So I’ve been basically offline for the past couple of weeks. Not because anything is wrong, but just because . . . sometimes you need a break.

It feels like I spend all day doing nothing but staring at a screen. My day job consists of working on a computer pretty much all day long. When I come home, I’m either writing blogs, reading blogs, getting on various social media sites, or going down the YouTube rabbit hole. It’s enough to make anyone go slightly insane. I started noticing that I was logging on to Facebook not because I wanted to post something exciting or catch up with a good friend, but because I really had no idea what else to do. That and OMG SOMETHING MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED THAT I DON’T KNOW ABOUT!!!!! You know the feeling. You’ve probably done the same thing.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate social media – I really do. Facebook has helped me keep in touch with friends from high school and college that have long since moved away from my town. I get to see their kids grow up and know that they are doing well. It’s also helped me reconnect with estranged family members who also live far away. Twitter has made me even geekier than I already was, which is admittedly a challenge. But after a while, it all feels less like seeing people I care about or who I’m interested in, and more like the world yelling, “LOOK AT ME!!!” And sometimes it gets exhausting.

I think this is part of why I’ve decided to revise my novel the (relatively) old fashioned way – by hand. The entire thing has been printed out and put in a binder so I can go through it page by page, no screens involved.

I’ve also just been in a bit of a funk lately. Not sure why. I haven’t felt like reading much, or at least not reading anything new if I don’t have to. I have a whole shelf of books I’m trying to get through this year, books that I bought years ago and still haven’t read, but it’s so much easier to just pick up 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson and curl up with it for an evening. I’ve read that book dozens of times. I don’t have to think. I don’t have to wonder what happens next. I think that’s why I re-read books so much – it can be so much more relaxing, and lately, relaxing has been what I needed.

But I’m back now, and going to at least attempt to continue blogging somewhat, even if I don’t always feel like doing so. I’ll snap out of this eventually. I always do. 🙂