12.18.2015

R&R: Should Writers Take a Break?

(Lovely photo was taken by Megan Elaine Photography. Check out her blog and more pics here.)


Holidays are coming up. You get breaks from school, work, life... You have some time to relax during this very special time of the year. As an artist, you are probably thinking about how much work you can accomplish while having no school. Should you try and set a goal of 25,000 this holiday season? Or let yourself take a break?


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Something I hear all the time is: "Don't ever stop writing." or "Write at least a hundred words a day! You have to write something!" I get this. Honestly. I see the big picture, I know why writers who have been writing for decades tell young writers this. You can fix awful, but you can't fix blank. Experienced writers know that this is a way to get young writers to write. Just a hundred words a day. You can do it.

However... When is a good time to rest?

I know as a writer you technically never stop writing. As you watch Doctor Who you're writing in your head. As you walk down the street to run errands for your mom, you're still writing in your head. We as writers never stop. The ideas are always swimming around in our warped little minds, trying to come up with the next New York Times Best Seller. We're character developing in our heads. We're having conversations with our characters!

It never stops.

Ever.

Writers are born, not made. There's a specific talent, a specific kind of imagination and creativity that writers possess. It's a creativity that no one else in the world will ever share with us. Having said that, painters have their own creative soul, and photographers, and so on. This is what makes artists so special. We have something inside of us that needs to get out. No matter what. We just have. to. get. it. out. It burns inside.

It never stops.

Ever.

Do you ever feel awful when it's been a week since you've actually written anything down? Do you like a terrible writer when you haven't been able to spend hours world and character building? Do you ever feel like you'll never make it to the best sellers because you're ideas just aren't good enough?

Stop it. Taking a break is never a bad thing. I see so many people feel terrible when they give themselves a break. There's a difference between laziness and giving your brain a rest.

Trust me, no one has ever thought up the book you are writing right now.
Sure, there have been similar ideas. But that's to be expected. We look around and gain information and then put a twist on it. That's what writer's do. We gather, we put together, we create. Others use that same information to make their own work.

You shouldn't ever be hard on yourself.

Breaks need to happen.

When I first started writing novels (the full on, 100,000 words, 400 page novels), I was driven mad. It was hard to keep up with the ideas. I got bored. I got annoyed with the characters bugging me. I got frustrated every time I got a new idea that would change the whole plot line. So I would give up on the novel for a short while and then come back to it with the "greatest" ideas. Other times, I had to realize that I wasn't experienced enough to write that just yet.

And I used to think it was impossible to complete a full novel.

At that point in time, I quit. I figuratively threw away everything and didn't want to do it anymore. That only lasted a couple weeks, honestly. As I said above, writers are born. It is inside of you. The ideas bugged me. I just HAD to get them out.

Point of all that being, the short break I took helped me formulate even better ideas. And I know it's hard for you to just not write. When you're on vacation, you can't wait to get back to your hotel to write. When you're at school you'd rather write than learn quantum mechanics (okay, who wouldn't?). I know it's hard to take breaks. It's hard to relax as a writer when you have the nagging ideas that won't leave you alone. Writers are constantly thinking. It never stops.

Which is why it's good to take a break. I promise, you're fictional world won't explode (or implode) if you step away for a day.

Even if it's just taking a break from your epic fantasy or current four book series to write a couple short stories instead. Some R&R is needed. You deserve it. And it will help you with your novel. Take a breather, come back with some fresh eyes.


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