I haven’t updated this blog in far too long. Two months.
In the blog-o-sphere, where you are advised you must feed the feed almost constantly in order to cultivate an audience, that’s more like eons too long. Even with my far more modest goals (once or twice a month seems plenty to me), two months is bit much. The problem has been, as it often is for me and for most people I know, time.
Simply stated: if I’m blogging, I’m not writing. Yes, I know blogging is writing. But the hour I’m using on this post is an hour of not working on the novel that is already a good three months behind schedule (and I’m talking about the amended schedule at that!), the novel that will probably not, after all, be finished before I take my annual inspirational break to participate in National Novel Writing Month in November. Every social network post and tweet eats away at the time I have to work on that novel. So does cooking and cleaning. Getting a haircut. Balancing the checkbook. So do all the little things that have to be done in support of the work that’s already out in the market. And then there are the thoroughly enjoyable and refreshing things: spending time with friends; going on vacation; taking a walk in the park.
Every hour needs bargaining. What do I have to do? What will cause more problem to postpone than would be worth the pause to handle? When is the time lost far outweighed by the benefits—and vice versa? Which is the better value?
And so, Dear Reader, there’s been a two-month gap in this blog. I had to make a choice. And if you’ve missed having more frequent posts, let’s hope that the book that ate up that time turns out to be something that you’ll (someday) enjoy reading.