And speaking of Alex, his publisher is running a special on the first book in his bestselling space opera series, CassaStar. Only .99 for a short period. I'm giving my personal recommendation though warning you that you'll want the next books too.
Earlier this week, I read this post by my friend, Sharon Ledwith. She read my mind. I recently finished my local writing group's 50/50 challenge. The rules are to write at least 50 words a day for fifty days straight. Fifty words is a pretty small number but the objective is to get in the habit of writing every day and most participants write many more words than the minimum. It is a great exercise and not near as demanding at NaNo. It carried me through more than half of my latest WIP even though I also had to spend some time on edits for two other books during the fifty days. I have a plan to finish this book by the start of 2016. But I need a break.
Between helping my husband do his paint job, doing all the outside work to prepare for winter, Thanksgiving, and all the social events of having the family home, I've been really busy. I haven't even had time to read. Cooking, cleaning, shopping, transporting and a million other things have taken up every minute of the day. It's tough to be creative when you're overworked with other responsibilities. So like Sharon suggested, I'm taking a vacation. My husband and I are going away for just two days, today and tomorrow, but we're going to just enjoy ourselves without worry about writing, painting or money. The last tuition payment has been made and we've even started some minor house repairs. And now we're taking the time to enjoy ourselves even if only for two relaxing days.
Many writers advise others to write every day, but we also need to recharge. Take time to read, exercise, and take vacations. I will probably have moments of guilt because I'm letting my characters hang until I get back to them. I might feel some guilt about not visiting as many IWSGers today as I usually do on the first Wednesday. But I'm going to have fun and then I'll get back to work.
Have you read CassaStar yet? Do you write everyday? Do you need a vacation? Are you wrapping up your plans for 2015?
30 comments:
I took a break over Thanksgiving week. Took one in October when my daughter was here. We need breaks as do our families.
I took a break over Thanksgiving as well. Glad you and your husband can take a break together.
Thanks for plugging CassaStar's sale!
Hi Susan - enjoy that/this break ... good for you. It's good to take stock and get ready - then you can hit the 'go' button again. You've been doing lots too - cheers Hilary
Breaks are wonderful and very much needed. The writing comes when the writing comes. Don't sweat it. You'll be awesome on the upswing. Enjoy your break! :)
A vacation is fine indeed, no matter the job a vacation is always needed. 50 words a day? haha my blog posts would cover that.
Enjoy the break! We all need to recharge now and then.
Good for you for taking a break! Hope you and your hubby have a great time in doing so!
betty
If we don't stop and fill our cup, our well will run dry. Go and enjoy your vacation.
I just gave this advice to someone else. I'm the worst when it comes to taking time off, but I come back so much stronger when I take a couple of days off.
Enjoy! We'll be here when you get back.
We even need vacations from the things we love. Good luck recharging!
I've started using TOOGL and what a difference. Even if it's only 15 minutes on each project, I feel as if I'm really accomplishing things. Things I meant to do last year and didn't. Taking time off is part of the equation. You need to replenish yourself. Susan, you should ALWAYS come first!
Sometimes we all need a break. I hope you enjoy yours! Thanks for all you do for IWSG!
Good for you. Everyone needs breaks. If we don't take one, we run ourselves into the ground.
It's so hard to keep up on writing through the holidays with everything else that's going on. I feel guilty for not getting as much done as I had hoped, but I'm trying not to feel too guilty...to enjoy the holiday season with family and friends. I could use a vacation, but my next vacation will be time off for the birth of my second child early next year, so it won't exactly be relaxing. Haha.
I just came off a two week break. Now it's time to get busy.
Great post Susan, I already have Alex's book, thought it was excellent.
I usually take a break from writing when I honestly don't feel well enough.
A good idea doing fifty words a day for fity days, will see how that goes.
Yvonne.
Have fun with your husband. I hope you can get some reading done (or not ;). It's always good to have some recharge time. It's like with exercise. If you don't take time off, you can hurt yourself.
Thanks for the post, Susan. I'm just back from a long weekend in Venice; I always wondered whether it would live up to the hype and for me, the answer was - absolutely!! I needed that break, though! Now back to getting ready for Christmas, and editing.... and writing, which is always easier to do than editing or cleaning!!
Enjoy your break. Sounds like you have been very overworked lately.
I've been recharging for too long, a couple years I think. I like the 50 or 100 words a day challenges. Hmm, perhaps that should be my 2016 goal.
Oh, I know the feeling all too well. I've been doing a lot of paid editing lately, which is a very different beast from WIP writing. I need to get into a mental space to do both. I definitely think we need time to just do nothing, even if only a couple of days, because we get to reflect and refresh. Good luck with your writing and everything else that's going on.
Enjoy your mini vacation! I'd love one myself, but that won't happen for a long time. I try to write every weekday, but weekends are chaotic!
Vacation? What's a vacation? ;)
I took a wri-cation where I camped out in my garage for a week to escape the kids. My husband kept them out of my hair and I got some writing done. Not a whole lot of off time and recharging, but I did get words down!
I'm going to try a 500 word per day sprint through the rest of the year and see how that works. I sure haven't done anything to brag about lately.
I'm also taking a bit of a break from writing at the moment, because the rest of my life caught up with me at last.
Sometimes, it's better to rest. (Although part of my mind still needs convincing of this.)
There is nothing like a break to recharge our creative muscles. Taking the time to rest or to have some fun is always a good idea.
There is nothing like a break to recharge our creative muscles. Taking the time to rest or to have some fun is always a good idea.
I'm trying a 30-day voice journalling exercise aimed at pinpointing the MC's voice in my latest story. It's basically freewriting exercises in response to prompts.
Amongst all that stuff will be little nuggets that shape the MC's character/motivations.
Enjoy your brief hiatus.
Enjoy your two day vacation! We so badly need to do that. I do get to have a writing trip for just myself, maybe in January. Looking forward to it.
Here's hoping the new year slows down for you a bit.
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