzing around that I think I could post for a couple of months just about all of that.

And that’s where the inaction of the past week, since we got back, comes in. Because part of the challenge was that I was thinking I should get my notes out and do a couple of series of posts, one starting with experiences in China, back in October, and another starting at the beginning of our trip to the USA, starting in Las Vegas for BlogWorld Expo and moving on to Connecticut and New York.

But the more I think about doing that, the more I felt weighed down by the idea. Just thinking about it made me tired. And I don’t enjoy posting when it seems like a chore. Nor do I recommend it.

So that’s the fessin’ up out of the way.

Now, having made a new start, and looking ahead, I’ve drawn on my reflections to come up with five rules for planning future travel, especially where attending a conference is part of the program.

They are my rules. May not work for you.

1. Unless you are a very good multi-tasking, multi-tracking person,with excellent touch typing skills, don’t kid yourself that you are going to be able to live blog conference sessions effectively. (I now have much greater respect for those who can pull that off).
2. If you want to share highlights of the event with your readers and friends, practice using Twitter and punch in a few snippets from a session. In a subsequent post I will give an example of where I did this at BlogWorld Expo.
3. Be realistic about the likely availability and speed of Internet access where you are staying or at nearby coffee shops. Just because they say you have wireless, free or paid, doesn’t mean it’s going to download anything important in your lifetime.
4. Accept that if you are going to go to conference sessions and take in the related expo and network with contacts/friends old and new and party afterwards, then finding time to blog, with a clear head, while you are at the conference might be a challenge you don’t succeed in meeting.
5. Build a bank of posts before you go and either set them to publish on specific days and at specific times while you are travelling, or just publish them as you go. It’s not a new rule – I’ve seen others recommend this: now I know why. Being really creative in an organised and efficient way while on the road may be your thing but it’s not mine.

Other suggestions welcome.