Update

Greetings! It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted on here. I’ve been dealing with health issues that have interfered with all aspects of my life, including my ability write or create anything. I’ve got most of those under control and working on fixing the others.

With time away from writing, it has given me a lot to think about. Over the past couple of years I have frequently mentioned my realization that blogs, articles, interviews, and a whole host of other resources available to writers, feels like noise to me. Loud, ear ringing noise which had made it difficult to concentrate and even sleep. It has also led to believing whatever I have written or wanted to write is inferior and will not be publishable. Doesn’t matter I’ve had quite a few stories published. Granted, this is a frequent and not uncommon feeling all people who pursue a dream encounter. Some are able to shake it off and move forward. Some, like me, become paralyzed with fear. Combined with my health issues, my productivity and inspiration crawled to a stop.

The time away also made me realize that when my creativity and inspiration come back, and I feel like they will and soon, I want to do things differently. It has taken me a while to figure out my approach before was not a comfortable fit for me.

First, I am going back to basics. Just me and the words and that’s it. No advice. No critique groups trying to shove me into a box I don’t fit into. No doing things a certain way because it is trendy or expected or makes other people happy. With the exception of one story, my published stories hadn’t been looked over by anyone other than me and my spouse. Somewhere along the way I stopped trusting my instincts.

Second,  I no longer care to read articles or blog posts about writing or the industry until I am ready for next steps. As I’ve mentioned before, it quickly became negative noise. I cannot be kind to myself nor be authentic in my work with too much information in my head. Also, why should I be crowding my brain with information irrelevant to where I am in my career?

Third, it is hypocritical of me to continue my own blog when I do not care for other people’s blogs. My initial reasons for starting a blog have changed drastically.  Because of that, this will be my last post. I reserve the right in the future to revive it and any future posts will have very different content and reflect more who I am.

So, for those of you reading this, thank you and thank you for reading my musings, book reviews, and other posts. I appreciate you allowing me to speak into the internet void.

I wish everyone out there a good and happy life. For you creative types, listen to yourself. Listen to your heart. Listen to your gut. Express yourself by staying true to your spirit.