Sometimes we get all caught up with research, plotting, and
writing to the point that we forget that the human side of us needs a break
sometimes. No matter how much we eat, live, and breathe writing, there comes a time
that we all need something different for a change. For some of us, we naturally
take periodic breaks to relax, read something fun, watch a fun movie, or take a
family vacation without the computer. Yeah, right. Not happening here either.
My poor human side gets very little time away from writing.
The time I do take usually still has something to do with writing in some form
or fashion. For example, I’m going on a long weekend out of town where I will
meet up with my writers group that I’m a member of and discuss writing as well
as catch up on how everyone is doing. I’ll also take some time to visit a
couple of friends that don’t write but always in the back of my mind is that
part of me that is cataloguing everything in case I can use it later in a book.
Even after I’ve visited with my friends, I’ll be going back
to my hotel room to write. I’d never get any sleep if I didn’t write some
before going to bed. It’s a habit so engrained in me now that if I try to break
it, I fear I’d go insane. What will happen when I’m too old to see well enough
to write or have such bad arthritis that I can’t hold a pen or use a keyboard?
My mind will slowly implode. Then again, maybe I’ll just go happily into that
amazing world inside my brain and live out the remainder of my days there.
The point is that if I didn’t do something to relieve some of
the constant pressure to write, write, write, I would go stale and my writing
would ultimately suffer. Just feeding my muse all the new things I find for it
isn’t enough. The human side of us has to be, well, human at times. Remember,
we might drive the obsessions, the passions, and the finance side of things,
but our human is only human and if he or she gets sick, we all suffer.
So remember to feed your human different ideas, experiences,
and other human interaction. Becoming a monk or, in my case, a hermit at times,
isn’t a good thing. As much as I would love to bury myself in a little cabin in
the woods with damn good satellite Internet but not much else, just so I could
write uninterrupted, it would eventually lead to my demise as an author and
ultimately as a human.
Find something that gets you out of your little hidey-hole at
least two or three times a year and take advantage of it. Keep your muse
looking and smelling fresh so that your writing remains exciting and unique to
you.
Marla Monroe
@MarlaMonroe1
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