That is the question.
These last couple of weeks have been very unproductive. I hate it. Yeah, there have been reasons–moving apartments, sister’s graduation, coming home, etc. Worthless excuses–I should have been writing more, and I didn’t.
At the same time, taking a break every now and again is very important. Sometimes you just have to sit back and recharge your creative batteries–otherwise, you’ll overwork them and they’ll die. What better way to kill your productivity than that?
I noticed, back at the beginning of the month, that I needed a break. I produced about 85k words each month in June and July, and I’ve been sloshing through the middle of Bringing Stella Home 2.0 for some time now. Consequently, my creative brain seemed to shut down about two weeks ago (or at least switched to power-saving mode) and I haven’t been writing at a consistent rate since. Blargh.
So I know I need a vacation. I’ve needed it for some time. And now that I’m here in Massachusetts, heading to the cape on Saturday, I’ve got the perfect opportunity to relax and recharge my batteries.
Trouble is, if I stop writing altogether, will I lose momentum? Will it take me another week just to get back into the story? I’ve already lost so much productivity, it makes me feel disgusted. I need to be so much further along in this story than I am if I’m going to meet my (self-imposed) deadline.
So, I’m wondering–should I write while I’m on this vacation?
Of course, I’m not going to spend eight hours a day writing full time, the way I have been for most of this summer. I’m going to relax. But should I set a modest goal of 1k words a day while I’m there? I kind of think I should.
Don’t worry, though. I’m going to take time off for fun as well. I’ve been looking forward to this trip for a very long time!
As if writing weren’t fun enough already. 🙂
Speaking from experience–after Brandon’s class, and despite my high ambitions, once I “took a break,” it was over for me. Of course, I had many excuses as well–moving twice, preparing for graduate school, taking over at the house while my wife finished her thesis–but I know that I could have done more, and I only wrote once for like 2 hours. Moral of the story: Do something regular to keep the habit, or you won’t have the ability to start up again–especially once school starts.
Joe,
I have three hundred pages of a steam punk, sci-fi novel written. It’s about people that draw magical powers from flowers. It’s an awesome idea I came up with. An idea which is wholly thought up by, and unique to myself.