GOOD FOR THE SOUL

Oh my, it has been wonderful. If you haven't done a hiatus from blogging, you should try it. Just pull the cord on your computer and look around you. There is actually a world that doesn't glow.


The daily blog left me with a constant scratching for a new idea then searching for the words to frame and flesh out the idea. Often as not, when I first started, the words just came. Then I burned out after 211 posts and about 84,000 words. My friend, the written word, left me, which is why the hiatus.


At first, I was a bit lost though definitely more relaxed. It took a while for me to quit thinking about tomorrow's post, till I finally realized, there was no "tomorrow's post. I really wanted to visit my blog list as I saw new posts arriving but I knew if I did, I would be lured back into writing. This was cold turkey. I truly missed you all.







The weeds were first on my list. Here is a picture of the first load of horse weeds that graced my fence line along the road. They were taller than I, but fortunately did not have a good a root system. I was able to up root them but they did produce my first set of sore muscles. My coral honeysuckle are showing appreciation now for at last having room to breathe. The picture proved I still hadn't gotten over looking at things as being a possible post. That would come.

Mighty and I have taken long walks in the National Forest recreation areas. I still have to keep him on level ground and on a leash (we have over a month of rehab to go) so while we didn't get into the wilderness areas, it was still a much different look for me and different smells for Mighty. However, the "no mosquitoes in the Ozarks" is just an myth now for all the rains we have had produced a decent crop in the forest area. Still none around my home, for now.


Mighty and I took some day trips and no, I didn't take any pictures. I wanted to remain post idea free. Eventually it did happen. I could go places and do things with out thinking "is this post worthy?" Habits are hard to break. Though my posts stopped, one thing did pick up and that was my e- mails. Former e-mailers who had begun to rely on my posts for information, now reverted back. That was welcome. Before with me blogging, it was purely a one way conversation. They knew about my life, I knew nothing about theirs.


I have to comment on sleep. As I had to keep getting up earlier and earlier to frame a post, read those I follow and comment, my internal alarm clock was waking me at 4, sometimes 3AM. That was netting me 5 hours sleep which is not enough. Amazingly now, I am cranking out 8 glorious, uninterrupted hours of sleep each night. Suddenly I am no longer tired.


My novel reading has really picked up. Before blog, I used to read a book a week but it got where I was barely getting one read in the three weeks allowed by the library. Just didn't have time or inclination for it after working on my blog and reading many others. My need to read was satisfied.


Another thing I completely ignored when I started the blog were the two novels I was writing. Why two you ask? Because as you can probably tell, I have a pretty short attention span. Two kept me fresh and interested. Blogging was meant to be #3.



The purpose of blogging originally was to force me into discipline so I would work on my novels more. Kind of like practicing the piano. However, the blog took over and my books became frozen in time. I became addicted to the same day feed back and acknowledgment of the blog. Pretty nice.

The instant gratification of blogging replaced the solitary fun of letting fantasy characters pull me in different directions. I have now returned to my lonely drafts. Didn't realize how much I missed my characters. They most likely will never reach publication but that doesn't matter. Writing about them is for me like knitting, wood working or quilt making is for some. A pleasurable distraction. I am filled with words that must find a home.

One additional benefit from this hiatus is the weight loss. Yes, not even changing what I eat, I have lost weight simply by being more active. Who'd have thunk it.

So does that mean I will quit blogging? I hope not. I will just try to be more judicious in the amount of time I spend on my posts. Balance would really be nice.

I know I will lose some of you by not posting daily and I am so sorry about that. I have really come to treasure our daily interactions, even with those of you who only lurked, for while you did not comment, I recognized you on my site meter and you were greatly appreciated.

So I am back, sort of.