It’s common to hear about writers who are blocked. They don’t know what to write, or they can’t put their ideas to words or get the words together right or they don’t have anything they think is worth saying.

It’s been a while since I posted on WordPress, and I wanted to check in and explain. I’m not blocked, but I’m not writing and there’s a reason why. But first, let me tell you about all the things I’ve been doing since I’m not writing or courting through Social Media. (I call it courting, because it is all about attracting the interest of both people you know and people you don’t know, isn’t it?)

First, I decided to retrain my fingers and my brain to play the piano! I took lessons for six years back in elementary school. I’ve played for pleasure ever since, but not very often. I still have my childhood piano and loads of sheet music. A friend recently told me she was taking piano lessons for the first time – in her 60s – and she was loving it! I remember when I loved it, too. And I decided that I still love it and would devote at least 45 minutes 5 times a week to practicing. And it is so much fun. I lose myself in the music.

Second, I decided to tackle a project I’ve put off for six years. When my dad died in 2010, the slide programs he took of his vacations during the last 15 years of his life came to me as well as the projector. They’ve sat in a cabinet in my home gathering dust. I want to have them put on CDs, but first I needed to view the slides and cull out the ones that are duplicate scenes or full of people I don’t know. SO, in the last several weeks I’ve been traveling vicariously to: Kenya, Alaska, Yorkshire, Italy (west coast), Italy (east coast and Croatia), Egypt, and Scotland. I’ve thrown away some slides, but mostly I’ve reconnected to my deceased parents in a way I didn’t think possible. His slides reflect his fascination with people, with history, and the natural world. What a blessed gift it is to have these slides. I’m not throwing away very many.

Third, I decided to get ‘crafty.’ I grew up in a time when girls took home economics in junior high. I had a semester of cooking and a semester of sewing. So this summer, I’ve perfected the technique of making a killer biscuit and I’m making a lap quilt out of scraps of fabric I bought at the Tulsa Flea Market. And I’m having so much fun!

Fourth and finally, I’m watching Game of Thrones. My son has been bugging me for six years to watch this HBO series. I don’t have HBO, but I finally found a way – and I’m so entrenched in the world of Jon Snow and the Starks and Denarius and the Lanisters that I sometimes dream about them at night. (Season 5 almost finished!)

So, when will I write again? Soon. I’ve had some cohorts reading my latest mystery, and I’m assimilating their suggestions into the manuscript as well as editing that project. 

I have no doubt that when I do get back into my regiment of writing a few hours every day (September!) my writing will be fresher for taking a semi-hiatus this summer. And I have plans for a whole new focus of this blog! You can expect a full reveal on September 1, when I’m home after the final trip of the summer. See you then!