Well that was the days of the Indians and then the Cowboys came along thinking they could make things better and it all went to hell in a handbasket. It's called... progress.
I think I scared Sharon and the kids. I know I scared myself, and I know that it was Sharon’s love and her willingness to kick my stubborn ass that got me to admit something was going on instead of simply toughing it out because “that’s my job.”
Thank God Sharon is your own Soul of Steel, because your biggest fans are your wife and kids.
Stepping away is always good. It gives the memory banks and the imagination a new lease on life. One can work on a particularly thorny problem forever and not make any headway. Step away from it for only a week and "Eureka!"Now, having said all of that, I can truthfully say that I think I’m back at or near the top of my game. I really like what I’ve written since going back into the office, I’m getting my production rate back close to what it was at its peak (I’m now averaging about 6-7,000 words per day when I’m actually in front of the computer for a full workday), and I am bringing a much fresher eye to the work. In short, I think the hiatus was good for the work, not just for the worker.
What really makes me smile is that you like what you've written. Being a writer is supposed to be enjoyable isn't it? When the pressures of the business and the fans begin to counter that, then what is the point. In today's atmosphere of the internet, 'Cons, co-writers, disgruntled fans, arrogant forumites and the many more millions of maniacal reasons of rampant miscreant meddling it must be hell being an author. I bet you thought you had it sooo good Mr. Weber when technology created the PC, but you probably didn't sign on for everything else that technology brought along with it. Now you're probably envying the authors who simply had an old noisy Remington typewriter, smudged ribbons, dropped letters but NO internet or holier than thou rambunctious know-it-all fans who think that they should be sitting at the computer instead of the author. Progress ain't always what it's cut out to be.
By the grace of God indeed, because I am sure he is an Honor fan by way of Tester.I’ve always been someone who takes professional commitments and deadlines seriously, and I think it was my inability to admit the pressure that was creating which pushed me to actual physical collapse and the threat of long-term consequences which, by the grace of God, didn’t happen.
Good thing even in this world of progress is that the brightness at the end of your tunnel is controlled by your wife standing by the door with her hand on the light switch.
Behind every good writer is a woman telling him it's bedtime.
Godspeed!
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