搁笔

zuò jiā gē bǐ yǐ jiǔ

作家搁笔已久。

The author has laid down his pen for a while now.

shí jiān bù zǎo le jiù cǐ gē bǐ

时间不早了，就此搁笔。

It’s getting late, so I’ll sign off now.

wǒ yào zhè fēng xìn gǎn shàng zǎo chen de yóu bān suǒ yǐ zhǐ děi gē bǐ le

我要这封信赶上早晨的邮班，所以只得搁笔了。

I want this to catch the morning mail, so I must shut up now.