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At least I feel a bit foolish committing to a month of daily blog posts with only Sundays off. When it comes to describing my writing practice, A <\/strong>words like avoidance and ambivalence spring to mind. A few years ago when I cut back on my work life to devote more time to writing, and people asked how it was going, I had to confess, \u201cWell, it turns out I\u2019ve freed up more time to avoid writing.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only am I undisciplined, I have also made a sad discovery: The Spirit\u2014the one I rely on to speak through me as if I am just taking dictation rather than toiling away \u2014also suffers from writer\u2019s block.<\/p>\n But rather than throw in the towel, I have thrown myself into the A to Z Blogging Challenge<\/a>. I\u2019d heard about it a couple of years ago from my writing friend Claire<\/a>, who participated. Then last year, the Write On Mamas<\/a>, to which I belong, participated in the Challenge in a kind of round-robin way, with the members each contributing a letter. (Mine was E is for Empty Nest<\/a>, which I reveal here with some trepidation in case I want to recycle it for this year\u2019s Challenge. On the other hand, recycling is a conscientious choice for a planet threatened with environmental degradation, so if you see it here again in a few days, it is not because I am ambivalent and avoidant\u2014aka lazy\u2014but because it is the ethical thing to do.)<\/p>\n As part of our writing group\u2019s effort, I also wrote a post on my own blog called A-Z: A Writer\u2019s Alphabet<\/a>. I was not yet ready to take the plunge, but I could at least come up with a line pertaining to writing for every letter of the alphabet. I had gotten into the habit of writing one line,<\/a> a far less daunting task,\u00a0with my friend Mary\u2019s encouragement.<\/p>\n Then the aforementioned Claire said, \u201cYou really ought to do the A to Z Challenge! It\u2019ll be good for you.\u201d (Actually, she said \u201cA to Zed,\u201d because she\u2019s British, which makes everything she says sound persuasive.) So now I am trying to think of writing as just a bunch of lines, strung together. One line upon another building into a paragraph, a post, an essay, an article, even a book. Or at least a month of daily blogging.<\/p>\n As you can see, my blog is called Shrinkrapped<\/em><\/a>. It\u2019s not about therapy, but I am a therapist, so psychology suffuses my world view. I\u2019m particularly interested in how the personal, the political, and the psychological come together.<\/p>\n Some of my current favorite obsessions include: Motherhood; The Empty Nest (and, since my daughter has recently moved back, the not-so-empty nest); Politics; Psychology; Friendships; and Ruptures in Women\u2019s Friendships. Plus, since everything is copy, one unwelcome obsession: What I\u2019m calling my Cancer Detour<\/a>, a new muse that showed up in my life in September 2012 (I\u2019m fine now).<\/p>\n I hope you enjoy\u00a0Shrinkrapped<\/em>. Let the Challenge begin, and please chime in!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At least I feel a bit foolish committing to a month of daily blog posts with only Sundays off. When it comes to describing my writing practice, A words like avoidance and ambivalence spring to mind. A few years ago … Continue reading