Don’t forget *not* to write

I know, I know, I’ve blogged about this before, but it’s always worth repeating, because we writers are often our own worst enemies.

Sometimes I get so into the groove of writing or revising one of my projects that I just keep going for weeks on end, and let other things fall by the wayside.  Which is fine, especially if I really want to make a significant dent in my progress.  Thing is, sometimes I do this for a little too long, and I’ll either burn out or I’ll lose track of other important things.

So this past Saturday, instead of doing any writing, we went on a short road trip down the coast to Half Moon Bay for brunch and a little bit of shopping, and followed it up with watching the first two Star Wars prequels.  We hadn’t seen The Phantom Menace since it came out, and neither of us had seen Attack of the Clones.  [Our post-movie thoughts: TPM had promise but suffered from horrifically bad dialogue and lifeless acting; AotC was miles better and actually quite enjoyable, if overlong and with a few questionable plot choices.  We plan on watching Revenge of the Sith sometime this week.  Noted, we’re watching these for a panel we’ve devised for BayCon in a few weeks!]

Taking a day off from writing is always a good choice, for multiple reasons.  One, every now and again it feels good not to have to worry about hitting a self-imposed deadline or word count.  I’m allowed a fun day off now and again, right?  Two, this is a perfect time for me to switch from Writer/Editor Brain over to Reader Brain.  Time to kick back, enjoy a story.  Be moved or inspired by a novel or movie.  Three, I get to be social with other people, including my wife.  Four, it reminds me that even though I might find the writing process thrilling and immensely enjoyable, there are other things out there that are equally as enjoyable.  Like going to the local zoo!

I think I’ve managed to get the the point in my life where I’m okay if I take a day off now and again.  Writer that I am, I’ll most likely still think about whatever I’m working on, but in a passive way, making mental notes for later.  It’ll still be there when I get back in a day or so.