Starting again

So this didn't go so well in 2007. My experiment, that is. I wanted to regain my interest in writing, try to find that elusive thing that I have lost. And in 2007, I didn't.

The end of the year is only weeks away. Christmas will be here next week, followed in short order by my 40th birthday.

I like the sound of being 40. It makes me feel -- maybe this is silly, I don't care -- finally grown up. Like someone who can make her own decisions without anyone questioning them because, after all, I did get to 40 years old, so I can't be that stupid.

Will 2008 be the year I get it back?

I went to a meeting last week for something I'm going to be helping out with at the high school and two strangers stopped me to tell me that they loved my column. They read it every week and loved it. I never know what to say in that situation.

Is it rude to say I got sick of it? Is it a lie? Kind of, yes, it is.

The truth is that for a variety of reasons, I contracted writer's block. A severe case. I gave up the column in 2004 and still haven't started writing again. I'd say that going on four years warrants the name "severe."

All of a sudden, I hit a wall. I wasn't sick of writing. I literally could not do it anymore.

I've always been one who finds life interesting, and all of sudden, and again, for a variety of reasons, I didn't find life interesting. In fact, when people would tell me that they had something interesting to share, I often felt dread. I knew I would not find it interesting, no matter what it was.

In writing the column, I wrote about my own life a lot, but I liked to share other people's stories too. But when you are bored with your own life and certain that no one else's is interesting either, what do you do with that? What on earth do you write about?

So I said "enough" and stopped.

The sad part is that I really miss it.

So this is my New Year's resolution for 2008. I'm going to sit here every few days and put words on this blog and see what happens. I've been limping along with this thing long enough. It's time to juice it up and see what happens.

Just might be interesting.