Is there life off-line?

I wonder how long it will take BT OpenReach to find our remote village and get the problem on my telephone line fixed? Until then I’m reduced to going to my daughter’s down the road or to the local cafe to get online, and it feels different, as if I’m encroaching on others and need to hurry up.

So I shall be brief…

Being off line is strangely liberating. I feel less tied to the iPad and the laptop, more free to think without so much external stimulus, like I do when travelling. A possible story line for the next novel is being to float around, in the new space available in my head. I’m also aware of the anxiety that comes with it. Starting another book before the proofs are ready on the current one is probably a bad idea. The final stages of editing need proper focus with the details part of my brain, not the expansive part that generates new stories and ideas. If I knew more about my own brain I could explain this in more grown-up terms, but you probably get the picture.

So for the next few days I shall be reliant on time-consuming processes and visiting to get on-line. I may see more of my grandchildren – a good thing – and/or drink more coffee – not such a good thing. But I shall survive. In the great scheme of things, being off-line is a mere pimple on the nose of life.