Taking A Writing Time-Out

I live around the Chicagoland area, which in terms of local news means that every single facet of my life has somehow been affected by the recent convention hosted in the city. No matter where I went or what media I chose to pay attention to, somehow, it all turned back to convention news. Sports, weather, traffic - somehow all became political. And while I am a political creature, I quickly reached my quota and shut down on even trying to engage with the world because it would inevitably turn into a political thing. And yes, that included my writing.

By separating myself from writing for a bit, I learned a few things about myself and my process (and I also learned how many people were distraught by the lack of fresh content over the past couple of posts. ). Probably, the most important thing that I learned was that even though my favorite activities can get infected by the world around me, sometimes that can be an opportunity to work out all the frustrations over whatever infection has overwhelmed my system. Earlier this year when I had an exhausting case of pneumonia (a literal infection rather than a metaphorical one), I found comfort in using my small, surviving doses of energy to write about it. Nothing good, mind you - the story of a bacterium in my lungs as it realizes it won't survive the next assault by my immune system is not exactly a work of art. However, doing things like this prevented me from enduring the exhausting process of avoidance. I knew I was sick, I faced it with the tools I had available, and I made it through. And maybe someday that bacterium story gets a much-deserved rewrite.

Another thing I learned is that my writing process is very much a part of me. I have spent years working on it, but in many ways my sense of self had adapted in its own way to where changing my process changes me as well. The two are by now very intertwined, and to avoid my process because of a bunch of political shenanigans up in Chicago is to deflect from my inherent nature to create, to translate, to convert the world around me into something more easily digestible. In this regard, all my recent avoidance has really left me feeling like a man without a kingdom, and that's just not a fun feeling. 

As of today, the street crews are now cleaning up the city, taking down the traffic blockades, and beginning the arduous task of bringing the city back to normal. Pretty soon, Chicago will be back to Chicagoing again, and I can concern myself with sports, traffic, and weather without them all somehow being tied to something greater or worse. However, I can now prepare myself for the next epic event to take over the city (TBD), and recognize that avoiding it is not the best idea. Instead, I will write about it. I will write the hell out of it. I am a writer. That's what I do. And for anyone who wants to call themselves a writer, the first thought to emerge from any adverse situation is to think, "What can I write about this?"