Today is Shrove Tuesday or, if you live in New Orleans, Mardi Gras. Tonight, my kids and I will go to church and eat pancakes, a traditional last hurrah of a meal before the austerity of the Lenten fast begins tomorrow.

This year, instead of fasting from some kind of food (though my kids once again decided we should abstain from Girl Scout cookies during Lent), I’m going to do something really radical. I’m going to fast from blogging.

I know. Every speaker at every marketing seminar I’ve been to in the past year (and I’ve been to a lot – every other professional writers’ meeting I go to seems to be focused on marketing) would tell me I’m committing virtual suicide. So be it. If my blog writing has to die so my other writing can live, well, that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

This is also an act of trust. I am trusting that whoever is out there reading my blog – and whoever you are, I thank you; I’m honored that you choose to spend time with me! – I am trusting you will come back in six weeks (Easter is April 4). I am trusting that my long absence will not mean starting over from zero readers come April. I am trusting that my other writing projects are worth the risk I’m taking.

I will not be a complete stranger these next weeks. I have three guest appearances scheduled on other blogs during Lent, and I’ll link to those as they go live. I may also post an author interview that’s in the works.

But mostly I’m going to ignore the siren call of the internet and focus on several other writing projects that have been whispering in my mind for some time, projects that I’ve locked in the basement because I don’t feel well, don’t have enough energy, don’t have enough time to listen to them. They’re getting loud down there, beating on the door for me to let them out. And so I don’t go totally crazy, I’m going to let them out and spend the next weeks listening to them, writing them down.

And I hope to come back excited and energized, ready for another year of blogging. (Yes, it’s really been a whole year this week since I started blogging.)

So. I’ll see you in Easter!