No, not from this blog: From my favorite trivia company. Every now and then (average of twice a year?) I just have a complete mental block about contributing anything at all, even so much as responding to e-mails. There's no excuse for this - it's just a phase that comes and goes.
That said, the fact that there's no good reason for it always makes it even more awkward for me to get back into the swing of things. There's an e-mail from our President/CTO with the subject line "Incommunicado?" (ironically) that I still haven't opened because I'll feel silly responding to it.
Anyway, this latest hiatus is about to end, but until it actually happens and I'm routinely responding to e-mail (really the main thing is e-mail, though knocking off a few questions couldn't hurt), it's this lingering thing.
Do you ever find yourself in situations like that with some quasi-vocational obligation you have? What's the best way to stop the recurrence? What's the smoothest way to get back on that horse without awkwardness/guilt/etc.?
Posted by Matt Bruce at August 18, 2006 11:43 PMThis happens to me all the time. So I have no useful advice, but I can sympathize.
Posted by: Erin at August 20, 2006 02:26 AMOh god, yes. At particularly bad times, it'll get so that I won't even fire up Pine for fear of seeing something there that I know I have to deal with but am not.
Useful ways of dealing with it, I don't know. Usually I just need to buckle down and do whatever it is I've been avoiding.
Posted by: Paul at August 20, 2006 02:56 AMJust claim that you're an eccentric Russian genius who has just solved a fundamental mathematical problem. Those guys never respond to email.
Posted by: WestBerkeleyFlats at August 20, 2006 03:22 PMA "months of idleness/6 week flurry" cycle is what led me to quit TRASH. I ended up only contributing significantly to the discipline I edited, and even then writing questions was getting to be a chore.
Whenever I hear musing about "wouldn't it be nice to get paid for [doing some idle hobby, like watching movies or playing videogames] all day?" I just shudder. No, it would suck, because then it would be a job instead of a pleasant diversion from a job.
Posted by: greg at August 21, 2006 08:49 AM