Starting Again

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“Why aren’t you writing?” Ruth Ayres asked me in a quiet voice a couple of weeks ago. Thoughts (or should I say excuses) tumbled around in my head. What could I say that would make sense, because I don’t know what happened to my writing life. My last post was June 13. How did this happen?

January 11, 2011 was the date of my first, but tentative step into writing and allowing the world to read my thoughts. Week after week, I pressed that publish button and held my breath. Would anyone be there to read and comment? Someone did read and they left the most wonderful comments. The weekly sharing of lives developed friendships around the world. Weeks changed into months of writing. Months added up to become years of writing about those small moments or noticings of life happening.

Then one day I didn’t write. The next week there were no words published. Week after week passed. Something always seemed to come up on Tuesday, which gave me the excuse not to post.

Friends from near and far reached out. “Are you okay?” “What’s going on?” “You are not writing.” I assured them, there was no problem. I just fell out of the habit. I said I would be back, I just didn’t know when.

Ruth also asked another question, “Do you miss writing?”

It took me a minute to answer her. This question went to my heart. “No, I don’t miss the writing. But what I do miss is the community of writers.”

I know I don’t have to tell you, dear reader, writing is hard. It is hard to always be present and aware, looking for that moment to bring to life with words. I’ve taken a break, but now I know I need to get back to writing.

Thank you to those who inquired and nudged me back to sharing my words.