Falta de escrita

Esta semana estamos em sintonia com Dani Rodrik, deve ser um bom sinal:

I once had a fantasy. I would devote a whole year, perhaps a sabbatical, just to reading and thinking, and would not write anything. I mean really nothing: no papers, no articles, no op-eds, no contributions to collected volumes. I would turn down all invitations to contribute papers to conferences or books by saying “Thank you. but I am just reading and thinking this year, not writing.” The idea was to force a fundamental correction in the balance of trade between what went in my head and what came out.

I thought this had to make my subsequent writing better. After all, I would have had a long time to think about the literature and develop my ideas, without the pressure of having to spill them out.

And then there were also the inevitable narcissistic thoughts: Would anyone notice? Would anyone care? Would the world be a worse place as a result?

Call it an academic’s fantasy.

Of course I never came close to fulfilling this fantasy. In fact, starting a blog was a move in exactly the opposite direction. With a blog, you have to write something most days–or at least you feel the pressure to do so.

It wasn’t exactly by design, but perhaps the recent hiatus of activity on this blog was a small-scale acting out of my fantasy. At the very least, I have proved to myself that I can stay away–and not feel terribly guilty about it.

Thanks very much to those readers who urged my speedy return, provided justifications for my absence, or warned of dire consequences if I did not reappear soon. I hope they get a vacation too.