writing progress?

when i started writing it was all about the words, the sounds, the individual meanings...time passed and i paid attention, wrote more, and it became about the story, the art the words made together...time passed and pieces got published and it became about the audience, touching others with what i had made...

...fast forward to today...

and i find myself promoting my work, writing emails and letters to agents and editors, speaking at conferences, posting notices on facebook and twitter, even this blog has become a house of words. necessary perhaps for the work to be heard, but what about the work itself? the poetry? the story? the sheer thrill and terror of ex nihilo?

it is the season of advent...of coming home...and so i find myself remembering how precious words are. i find myself ready to gather my words back to my chest - give them away less freely in my daily banter on the internet. "small talk" is not bad - it has its place - but it eats my words...i had forgotten.