Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73
People I know are often a little staggered at my writing. “I don’t know how you do it.” “How are you always so productive?” “How do you get it all done?”
A lot of determination and discipline. But sometimes, even I need a break.
So it was yesterday afternoon. I’d got a few “free” hours of writing time Saturday. I’ve been slogging through editorial comments on Every Other Monday is Murder, which I hoped were going to be along the lines of tightening and instead have occasioned another major rewrite (I’m certain I’ve got three Tuesdays in one particular week, but I’m so brain dead I can’t keep it straight – next round). Then I tested at taekwondo Saturday night (I passed, by the way, last midterm in the can), and closed down Red Robin with a group of friends (seeing as I was a free agent that night with hubby and one kid away, other kid tucked at home being all artsy and stuff).
Sunday I was, well, exhausted. Physically and mentally. The weather has turned cool again. Which I love, but it really made me just want to go back to bed. I couldn’t bear the thought of more revisions. Time for a break, I thought. So I built a fire, grabbed Truth Be Told, and snuggled in for a nice read.
The book is fantastic. You should go read it. But I digress.
By the time I’d finished for the day, I was less than sixty pages from the end (I’d not even been at the 25% mark when I started). Then the hubby and I watched an episode of “Lewis” and I went to bed. Wasted, lazy day, right?
Wrong.
I woke up this morning and, while letting the hot water of the shower get me awake, thought “Hey, what if…” Essentially, by the time I arrived at work, I’d come up with a whole new ending for the book that is different, but the same as what I’ve already written.
And I think it’s better.
Lesson learned: Take time to recharge. Read your favorite author, watch some good TV. Let the ideas stew a while. It’s like a set of rechargeable batteries. You can go great guns for a while, but sooner or later you need to put them back in the charger because sure, they might still have a little juice left, but everything is sluggish. Things will run much better when you give them a little recovery time.
Today? Slap those batteries back in their rightful place, baby. I’m ready to write.
Image courtesy of Pete Slater and used under Creative Commons license.
No argument here. Sometimes those old batteries have to be re-charged. And isn’t odd the way those great ideas happen in the shower. I’ve been known to take two of three showers in a day just to get the creative juices flowing.