Some of the hundreds of columns I’ve written for this space have been easier to write than others, but this one is the most difficult.
  For someone accustomed to changing jobs, and even careers, every couple of years for most of my early adult life, it astonishes me to look back and realize that 14 years have zipped by since a former editor asked if I would like to write what was on my mind once a week for this newspaper.
  I never dreamed I would write this column for more than a couple of years. I couldn’t imagine coming up with a new idea every week for longer than that. But the ideas are coming harder now, and too many of those that do come are topics I’ve already written about. 
  Until recently, a good idea or flash of inspiration almost always came along in time for me to write a column before deadline, but in the past few months, too many weeks have gone by with nothing from me in this space.
  Two publishers and a succession of editors have patiently tolerated my inability to meet deadlines consistently and have allowed me the rare opportunity to speak my mind on almost any subject, but it is time for me to close it out, to hang up my typewriter, to give myself more time for other things, for other writing. I ain’t getting any younger.
  I’ve always wanted to write books, but I’ve always been too easily distracted. For people who write books, the writing comes first, and everything else-even fishing-comes after the day’s words have been written.
  When I decided to build my own house with as little assistance as possible from people who knew what they were doing, I knew there would be a book in it. After each day’s labor, notes for a book went into my computer. We’ve been in the house nearly 8 years; the notes are still in the computer.
  It shouldn’t be difficult to find two or three hours to write a weekly column and write a book at the same time, but my mind works on the column all week long, trying out ideas and rejecting them, worrying more as deadline approaches that nothing suitable will come to mind.
  Knowing how my brain does and doesn’t work, I’m sure that as soon as the pressure is off-which will be in just a few minutes-ideas for columns will pop into my head every day.
  I’ll not disappear entirely. My book of columns, Light & Dark, is still available in local stores, and every now and then I’ll no doubt write a column and send it in to compete for the Guest Columnist spot, and fire off occasional letters-to-the-editor.
  I’ve enjoyed your comments over the years. The ones I’ll miss most are those that say, “I enjoy reading your column even when I don’t agree with what you write.”
Ending this 14-year run is a lot like getting a divorce. It is not an easy thing to do, but sometimes the most difficult things are the most necessary.
 

Postscript:
  From time to time, I’ll post on this website letters published in newspapers and magazines and the columns that may appear now and then in various newspapers.
  Also, I’ll post excerpts from works in progress now and then, but on no set schedule. No more deadlines!

ER