Too long.

Okay, I'm considering opening this blog back up again. I've been thinking about it for quite a while, since the day I shut it down, and I feel compelled to return to it. There wasn't much in terms of content within the pages of this blog, nothing that could be considered genius or relevant but there was something essential to me, to my process somewhere in these pages. I was able to write past my censor in some ways.

I'm finding that I'm actively resisting the page these days, avoiding it, choosing anything and everything but putting my butt in the seat and that isn't something I can live with, not something I'm willing to continue. So in an effort to return to a place where the writing was an essential part of my day/week/month, I'm going to reopen these pages and see if it can't be the first step on the path that brings me back to the page.

Step one: Define goals.

1. I want to write with more frequency. I've been doing a lot of diddling around with revision, using it as a smoke screen for what I've been doing with my time. But the fact of the matter is I haven't been producing much in terms of new material. I have a couple of new drafts but nothing that satisfies my urge to burst free on the page, to really come forward and purge some of these narratives, these voices, that won't shut up in side my head. So, I want to write. I want to write three days a week.

2. I want to read more. My reading rate has dropped significantly as well. I need to fill the hopper. I need new stories, new influences, new voices inside my head. I need to get back to my old reading schedule of one book a week.

3. I want to maintain my physical fitness routines. While this new lifestyle has taken away from some of my writing time, I find that it is really good for my acuteness, stamina, self esteem, and general health.

4. I need to reconnect with friends from the program. I have dropped off the face of the map. I've avoided them because I'm ashamed of my output. I don't have much to contribute in the way of new books read or new stories completed. I need to swallow my pride and return to them. They'll understand my fallow period.

5. I want to re-immerse myself in the writing because it makes me a better husband, father, brother, son, friend, and person. Without it, I get grumpy and shallow. I don't want that.

So, there's a start. There's my top 5 reasons for reinvigorating myself in the writer's life and hopefully this blog will be just the tool I need to get over myself and return to those characters inside my head.