On Not Writing

Kind of weird but this blog post is about not blogging. Not writing…anything…since June…except liner notes for birthday cards. Besides that…nothing. 

Oh, I’ve thought a lot about it. I’ve collected articles and things that I thought would make good fodder for a post. They’re collecting on top of the spare bed in my “office.” In piles of like interest. Kind of. 

Kind of like my mom’s piles of articles, some fairly recent and most from long, long ago. They, with old photos, are part of the items that she shuffles around from place to place in her home before she puts them back in a drawer or an envelope to “discover” later.

But every time that I try to sit down to write, I get attracted to something else and crawl down another rabbit hole. Maybe online. Maybe from a drawer. Or closet. 

And then, when I do have an idea, I come up with a myriad of other things that “must be done” first, like…cleaning…or exercising…or rearranging…or cleaning. 

And even right now, writing about not writing, I have the urge to get up and go brew some hot tea even though I made a latte’ not thirty minutes ago. Still, the urge to get up and go…

…And, now I’m back with a hot cup of tea…that just proves my point.

I don’t know why I do this. But I’m reminded of Ed Norton, the character on “The Honeymooners” from way back in the day. He made the process of getting ready to do the simplest of things, like signing a piece of paper, maddening for his buddy, Ralph, and endearing and hilarious for the audience. “Alright already!” Ralph would scream after he exercised his limited amount of patience. 

Anyway, you got the picture of me getting ready to get ready. Is it procrastination? Is it ADD? Is it lack of direction? I don’t know. I guess it’s part of the work that hopefully leads to the discovery of something worth reading. You’ll have to tell me. I have no idea.  

I actually enjoy writing. I enjoy having a reason to write even more. I also apparently enjoy over-writing even more than that. 

I do have a list of things that I have given thought to write about and share with you. As I look back, I promised more about West Virginia and The Farm, although my desire to write about West Virginia is tainted by the efforts of Joe Manchin, one of the state’s U.S. senators, standing in the way of the passing of some key pieces of legislation.  

I also have some thoughts about birthdays, how some perceive them as little cause for fanfare, and others go all out. 

Then, there’s COVID19, one of the real incentives to my uptick in postings dating back to March 2020. Unfortunately, COVID is still here in the form of the delta variant, despite the ready availability of multiple vaccines. No, it didn’t go away overnight, as we were once told. And I now know people who have had the disease. It’s not pretty.  

And, there’s one of the joys of our lifetime; we became grandparents thanks to the birth of Hazel Marjorie Riley. 

So many things to write for and about. 

What’s standing in my way? Nothing but, well, me. And a bottle of tequila cause today is Tequila Friday. 

Writer’s note: The tequila did its work and that is why I’m publishing today, Saturday, November 13, instead of Tequila Friday.