Regular readers know that I have been talking about a forthcoming book for some time now, that still remains to be seen on these cyber-pages. I am still enthusiastic about the project, but my inability to make significant time on a regular basis to complete the project is, I decided, telling me something.

Much as I enjoy helping others discover freedom, and helping them create more freedom in their lives, more and more I return to the question of whether I'm engaging in the same kind of meddling that we disdain the state and its minions for. A good friend occasionally uses a sig line that says in effect that it's probably wrong to try to save the world. In short, I'm reconsidering my goals in doing my writing and activism, and may decide to engage in other pursuits if I conclude that I'm doing the sort of meddling that Merlin cautions against in the statement TH White has him say about "doing something" being dangerous. I'm closer to burnout than I ever thought I'd be; that in and of itself is telling, and worthy of consideration.

Other things have been niggling at my mind, too -- things like trying to balance a more than full-time job at Free-Market.Net, developing my skills as a writer and perhaps even transitioning to supporting myself through those efforts, and trying to raise my family. Then there are the challenges of maintaining personal relationships, which is difficult enough when individuals are as busy as freedom activists tend to be, but can get absolutely hairy when the individuals disagree about something and both think that "libertarian principle" (as if it's some implacable monolith) comes down on his or her side. I've dealt with a lot of that lately. Too much, in fact.

So, I'm going to disappear from the 'net and much of my normal life for a brief time, and go walkabout -- at least metaphorically -- to try to find some answers to these and other questions I have. Once the withdrawal stops I expect I'll be able to devote enough time to thinking that I'll be able to arrive at some answers.

This doesn't affect the future of Doing Freedom! in a significant way. We'll be moving to a quarterly publication schedule after this issue -- see you again in March! -- and William, as editor, does most of the work for it. But just about every other aspect of my freedom-related work will come under scrutiny. If you want to pitch in a thought or two on the subject, or have something else to say to me, you can write me; I'll be around for a few days still, and will be back online after the new year begins. My address is sunni -at- free -hyphen- market -dot- net. (I trust you can figure out how to render that into a usable email address.) Thanks.

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