So on Monday, I missed an entry on this blog for the first time since October 1. I've been trying to publish something on here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, as a way to maintain a regular writing practice, and I'd been successful up until Monday. A couple of times I was a day late, but I still got in three posts a week. The Monday post is usually an installment of the play I'm working on, and this Monday I just couldn't face it. I'm experiencing some real writing fatigue, and I'm trying to find my way out of it.
I've been working for a few months now on a book chapter, and the month of February focused on the revision process. I moved through many drafts, agonized over it all, and finally submitted it to the editor on February 29. Then I went directly into writing a grant narrative that I submitted on March 7. I had been able to keep writing on this blog throughout the process until Monday. I usually write the Monday post on Sunday, and I didn't have it in me. It's kind of like when I tried to pedal faster in my spin class this morning, and I just didn't have anything else. I don't usually think of writing and exercising as similar in this way, like getting too tired to write, but I think that's what I'm experiencing. It's like after running a marathon, I don't run for a week or so, as a way to recuperate from the 26-mile slog. Maybe I need to think about giving myself the same sort of break when it comes to writing or any kind of creative output. I don't want to stop writing completely (obviously, that's why I'm writing now), but maybe that missed Monday should feel less like a defeat and more like a recognition that sometimes a missed day is a gained opportunity for something else? Like sleep. Or thought. Or whatever.
I'm #grateful that these two writing projects are off my plate for now. That said, about 60 papers come onto my plate to grade before March 21. I'm on the other side of the equation now, and I'm not sure how that's going to feel. But I think I'll at least embrace the change in energy. Hopefully, reading the writing of others will stimulate my own urge to write. We'll see.