I hear constantly from fellow writers that they have trouble carving out time to write. Or they have the time, but they’re often swamped by writer’s block.
I seem to be the opposite. I have lots of time (in theory at least) to write and I rarely have writer’s block (too many years of being a writer, both as a newspaper journalist and as a published author, have mostly inoculated me against this).
At the moment, I’m trying to give myself a writing break, mostly because the timing is perfect. I handed in my latest manuscript to my publisher in late May and there’s no rush to start another novel. I busied myself this spring with a sizable freelance writing project and other paid work. Summer is here now and, well, that’s the perfect time to kick back and enjoy, right?
Right. And yet and it’s so damned hard not to write fiction, not to start that next novel, especially when I know what it’s going to be about (mostly). The truth is, I feel bored, empty, bereft, when I don’t have a novel or fiction project on the go.
When I’m in the thick of writing a novel and am facing deadlines, I whine about being too busy, about not having time to do anything else. I dream of crossing that finish line, so that I can relax and do some other things, bump up other priorities. And yet… what do I do as soon as I finish my novel? I feel directionless, and worse, guilty. Also… a little scared. Even though I’ve been writing fiction for many years, I worry that if I take more than a month or two off, I might forget how to write. Or I might lose my motivation to start that next book.
Ah, yes, you see? There’s always some kind of angst ready to knock down us writers at the tiniest whiff of self-doubt or guilt or boredom. To counter all of that, I’ve decided to try to strike a balance this summer. I’m enjoying more sunsets, I’ve rejoined a gym (which was LONG overdue), I’m reading books on my back deck or patio in my zero gravity chair, but I’m also writing a few pages here and there for my next novel, without imposing a deadline for myself (by end of summer I’ll set a deadline to have it finished).
So here’s to enjoying summer AND keeping one hand on the keyboard!
