Tuesday, February 21, 2012

If we had met on Thursday, here in digital country, it would’ve been forced and disingenuous. Much as I try to cleave to our twice weekly schedule, there are times when the Word doc stubbornly stares back at me, blinking cursor heralding a great nothingness, and I cannot help but surrender to a blank page. It is during these moments when you will see a slapdash “we’ll be back” message in lieu of actual content, normally posted right as I throw my virtual hands up in resignation for the evening.

This unscheduled break, however, was exactly what I needed. In the past few days, I’ve been consuming some top-notch writing, culled from the finest sources on the Internet. Now, I’m not ready to start reading whole books again. The quaintness-to-convenience ratio of paper isn’t engaging enough right now, nor do I have the patience to visit the library to verify this claim. A Kindle wouldn’t hit the spot, either. In fact, I imagine it would do for my literary intake exactly what Wii Fit did for my health.

What I’ve been reading, instead, are longer articles from the Times, The Guardian, and blogs of professional writers. The topics may vary, from business to gaming to current events, but the merits are shared between good pieces. The prose grips you, stirs you, feeds a hunger you didn’t know you possessed, and when you reach the end, you find yourself rereading certain passages and wishing you were the one who conjured those very words. Here we are, then, renewed. The long weekend also was refreshing, and I think I know why. I just won’t tell you until Thursday.