{"id":4465,"date":"2023-12-20T07:12:19","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T15:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/laurarink.com\/wp\/?p=4465"},"modified":"2026-01-01T20:34:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T04:34:57","slug":"work-and-walking-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laurarink.com\/wp\/work-and-walking-away\/","title":{"rendered":"WORK, AND WALKING AWAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

I restarted my blog<\/a> in May and with December\u2019s blog, I\u2019ve met my goal of blogging at least once a month. I almost didn\u2019t reach that goal. I\u2019m tired and considered not blogging this month. I\u2019m tired and considered just posting a picture captioned with Happy Holidays!<\/em> But that didn\u2019t feel right, or good.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m tired. And I wanted to write a blog this month.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m tired because of the low light this time of year, because I don\u2019t get outside and exercise enough, because I don\u2019t often sleep well. I\u2019m tired because the state of our planet and our humanity is exhausting.<\/p>\n

I wanted to write a blog this month, and I wasn\u2019t sure what to say.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In talking with two writer friends about whether I would write this blog, about being tired, about what was happening with my writing lately, I discovered I not only had something to say, I had enough energy to do so. Receiving their empathy gave me that energy.<\/p>\n

Last week I worked on cutting down an essay from 317 words to 250 or less, which is the word limit for a dream publication, Riverteeth\u2019s<\/em> \u201cBeautiful Things.\u201d I was stuck around 300 words. I spent two hours seeking a smaller shape for the piece and I couldn\u2019t find it. Perhaps I needed to look for a journal with a higher word count, but that was not the solution I wanted. I was disappointed and I walked away.<\/p>\n

Later that day something drew me back to that short essay. I focused on the central essence of the story, the push that made me want to write about this moment to begin with, and I stayed with that moment and I wrote a complete essay that is currently at 248 words. I am, I told myself, a f*@#ing rock star. Tired and walking away from the work. Tired and returning to the work.<\/p>\n

Here’s to writer friends, and here\u2019s to you sharing this writing journey with me. Thank you and Happy Holidays.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I restarted my blog in May and with December\u2019s blog, I\u2019ve met my goal of blogging at least once a month. I almost didn\u2019t reach that goal. I\u2019m tired and considered not blogging this month. I\u2019m tired and considered just posting a picture captioned with Happy Holidays! But that didn\u2019t feel right, or good. I\u2019m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,11],"tags":[194,190,192,193,191,195,9],"class_list":["post-4465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-life","category-writing","tag-beautiful-things","tag-blogging","tag-happy-holidays","tag-riverteeth","tag-tired","tag-walking-away","tag-writing-struggles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/laurarink.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-December.jpeg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6RxKM-1a1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4967,"url":"https:\/\/laurarink.com\/wp\/may-a-month-of-flowers\/","url_meta":{"origin":4465,"position":0},"title":"MAY, A MONTH OF FLOWERS","author":"Laura Rink","date":"May 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"April\u2019s bounty, and showers, continue with this month\u2019s collection of blossoms: pink columbine, purple rhododendron, red salvia, sweet woodruff, and the sweet perfume of lilacs and lilies of the valley . . . to name a few. 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If last month I was tired, this month, the winter holidays behind me now, I felt ready to be productive\u2014I will get so much done this month! 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