When my son was involved in a car accident 20 years ago and suffered a traumatic brain injury, I learned a bit about the brain and how it works, mostly through talking with doctors. They often refer to the brain as a “black box,” meaning that whenever there’s an accident, they really don’t know what’s going to be the end result of the catastrophe. It can be something physical, like loss of sight, or hearing, or walking. Or it can be memory loss. Or it can be a total change in personality. Or the person can completely recover.
That’s kind of the way I looked at retirement. A black box. Before I retired in 2021, I talked to lots of people I knew who had retired to see what it was like. I came to the conclusion that retirement was whatever you wanted it to be. Well, yes and no, because it never really lives up to a person’s expectations either. One never has enough money to do what you want. You always have people expectiing you to spend your time doing things for them. And physical limitations become a greater and more sobering reality as time goes on.
Anyway, I stepped into retirement like stepping into a dark closet, not really knowing what to expect. I wrote a book and lost some weight. Did some projects at home. Did a little traveling with my wife. After two years, I was bored. I realized that I missed the classroom. Then SWAU, my old university contacted me about teaching as an adjunct. After some negotiating, they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Teach Tuesday and Thursday afternoons ONLY and get paid every other week. Nice. And no committees. Nicer still.
But why am I talking about all this? It has to do with writing, in an oblique way. One of my major goals when I was working full time was that once I retired I would crank up my writing productivity to full speed and put out several books a year. What I discovered is that my motivation changed dramatically when I left full time work. Writing was my avocation. Teaching filled up the logical side of my brain; writing took care of the creative side. Without teaching to occupy the logical side, I didn’t feel creative. I wasn’t even motivated to read books. Instead, I found myself working outside. looking for logical/creative stuff to do with my hands.
Now I am back in the classroom. It’s not as intense as it was, which is better. I finished a second book since retirement, this one co-authored with Celeste Perrino. And now I am working on the sequel to that book.
As for the title above, it’s an apology of sorts. I haven’t been writing her for quite a while simply because I didn’t feel I had anything to contribute. I’m going to try and make that up to you. As I work on my current project, which is still unnamed, I will keep you informed. Hope you stay interested.
Glen
The Great Adventure 