See this gorgeous face? It is two and a half months old. Which means it’s about time for me to wrap up the maternity leave I’ve so generously granted myself, and return to writing.
Getting back in the groove after a long hiatus is always a painful thing for me, fraught with stomach-churning anxiety, Herculean feats of procrastination, and bouts of real depression. A friend of mine recently posted this image on Facebook:
and I don’t know whether it makes me want to laugh or cry. I only know that it’s the truth. There is rarely a moment when I don’t feel anxious about the writing that needs to get done, or guilty about the fact that I’m not doing it.
So what if I just gave it all up? What if I raised my babies and took care of my home, and at the end of a long day, I knew that there was nothing else that required doing? Instead of stressing out about writing, I could spend the last hours of the day pursuing my hobbies, or maybe just kicking back for a couple of guilt-free hours in front of the TV?
Honestly? It’s a fantasy I return to from time to time. It sounds like a really nice life.
It just wouldn’t be my life.