Why I Took a Break from Writing (and Why I’m Back)
It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
Four years. Four long years since I stepped out of the blogging scene to focus on raising my eight children. Four years since I’ve enjoyed the give and take of being part of an online writing community. Four years since I’ve shared anything about my life or motherhood or adoption.
What can I say except that I’ve missed you?
If you’ve read my last blog, No DNA Required, then you may already know a little about me. If you’re new around here, I can tell you a lot has changed since those old blog days.
Some for the good, and some for the worst. And the worst, well…the worst hit my family pretty hard. It’s a been a difficult year. The most difficult I’ve walked as an adult, actually.
But I’ll be honest with you. I’m not here after four years to talk about that. In fact, the only reason I mention it at all is to segue into what I am here to talk about, which is, namely, writing. And why I haven’t been doing it.
And why I’m doing it now.
I’m back, and I can tell you it feels like springtime stepping out of her winter shackles. And a long winter it has been, like, a Narnia winter. When it’s that cold and the White Witch seems to be attacking you relentlessly, it can be hard to focus on the good in our lives. And I lost my focus. And I let something go.
Writing.
I wish I could say this was the first time, but the truth is, when the going gets hard in my life, writing often falls by the wayside. With blogging I had a good reason to walk away: my kids. They needed me, and mothering trumps everything. But blogging wasn’t the only thing I set aside. I turned my back on all writing, including my heart, my main love—my novel.
When things in my personal life went black, I could scarcely thing straight, let alone think creatively. I hit save, shut my laptop, and hardly gave a second thought to my WIP. And you know what I’m realizing?
That’s ok.
I know the pros say that if you’re serious about writing you’ll live and breath the craft, you’ll protect your writing time like a mama lion protecting her cubs, you’ll glue your butt to that desk and work no matter what is going on around you, because you’re a real writer, not a wannabe. I respect that. Writing is a job, and a hard one at that. You only get out of it what you put into it, if that.
But.
BUT.
There are reasons, good reasons, to take a break from the work.
Maybe you got another job opportunity that can support your family better than writing can at the moment.
Maybe you just had a baby and you haven’t slept in more nights than you can count.
Maybe a family member died.
Maybe a family member got sick.
Maybe you got sick.
Maybe, like me, life knocked you sideways and it’s taking a little while to get up from the fall.
My point is, I understand. And it doesn’t mean you’re not a real writer. It doesn’t mean that I’m not a real writer. Life is made up of many parts, and sometimes certain parts demand more attention than others. An old pastor of mine used to say, “It’s okay to take a lunch break, but don’t quit your job.”
It’s okay if you dropped the pen for a bit. But maybe, just maybe, it’s time to pick it up again.
For me, there was no burst of inspiration or crystalizing moment that made me realize I needed to get back to work. Instead, it was more of a persistent thought, a gentle drip drip drip of a faucet reminding me that I have a calling, and that calling requires tending to. God has given me a gift, and as such I have a responsibility to manage that gift, to share and hopefully benefit others with it. You don’t light a lamp and then put it under a basket (Matt 5:14-16).
And so, I’m blogging. I’m working on a second novel that I hope to turn into a trilogy. I’m putting in the work because I am a real writer, and writers write. But how? How do you go from a hard stop to clicking away at the keyboard again? You can read my post of how I did it here (insert blog post.)
It’s good to be back. And for the record, if you’ve walked away from writing, you can come back, too.