I am a writer. For years I have embraced the discipline and joy of putting pen to page – or fingers to computer – and creating simply because it makes me feel good. On May 30, 2024 – the day my husband passed away – the wind in my sails stopped blowing and the swirling laughing waters of inspiration went still. Oh, I didn’t stop writing immediately, but it tapered off until the only writing I did was in my daily devotional and prayer journals. Everything else – poetry, short stories, blogs, novels, it all dried up. Writing group – five or six friends who meet monthly to read each other’s work and write spontaneously from prompts – has kept me going, helping me across that great divide when grief numbs spontaneity and vision.
I wish I could say I’ve come to a turning point and will get back to a regular schedule of storytelling, but if I’ve learned one thing about myself it is that as I get older, I have crap follow through.
Writing advice, no matter its source, urges the writer to know her/his audience. Who are you trying to reach?Yes, that is the question. Not ‘to be or not to be’, but who the hell is your audience? Shakespear knew and it turns out, all these years later, it’s us, or at least the us who love literature.
So, not having a clue who may read this, I send it to the Heavens with good intentions and say with heartfelt enthusiasm, whatever it is you feel passionate about, do it now and do it with delight. Wrap your arms around the people you love and say the magic words – yes, you know them – I love you! Say them through your actions and with your voice and with your touch.
Blessings in the year ahead.
Sharon Vander Meer 
Dear Sharon, Dear Sharon. Thank you for writing and sharing this heartfelt examination of the soul of a writer=you. It gives me a moment of “who me”? and a very thoughtful response. Yes, you, me, and so many more writers/people. Wether it is a diary or a novel, we cannot falter.
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Thanks, Patti. I’m feeling motivated. I am republishing Future Imperfect with corrections and updates. So, although I haven’t done that much new stuff, I am evaluating previous work and am finding out that, by golly, it’s good stuff!
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Thank you for sharing this Sharon. Your writing has always been powerful and what I have read, from the heart.
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Thanks, Pam! Writing is my outlet and joy.
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I love this post, Sharon. I think we all hit a wave of grief or loss of energy due to health issues at some point and for varying times. Eventually the fog lifts and we beat ourselves up because we didn’t just push through. Like fields in the winter, sometimes we need to lie fallow and wait. Don’t be hard on yourself about this. Your writing will return. It’s just giving you space you need right now.
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Thanks, Mary Rose. Your encouragement means the world to me!
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I also found myself not exactly dried up, but refocused such that my writing is either a daily health journal to help me figure out which of my annoying limitations I have any control left over, or the “herding of cats” to keep three groups I participate in at least partially organized.
I keep saying I’ll get back to blog posts, but haven’t followed through yet. My reason for dropping out of writing is quite different from, and less traumatic than, yours and also less readily identifiable. Maybe if I trouble to identify it I will see how to return to posting? Or decide I’m done with the blog, after 10 or so years of it.
As with most everything in my life now, this too falls onto the “wait and see” pile.
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Thanks for your thoughtful response. We all come to the artistic well down different roads and it sometimes feels okay to eliminate some things while embracing others. And sometimes, it really is okay to do nothing and just breathe.
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