Iāve been in a writing slump for most of this year.
I know why, Iām pretty sureā¦ There have been a LOT of changes and decisions that have had to be made in my real (not online) life, stuff too detailed and uninteresting to unpack here. Iāve found that this process has taken up a sizable portion of my brain cells, the ones that typically fuel my writing and give me the words I need to say. Iāve had SO many meetings, conversations, brainstorming sessions, long walks with Kyle, prayer and more prayer, all about this one thing going on in our life. So much so that when I finally sit down to write, Iām depleted. ā¦Iāve got nothing.
Iām tempted to apologize for this, as though you need a regular dose of my thoughts in your life. But I know better than this, after doing this for fifteen-plus years now. The internet tempts us to pride by telling us weāre more important than we actually are. It gives us a veneer of a pedestal, an unstable plinth from which we can stand in a virtual marketplace and provide the illusion that weāre a statue worth encircling. Iām not saying this with a faux-humble voice, to get you to argue otherwise āĀ āNo, no, youāre great; donāt think so low of yourself!ā Iām actually not, and you shouldnāt think lowly of yourself either. Honest to God, weāre really and truly not that important. People are meant to live ordinary lives, so itās good when we recognize the cheap plastic that our platforms are made of. Itās a very, very good thing that weāre all ordinary humans.
But this hasnāt meant Iām not frustrated at my writing slump, because itās a thing I love to do, itās a craft that helps pay our bills, and itās a tool that helps me clear out the muck and spit-shine what it is I actually believe and think. Not having had it much lately has made me feel blergh.
This week I asked fellow writers what it is they do when theyāre in a writing funk, and their answers have been interesting.