Addiction

I have been stuck in my writing of late, withering from want of encouragement from the great world beyond, wishing I would get more reviews of my Mason Dixon series, wishing I would get some end-of-year distinction for the THREE books I had published last year, wishing I would get an invitation to somewhere alluring, wishing I would hear from a certain editor about a certain project.

Then last night, while I was wasting time on Facebook, I saw that the Children's Book Guild of Washington, D.C., had posted a link to the Chicago Public Library's recently issued list of the "Best of the Best" children's books of 2011, because two Guild members were on the list. I am a member of that organization, even though I haven't lived in the D.C. area for over two decades now. So I clicked on it to see the names of my two Guild member friends, and when I did, I had the nice surprise of seeing my own Fractions = Trouble! as one of the featured titles (easily overlooked by the Facebook poster, as nonresident members can be out of sight and out of mind). Good news at last! I posted my own little Facebook brag; as of this writing some 72 Facebook friends have "liked" my post.

Yay, I thought! I got my little fix of fame! I got my little whispered word of encouragement from the universe! Now I was ready to write!

Alas, all I've done today is surf the Internet to see if I can find MORE little fixes of fame, MORE whispered words of encouragement. Like an alcoholic who has that one fatal swig of hooch, I've reawakened a ferocious thirst.

This is not good.

I need to stop this. I need to write something for its own sake, for the sheer joy of putting words on paper. I need to do this because I am a writer, and writers write. If I can't write a chapter, I can write a page. I can write a poem. I can make notes in my creativity journal. I can write this blog! (I can always write this blog!). No more self-Googling! I'm going to stick my fingers in my ears, and if the universe has anything else to whisper to me, it will have to wait until I'm ready to give it my attention, because as of this minute, I am going to be too busy writing even to notice.