*Hands you a weedwhacker and a flamethrower.* How’s the NaNo project going, bunky? Feeling a little overwhelmed? Struggling? In the weeds?
Stop.
No, I don’t mean stop writing, I mean stop worrying. No one’s going to kill you if you don’t get the book done, and the worrying and stressing IS killing your creativity.
Write. The. Book.
Don’t edit along the way, don’t go back and read. (And please, for the love of all that’s sacred, do NOT plan on uploading that bitch to KDP on December 1!)
In fact, take a break.
You heard me, rest the brain for a day. Read. Watch a movie. Do SOMETHING. The old adage about you need to replenish the well is CORRECT. Take it from someone who does this for a dang living, you MUST take a break sometimes. Even if you don’t want to. I know that flies in the face of everything, but every professional author will admit that they need a mental health break from time to time. You can’t run on an empty tank.
Here are a few books I really enjoy that if you feel you can’t take a “break,” you can at least use the excuse that you’re still “working” by reading about the craft.
How to Write Dazzling Dialogue: The Fastest Way to Improve Any Manuscript
Write Great Fiction – Plot & Structure
Elements of Fiction Writing – Conflict and Suspense
**takes weedwhacker** thank you! I’m desperately need this! My characters are trapped in first accidental date hell and need to be rescued….I am thinking a small kitchen fire…..see?!? Making a break to read this worked! I bow to your genius…..lol! Methinks, Tymber!
***thanks, Tymber…..stupid autocorrect!
@Tracey – LOL You’re welcome. 🙂 Hey, pull out a gun or blow something up, that always works. 🙂
Hear! Hear! From someone who routinely does 50K a month – usually times two – I applaud this entire post. If you don’t take a break once in a while and stop stressing over how much you did…when you did it…whether or not you did it… you will make yourself sick and then your body and the Universe will FORCE you to take a break. If writing isn’t fun, you’re doing it wrong. 🙂
I applaud everyone who is participating in NaNoWriMo!
As someone who can’t even write to paragraphs for the photo inspiration challenges (and I’ve tried), I am in awe of everyone who is participating.
Kudos to you all!