A Writing Hiatus

Yesterday marks the tenth day since I last made a post to this site, the tenth day spent doing other things besides reading and writing in every free moment of my day; today marks the eleventh day since that last post went live, and the day I have decided to return to that lifestyle.

Last week was unusually busy as compared to the previous six weeks, and unfortunately sitting down to write at midnight and wedging an article in whenever I had a spare moment was one of the first things to go. As my schedule filled — or as those few things occupying my calendar expanded to demand more time, as is more accurate — writing got pushed further and further down the stack until I not only ceased writing, but everything I associate with it as well: I stopped listening to podcasts; my Instapaper queue, finally emptied early this month, filled once again; I barely managed to check Hacker News once a day, if even that; and I went days without opening my feed reader or Twitter, which I use in a very similar way. I was busy; writing had ceased to be a priority in my life.

The important lesson buried within this anecdote resides in my attitude towards this hiatus and the manner through which I have attempted to enter back in to the habit of writing after spending ten days doing anything but: throughout my short leave I occasionally felt some degree of disappointment in myself that I was not writing, but I was careful not to let that feeling become overly powerful or taint my sentiment towards this craft. Rather than feel guilty that I had not written anything for another day I took it in stride, confident in the knowledge that when the time came, I would sit back down to write once more. This decision allowed me to push my computer towards the back of my desk earlier this afternoon, prop my iPad open, and begin to write this article. There was nothing special about my approach: no magical thinking, no ritualistic preparations; there was no hesitation in my mind, no feelings of doubt in my ability; there was only a writer sitting down to write once again. That, and nothing more.