I relate. Although I wrote professionally my entire career as a journalist and researcher, I have barely opened my laptop in the six months and 29 days I have been retired. I have nothing rattling around my brain asking to be written. It just isn’t there. That said, I am having the time of my life playing in mud (pottery sculpture especially) and melted sand (stained glass). These are new playpens, and I’m energized to have the chance to play again.
You’ve also got me thinking of my neighbor’s son. Basically since he learned to toddle he had a ball, glove, or bat in hand. He dreamed of the big leagues and worked hard on that dream. Daily weight training. Practice. I still smile thinking of the ping! ping! from the backyard batting cage even as dusk settled. He had a bitter sip of coffee in the minors, but the adventure ended in the way it does for most boys when they become men. The last time we spoke I asked if he was still playing ball somewhere, and he shook his head and said something like, “Nah, I don’t want to play in a beer league.”
My case was probably burnout. His case is probably more about disappointment. Either way, we all are likely to hit these walls at some point. The more interesting story is the unwritten one about what comes next. I’m looking forward to that post from you, my friend.
Let me just say I’ve loved your books and you don’t owe the world a damn thing! Good on you for listening to the inner voice and not forcing the creative act. Admittedly this comes from a person who’s been retired a few years and can afford to be relaxed about such decisions, but seriously, respect and appreciation for your current path. Live well!
I get this. I’ve always worked but have been working very full time the last two years. And I have a tiredness that lends itself to a different kind of longing, that of camping with the puppy and long walks and not much else. It’s the marketing that shifted things for me. I still like the solitude of quiet thoughts and a bit of creative thinking. But a nice break seems in order for now.
I started listening to Henry David Thoreau’s Walden- to fall asleep. It worked the first night. The second night I was listening for hours. The third night, Bob and I watched the PBS documentary about him. There is so much overlap between his principles of simplicity and yearning for a life free from mainstream society & appreciation of nature - and RVing- it’s crazy ! And now I have to find something else to fall asleep to. Thoreau is too interesting. Darn it.
I relate. Although I wrote professionally my entire career as a journalist and researcher, I have barely opened my laptop in the six months and 29 days I have been retired. I have nothing rattling around my brain asking to be written. It just isn’t there. That said, I am having the time of my life playing in mud (pottery sculpture especially) and melted sand (stained glass). These are new playpens, and I’m energized to have the chance to play again.
You’ve also got me thinking of my neighbor’s son. Basically since he learned to toddle he had a ball, glove, or bat in hand. He dreamed of the big leagues and worked hard on that dream. Daily weight training. Practice. I still smile thinking of the ping! ping! from the backyard batting cage even as dusk settled. He had a bitter sip of coffee in the minors, but the adventure ended in the way it does for most boys when they become men. The last time we spoke I asked if he was still playing ball somewhere, and he shook his head and said something like, “Nah, I don’t want to play in a beer league.”
My case was probably burnout. His case is probably more about disappointment. Either way, we all are likely to hit these walls at some point. The more interesting story is the unwritten one about what comes next. I’m looking forward to that post from you, my friend.
Let me just say I’ve loved your books and you don’t owe the world a damn thing! Good on you for listening to the inner voice and not forcing the creative act. Admittedly this comes from a person who’s been retired a few years and can afford to be relaxed about such decisions, but seriously, respect and appreciation for your current path. Live well!
I get this. I’ve always worked but have been working very full time the last two years. And I have a tiredness that lends itself to a different kind of longing, that of camping with the puppy and long walks and not much else. It’s the marketing that shifted things for me. I still like the solitude of quiet thoughts and a bit of creative thinking. But a nice break seems in order for now.
I started listening to Henry David Thoreau’s Walden- to fall asleep. It worked the first night. The second night I was listening for hours. The third night, Bob and I watched the PBS documentary about him. There is so much overlap between his principles of simplicity and yearning for a life free from mainstream society & appreciation of nature - and RVing- it’s crazy ! And now I have to find something else to fall asleep to. Thoreau is too interesting. Darn it.