No one ever says, “Oh, don’t be a quitter.” when you lay down the smokes, do they? Or what about if you’re bankrupt in Monopoly? Or drinking five beers a day isn’t working for you anymore. No. People really only tell you not to be a quitter when they think you’re quitting something that’s good for you. But sometimes, things that are good for you can also be tiring and the cost is too high. I think a time-out, at the very least, is worth considering when this happens.

I was reading an article in The Writer about a woman who believes her publishing success comes from networking. To a certain extent, I’m sure that’s very true, but you know…she did write a couple of books too. Networking is wearing me out. I’m the first person to admit that I don’t have very much self control when it comes to choosing hard work over fun stuff. I’ve got this first draft that needs some work and then there’s the internet. I rationalize that there are all these writing bloggers out there who are dying for my comments and contributions to the conversation and just as soon as I leave one more comment, I’ll get to that draft. But by the time I’m done with all those blogs, do you know what? I don’t feel much like writing. And then there’s the fact that they might get updated during the day, so I have to check back a couple of times too.

I was telling my husband that I’d rather knit and cook and listen to baseball and read than write and he said, “You’ve been writing since you were a little kid. That’s what you do.” He didn’t say, “Don’t quit”, but he essentially said that it isn’t an option. And honestly, I don’t want to quit writing. I want to quit networking. Now, it’s true that this might not be the very best time to disappear from the writer world since my book is out on submission, but do you know what? There will be plenty of time to network once I’ve got a book deal and edits are done and exciting things are happening, you know?

On my bio, I have this photo and the caption is: My meditation station…where I go when it becomes more about the publishing business, and less about the writing, to get myself back on track. I haven’t sat down there in a long, long while, but it’s time.

I love blogging here, and updating Need To Read, so I’ll keep doing that. It keeps me thinking and keeps my nonfiction skills sharp. But if I don’t leave a comment on your site for a while, don’t be offended. I need to think about the art of writing and not the business side for a while.