On Not Writing, in other words, An Accidental Sabatical

When you’ve been knocked out of the proverbial saddle - saddle being writing a blog – it’s not so easy to get back in the groove. Not sure why that is. That’s not true, I do know. Sort of. Like developing any new habit, or maintaining an established habit even, to break the stride or rhythm creates a disturbance of epic proportions. Think “disturbance in the Force” proportions.

For three weeks I had legitimate excuse, er, uh reason: two of those weeks I was sick, and the third week, I was making up for time lost while I was sick the first two weeks. Follow all that? But what of the missing weeks? Four of them.

They crept up on me. Let me explain. (I do this a lot, a LOT!)
I like to write my blog ahead of time. Don’t always pull it off, but I do at least have an idea, even a vague notion, what I will write about early in the week, to post on Friday.

Note the post entitled, “No Idea,” dated 30 May. It started with the statement, “It’s 2:30 in the afternoon, less than ten hours left in the day, Blog Day, and I’ve no idea what I’m writing / posting about today. [BLANK]

Well, it’s nearly that same time now, and I’m winging it.
My ideal, however, is to have my topic in mind, and at least start the process on Monday or Tuesday. Don’t think I’ve pulled this off, I think the earliest I’ve really gotten into it was Wednesday of the week. Maybe oncet or twicet on the Tuesday.

So, those four elusive weeks? Fridays crept up on me, or passed me by altogether, with no brilliant ideas for writing. So I didn’t. And I’m calling it a Sabbatical of Accidental Proportions.

I have not been idle, however, as an author, in the meantime. I am working my “presence” as an author. Refer to my first blog, “Drowning” way back in April. And my friend, Brian’s blog that I shared, “Surf the Tsunami.” Pretty much the same sentiment. HELP! But, that’s what I’ve been doing.

I started my Facebook Author page last November, when I realized I’m going to be serious
about this writing thing. Didn’t do much with it, posted pics of my artwork and design work, and some excerpts from my baby, i.e. my debut novel, Tessa. Then of course, when she was published, I posted and shared about that. Not much action there, though, definitely no interaction. Seventeen days ago, something clicked on in my brain. One of those forest for the trees moments, so obvious and yet I missed it all these weeks and months.

I started sharing posts by other authors and writerly pages. Oh, I’ve been following other authors for a while, and writer-type pages. But then a light went on and I thought to share their posts on MY author page. Brilliant, isn’t it? And traffic has jumped! Lots of comments in 2 ½ weeks, and few “likes” for my page, too.

So, I’ve not been idle in my absence. I’ve worked on some small projects, plugging away at my new manuscript, life.dot.com, and the ever elusive marketing for Tessa. And, so, for the record, here are the links to my web-presence:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robin-...
http://www.amazon.com/Robin-E.-Mason/...
@amythyst212
http://robinsnest212.wordpress.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

and of course, the all-important link to my baby, Tessa:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IPZ5JEE.

Next week, I’ll be back in the saddle with a “proper” topical blog!