You can't sail while you're in drydock

dry dock (n): [nautical terminology] a large dock from which water can be pumped out; used for building ships or for repairing a ship below its waterline

In recent weeks, I've been (mostly) taking a break from wearing my writer's hat. While the book-that-shall-not-be-named is out with my beta readers, I'm deliberately not thinking about it.  I haven't been poking around in the file, haven't been obsessively hunting down typos and grammar flubs that made it through the umpteen edits, haven't been moving commas around as I second guess myself.

In part, this is because I think I'll be much better able to be dispassionate about comments from the beta readers if I have some distance from it and can read it with reasonably fresh eyes. Mostly, though, I really needed the break in order to concentrate on other things.

It's been a great hiatus - a lot of things that were hanging over me have now been fully dealt with, to the satisfaction of almost everyone involved. Many other projects at various stages of completion have been moved farther down their respective roads, with each phase giving way to the next in more-or-less seamless transitions, guided by my hand and propelled by my brainsweat.

Although the break from the writing mindset has had unfortunate consequences for the frequency (and perhaps the quality) of posts here at Landless and for the timeliness (and perhaps the quality) of my #FridayFlash stories and my poetry, it's served a purpose. It's always been important for me to take time for reflection, time to determine where I am, where I want to go and how I should get there.

Time spent in dry dock isn't time wasted. I've been making do with patches and kludges throughout this long trip; I'm past due for a full refit. Sometimes, I wonder that I've managed to stay afloat on this sea of words for so long, let alone stayed on course and brought cargo into port, a heavy load of ore destined for the inland refineries. True, my headway wasn't what I wanted it to be, but given the storms and heavy seas I ran into along the way, I won't waste time complaining.

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