I return from the grave!
Mar 15, 2011 
Only hopefully not, you know, zombified or anything.
So this blog has been a bit of a ghost town lately, to the point where it took me fifteen minutes to remember my password. Whoops. It’s been a weird couple of months, and unfortunately I don’t have much of a better explanation! For one thing, though, I’ve been buried in revisions, which for me involves of a lot of self-loathing “What the heck were you thinking?!” I know this is not the healthiest approach. Me and my internal editor are working on being nicer to each other. It’s a process. 😉
I’m feeling more than a bit ragged lately, so I’m thinking that for the next week or two, I’m going to spend taking a bit of a break to recharge. Lots of reading, going for walks, playing (gasp!) the video game releases stacking up and waiting for me, and did I mention LOTS of reading–in the time I would normally be working on writing.
I’m still writing a bit every day with my CP Amie on the collaborative novel we’re writing (blog post for another day!) so technically it’s not a full stop. That said, for me, writing with someone else is a completely different experience than writing by myself, and working on this project helps me feel productive while the rest of my stuff is sticking a bit. Creative productivity plays a huge role in my happiness levels, so working with Amie keeps me from being unproductive and sad while still able to take a break from my own creative pursuits.
So here’s my question for you all…what do you do when you need a break, not necessarily from your work or home life like a vacation, but from the creative life? It’s hard to shut down that part of the brain whether you’re on vacation or not–it keeps sputtering and trying to give me ideas, a machine coughing exhaust fumes and crying, “Wait, wait, I can do better!” How do I shut that engine off for some much needed maintenance work? What do you guys do?
(You can tell I’ve been revising TIW… everything is a machine analogy.)
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Welcome back Meagan! Glad to know I’m not alone with the ”what the heck were you thinking” problem 🙂
I think you’re off to a good start even admitting you need a break. It’s hard to turn the creative brain off completely, I think you need to just ease into it and not expect to feel refreshed over night!
I also read when I need a break. There are soooooo many good books out right now, and it reminds me why I’m writing, and how awesome good stories are! I also bake. One can never have too many homemade brownies 🙂
Ooh, baking! Our house is under renovation (still) so we have no kitchen until April at the earliest. No oven! Still, I might sneak over and steal a friend’s kitchen for an afternoon or something.
Mmm… brownies…
I was wondering where you went… As for shutting off the creative mind? Uh….
… >.>
Yeah, that! XD
Hopefully I’m back!
Hah, yeah… guess it’s wishful thinking! 😛