# Radio Silence Part 1: Reasons I Haven't Been Writing, lying liar's edition

If you've been keeping score at home, you may have noticed that my blogging has tailed off sharply in the last few years. Even worse, my writing has almost completely dried up in the past ten months.

Sure, social media is a thing, and it's a lot easier to write shorter things and get immediate engagement. And if it was just a decline in publishing things on my blog, that would probably go a long way to explaining it. But it's writing in general.

Last fall, through to the middle of November or so, I was writing every day. I wrote the first draft to a novel, I got about half-way through another, and I had a whole pile of much shorter things in various states of creation. Then I just stopped.

I'd like to spend some time to figure out why, and I've spent some time trying to understand that, but I've hit some dead ends on that score. So, instead, I'm going to explore all the reasons I can think of that are completely wrong. Maybe spending some time visiting the House of Lies can help me find some context.

# Very Obviously Wrong Reasons I Don't Write Very Much

# I don't like writing

I hate the physical act of writing. Laying words out on a screen with a keyboard, even just the idea of it, fills me with so much anger. I hate the rapid-fire rattle of my keyboard when I'm on a roll, and the tactile feedback of typing on a mechanical keyboard certainly isn't super-gratifying and doesn't instill me with the sense that I'm accomplishing things.

And don't get me started on writing with pen and paper. The enforced slowness of the act for sure isn't super-meditative, and doesn't help me extract the most complex thoughts from my brain. Ugh. The feel of a fountain pen gliding over paper sure isn't satisfying. In fact, it makes me want to be sick! Keyboards and pens should be illegal!

# Computers scare me

I don't really know what I'm doing when a computer turns on. I wouldn't know how to publish a blog post even if I did write one. The process of pushing a single button or typing a command out in a terminal is so foreign to me, just the prospect of having to publish something I've written fills me with dread and I have to actively commit to writing nothing in order to stop my hands from physically shaking.

# I would far rather take pictures

You know me. I'm the one who's always got the camera ready to shoot. What's with all the words? What can you say with those archaic language symbols that you can't say more simply and more eloquently with a quick picture? And I'm so good at taking pictures. One glance at my instagram feed and I have no doubt that you'll agree that my composition, my choice of lighting and all the saturation exposure and hue shutter-speed are well-chosen, appropriate, and not at all the default values that come with my iPhone.

# I have no opinions

Everything is fine. What? Really. There's nothing going on. No Conservative majority in my home province that is looking to sneak off with cartoonishly-styled money bags. And I certainly have no opinion on software development or anything else. The media are doing a fine job of providing fact-based coverage that doesn't at all over-emphasize the radical points-of-view for rage-clicks and faux engagement.

# So Now What?

That's all the fakery I could dredge up at 11pm on a Friday night. I'll get to some things that I suspect might be true tomorrow.