A Breath of Fresh Air – How to Take a Break Without Braking
Honestly? I have been a bit sick of writing about the same subjects day in and day out. I try to take breaks, but it doesn’t really work out because I write for a living. As in, to pay bills. This is my job, and I certainly don’t hear other people talking about just not working for a day because they ‘just don’t feel like it’. (Okay, so plenty of people have pulled a sickie, but not on a consistent basis.)
So what is a poor, worn down, tired writer to do?
Keep writing, of course.
You would think that the natural solution to my predicament would be to just take a vacation and stop writing for a while. I have done that in the past, but that only makes it hard to get back into the swing of things when the vacation is over.
So how do you take a break from writing without putting the brakes on your writing?
The answer is so simple, and that’s probably why we forget it so easily: Write something different.
Here on 451press, many of the writers are getting together and breathing new life into each other’s blogs by guest posting. While I wasn’t exactly enthused with the idea at first, I wasn’t about to turn down guest posts for my sites and I felt like I should repay the gesture.
I am so incredibly glad I did.
By writing about different subjects for once, I regained my enthusiasm for blogging. I wrote not one but about ten posts for various sites, and it felt great! I remembered why I like writing and blogging so much.
So if you’re feeling a bit ‘sick and tired’ of what you’re working on, try something new! Be it a guest post (ahem), a writing prompt, or something else. Give your mind and your creativity a breath of fresh air without stopping writing.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Excellent advice! My sister and I do this regularly, exhaust a genre (poetry, fiction, reviews for me; painting, drawing, linocuts for her) and pull the old switcheroo. It’s a better solution than allowing burn-out. You never know when you’re going to wake up with a migraine!
July 14th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Thank you, Cheryl.
It’s always nice to switch it up every now and then to try something new. 