The problem with life is that everything comes grinding to a halt whether you’re hit with something bad or good. In a whirlwind of activity during the last week of summer, my partner and I managed to find our ideal home, put an offer on it before we were ready, have that offer accepted and get our current home ready to be listed to sell.

All this with two young children, me getting ready for the start of a new school year and my wife starting a new position.

To say things have been chaotic, albeit in a good way, is understating the commotion. Unfortunately, it also meant I haven’t been writing for a few weeks.

Just like a muscle that doesn’t get used, the writing muscle atrophies and takes time to build back up again. Stephen King even spoke about his own writing atrophy during a major accident he had while he was at his summer home in 1999. 

Being out of practice takes some time to rebuild the muscle to get back into the game.

I was quite proud of the momentum I was building on this site and consequently, my other writing projects. Writing had always been a love, but now it was a necessary habit.

During the time when other matters needed my full attention, I felt the twinge of hurt at not being able to sit at my keyboard and let the words flow. In all honesty, I felt guilty.

It honestly felt like I was betraying myself.

Life has settled (enough) again where I can return to the written word and begin building up the writing muscle once more. It’s rusty, but it feels amazing to work it out.