Writer busy. Thinking about shoes. And other things.

When, on a writer's blog, things get quiet, it's usually either a very good sign, or we should be worried for the blogger.

Radio silence on the blog of a writer/editor/teacher can mean she is busy, busy, busy writing, editing, teaching. Maybe she's struck a creative vein and is on a productivity roll on her memoir manuscript, or maybe she's caught up with teaching, critiquing and interacting with the writers in her class(es), or she's prepping future lectures, or she's editing client manuscripts like mad, or fulfilling a paid writing assignment, or getting that interesting new writing coaching client launched.

Or else -- she's in a funk, is avoiding her keyboard, feels as if she has nothing meaningful to say to other writers (and maybe never will again), isn't interested in her own long-term creative projects, is letting student work pile up unread, is dangerously close to not meeting a deadline. Heck, maybe she is even looking for a job at a shoe store.

Happily for me -- although I've been acquainted with the latter scenario – it's the former which has been the reason I've been absent from the blog a bit lately. Lots going on, all burners firing on high, feeling professionally motivated, engaged, and energized. You know those weeks – everything seems to be working out at once. If you're like me though, that's both wonderful and a bit dreadful.

Oh, yes, I'm a "waiting for the other shoe to drop" kind of gal….wondering when the freelance work will slow down, if an editing client will pull a long range project, if the next class will get enough enrollments to run, whether a magazine will yank an assignment, when the older computer will crash.

Years ago, a therapist I was seeing (to deal with postpartum depression) once put a shoe next to the tissue box every time we had a session, as a reminder that most of the "shoe dropping" I kept waiting for was the product of my own outlook. Before I left, I had to pitch the shoe into the wastebasket. With enthusiasm.

I'm thinking of putting a shoe on my desk.