How I wish I could write! What kind of blogger doesn’t produce a New Year’s post? I wonder — can I call it writer’s block if I’m not even trying to write? I mean, doesn’t one need to be experiencing some sort of inner warfare in order claim a creative block? If I just don’t feel like it, does that count?
Don’t know. Don’t care. I know that sounds like depression, but I can’t blame that at the moment either. There’s no deep poetic brooding going on in my subconscious.
I’ve just been busy, doing no-fun things like cleaning out the house of my deceased brother and mother and stacking and re-stacking piles of papers labeled “Mom’s trust” and “Biff’s estate” and “funeral expenses,” while sitting on hold with various mutual fund managers and lawyers.
More than that, though, I’ve been living my life, spending time with friends and laughing until my face hurts, celebrating Christmas with my nephew and his family in a funky old artist’s colony in Pennsylvania, and planning a New Year’s trip to Philly for further frivolity.
Christmas in Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania
December has featured four-hour lunches, spontaneous potlucks with the neighbors, back-to-back holiday parties, and live performances of A Christmas Carol and The Nutcracker.
I’ve spent entire afternoons reading great literary fiction (Carson McCullers, Margaret Laurence), and also some crap (I confess an addiction to John Grisham). I’ve been drinking expensive organic cabernet and watching old episodes of Sherlock Holmes and Perry Mason, along with the obligatory black and white Christmas movies.
So sue me. I’ve recovered from the magnitude-seven grumpiness that shook me as I approached the December 23rd anniversary of my brother’s passing, and I am now celebrating having survived a whole year without him. I deserve to do whatever the heck I feel like doing.
Writing with Spirit 
Dec 31, 2014 @ 22:58:41
Cabernet, Sherlock Holmes, black and white Christmas movies sound like time well spent. Write in January or February.
Jan 01, 2015 @ 18:58:30
OK – you are the experienced writer; I’ll take your advice. February sounds about right 🙂
Happy new year!
Dec 31, 2014 @ 14:12:47
Wow! Except for the grieving part, my last couple of weeks has gone pretty much like yours. Guess we’re celebrating the quotidian delights of the waning year. No apologies necessary, right? Slack and slide. Profundity wil reassert itself in good time.
Jan 01, 2015 @ 18:57:24
Yes, and you’re one of the people who made me laugh till my face hurt! Here’s to more of that.
Happy 2015!
Dec 30, 2014 @ 19:49:01
Laughing until your face hurts is the best. It sounds like you just need to “be” for a bit, instead of writing about being. I wish you a more enjoyable, face-hurting 2015!
Dec 30, 2014 @ 22:34:54
Exactly! It’s good to give myself permission to do that. A laughing New Year to you, too!