Friends, readers, countrymen, lend me your screens. I hereby announce my triumphant return from the non blogging void to inform you of a huge change in my life (hold the applause and rose petals, please). I recently became a father, which really knocked many of my previous habits and practices for a loop. I must confess; the prospect of impending fatherhood and its realization led to my taking an unplanned and unsanctioned leave of absence from writing and promoting my books.
Yes, my friends. It’s true. For the first time since I officially declared myself a writer (which was a loooong time ago, let me tell you), I allowed the distractions of family and personal responsibility to overwhelm my writing career (such as it is). For the greater portion of my wife’s pregnancy I accompanied her to what I call “baby appointments”, including sonograms, birthing classes, sessions with our ob-gyn and pediatrician, ya-da-ya-da ya-da, the whole nine yards, kit and caboodle, and ball of wax. Coupling all that stuff with working a full time job meant writing got pushed to the wayside, without me even realizing it had happened.
How, now, brown cow? The smoke has cleared and my baby daughter is here. My baby daughter is here and she is my chief motivation for leaping back onto the writing saddle. What’s that you ask? How is my baby daughter my motivation for throwing myself back into writing? There’s a simple explanation for that, folks. When I look at my baby, cooing and flailing her little arms, while I wipe the breast milk she has just evacuated onto my person, I realize that in addition to taking care of her physical needs, it is also my job to instill values into her.
One of the main values I want to instill into my daughter, is that people should always do what makes them happy (so long as whatever brings happiness does not harm others, that is, people like that perverted monster Jerry Sandusky definitely should not do what makes them happy). Writing makes me happy. There, I said it. Writing makes me happy, so whether or not I am ever fortunate enough to earn enough money to support my family while doing so is immaterial. The way I see it, there will be one of two outcomes concerning my writing as my daughter grows up. Outcome 1- I actually strike it big enough in this writing thing to quit my day job, which will result in my daughter realizing the possibilities of supporting one’s self while doing what one actually loves. Outcome 2- I continue to plod along as I have for years, enjoying writing in my spare time while working a full-time job. Outcome 2 would still be a win-win for my daughter, because she would still see her father doing what makes him happy and realize the importance of always having that one special something in this world. Also, even if I only manage outcome 2, I will generally be a lot better to be around, because writers can be real jerks when they feel frustrated and bottled up.
Yes, day to day life for the writer and anyone in his or her circle of life is usually much more enjoyable when the writer actually writes. In fact, it is just plain irresponsible for the writer and anyone who has to live with the writer to conduct themselves in manners not conducive to the writer scratching their literary itch. I mean- have you ever seen a bird that can’t fly? Their attitude sucks. A writer (a true writer, who doesn’t just sometime dabble for fun, but feels compelled to write) who hasn’t had their writing fix cab be a bear to be around (I’m talking rabid grizzly, people). My wonderfully supportive wife knows this is true about me, so she always allows me to disappear into my writing cave, provided that I’m present both mentally and physically when I leave the cave.
So there you have it, folks. I’m back in the writing saddle, with my wife at my side and an adorable, fussy, contrary, bodily fluid ejecting baby on my hip. We’re gonna need a bigger horse!
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