Site Announcement: “It’s not goodbye, it’s see you later”

This has been a difficult piece to publish and it is one I have mulled over for some time… but here goes.

Eight and a half years ago, I penned the first article for what was then The F1 Broadcasting Blog.

An idea in between University lectures at the age of 19 has since turned into three million hits, 15,000 followers on Twitter and 1,428 articles, with interest from many inside and outside of the industry.

The journey over the eight years has been amazing, and I have been fortunate enough to meet some incredibly talented people who bring this sport to life along the way, you know who you are.

Motorsport Broadcasting is not a team, there is no team or big backer sitting behind the content on this site, unlike many other motor racing websites you read.

Aside from a handful of articles, only one person has produced the content you see from initial concept, through transcribing and onto publication: me.

Despite the long period running the site, I have not once given myself a break from writing. Family holidays? Write a note or two whilst wandering. Annual leave from work? Write a post to publish the next day. Christmas break? Same applies.

Why did I do that? Because I enjoyed it, I enjoy stretching myself and writing content on an area I feel passionately about, whilst also retaining the ever-enjoyable day job alongside it.

But, 2020 has presented challenges that no one expected, and in all honesty, motivation recently has dropped and burnout has increased, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I know I am not alone in that regard.

There is not a day currently where I do not think, in some way, about this site. Sometimes I feel guilty because I am, as an example, escaping from the outside world on games when I could be writing content for the site.

Regrettably, I feel that an enforced break from Motorsport Broadcasting will do me good, and it is for that reason I am going on a hiatus, effective immediately after this post, from publishing new material on this site until the New Year.

Is Motorsport Broadcasting no more?
Let me make clear that this is a temporary, not permanent, break.

The timing appears odd, I agree. The alternative is I take a break following the conclusion of the F1 season, but before we know it, the Christmas break has come and gone and we are already thinking about pre-season testing.

The only loss over the forthcoming weeks will be the regular scheduling posts, although RaceFans publishes the latest information each F1 race weekend.

My fear is letting Motorsport Broadcasting become the one thing I loathe: a site that churns out mediocre content for the sake of content.

I need to take the opportunity to re-evaluate what content I want to appear on Motorsport Broadcasting, and there is no better opportunity to do that than over the forthcoming months, ready for a soft relaunch in early 2021.

With 23 Formula 1 races provisionally scheduled for 2021, if a scheduling post takes on average two hours to write and publish, I could spend over two full days in a calendar year writing schedules, taking away valuable time from creative content.

I need to remind myself why I love writing the content that I do. And, I need to remind myself that everyone reading this site still likes the content I write.

I know people enjoy the content, but because I never step back to properly recharge, I never realise this as much as I should do (if you are a lurker who works in the industry and are reading this, please reach out over the next few weeks and say hi).

When I set up what is now Motorsport Broadcasting, I did not expect to lead it for eight years without a break, but here we are. This is painful, but necessary, so Motorsport Broadcasting can thrive in the years ahead.

I have so many thoughts and ideas in my drafts to get down on paper, and over the next few weeks and months, I plan to do exactly that. I finally feel like I have the headspace to write freely, instead of trying to meet a pre-defined schedule, which is exciting!

I want to be proactive with my planning, rather than publishing posts as soon as I have written them because I am afraid the gap between my last post and this one is ‘too long’ (whatever that means).

One of the many things I love about Motorsport Broadcasting is getting to know the industry more, chatting to people, going behind the scenes, bringing you closer to the sport you love.

To everyone that has helped make this site over the past eight years and offered me guidance and support along the way: thank you.

But first, I need to do what is best in the short term, and that is to take a break from publishing articles, as well as enjoy the racing we have left in 2020.

Rest assured: this is not a goodbye. It is ‘see you later.’*

Dave
Owner and Editor of Motorsport Broadcasting

* knowing my luck, a big story will break tomorrow, rendering this post useless…