The title says it all. I will not be writing in this blog for the rest of this year in order to concentrate on finishing up a work that I promised to finished by the end of the year but which will now more likely take to the middle of the spring. That work is the screenplay based on my upcoming book. Basically I will suspend most all other writing work and make no further commitments until I am finished. This is something hard for me but I've decided that from now on I need to be more focused and prioritize my writing. In the past, I would work simultaneously on different projects and allow one of them to "fight itself to the top" and it would be the one that I would finish first. That process served me well for a number of years but now I want to make a change.
I do so for a number of reasons but two of them are that a periodic change in approach to one's writing can be invigorating and break the monotony that often arises when we write. The other reason is that sometimes the "projects' fight" to be number one takes too long, especially with those works directly outside my professional responsibilities. It thus becomes easy to have new scholarly works intrude into my writing schedule, thus pushing some of my other works further into the future. While I feel young and am in good health, I realize I have more projects in mind that I do years left, consequently prioritizing becomes important.
While I could still write this blog and other things while I focus on one particular work, I have chosen to make a mental and emotional commitment to one work at a time. When I finish the screenplay I will re-evaluate whether this is the right approach. My sense is that it will be.
When I started the blog I did so with the idea that I would do it for one year and then evaluate whether I wanted to continue. These next six weeks will allow me time to see if I miss writing it and whether I actually have something to say that matters. Being refreshed and having finished a very different type of writing project will give me a better perspective. The blog as untraditional as it was has been rather enjoyable and allowed me to talk about things that I think are important to a writer and a scholar, and the posts may well form the basis for a small booklet that I would love to write for young scholars who struggle with their writing.
If I do return it will be with the new emphasis that I wrote about two posting ago. To do that, I will have to prepare. If I don't return it will have been a great experience.
So, have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year!
un amigo
