Writing

This year, I have not been writing half as much as I expected to be. In the last couple of days it's begun to pick up again, and I've been thinking about why I stopped, and why I started again.

Stress is certainly one reason I stopped. There have been a lot of major changes in my life this year and it's taken a while to even begin to get used to them. When I'm stressed, my mind tends to be wrapped up in the immediate stress, which is not inducive to creative writing. I think stress inhibits creativity.

Busyness has also played a role. I'm quite amazed at how much I'm doing, considering that I'm doing 'nothing' this year! All the little things add up, I suppose. It just takes a new mindset to get things done, since the way my time is structured (or not structured) is very different.

Around the end of last year there was a lot of cynicism going around a writing forum I was very involved in. I consciously decided to stay away from that discussion, but I think it also affected my desire to contribute anything to that environment. I think that attitude has died down by now, and I've just recently been exposed to a couple of different attitudes to writing.

Hopefully, all of that means that I'll be scribbling away (figuratively speaking) for the rest of the year.