Weekends and Holidays

Coming up is one of the most special holidays of the year: Easter.

Over 46 years, I've had some time to accumulate several Easter memories. Dawn church services, family dinners, egg hunts, Biblical epic movies and occasionally watching the NCAA women's basketball finals.

One thing I do not remember from any Easter is writing. Why not? Because it is a holiday. Whether I was employed as a sportswriter or working as a novelist, I needed a break from the routine. Easter is, first and foremost, a day for Christians to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but at the same time it is a day of rest from our regular work.

But I don't need rest on only a handful of holidays throughout the year. In order to be a better writer, I need rest on regular occasions.

That's not to say the key to being a writer to always take breaks from being a writer. But I've never found that writing seven days a week helped me very much. I usually need at least one day a week away from the notepads and computer screens, and with that extra rest, six days of writing become more effective than seven.

There are those who disagree with me, and feel they need to push forward on their current manuscript every day. If you have a deadline with a publisher, that may be true. But if that deadline is still distant, or if you are an independent writer, I can't say I recommend that approach. Too often, it is a recipe for early burnout.

Imagine people who work in other fields trying to work seven days a week nearly all year. Whether it's a produce clerk at the grocery store or a engineer at the office building downtown. If someone is there Sunday through Saturday, it will ultimately wear down at their production, to say nothing of how it might distract them from other areas of their life.

The same thing applies to writers. Your writing may need to be consistent, but not all-consuming.

But even when you do have your five or six days a week when you do write, you are also allowed to take a break from the actual "writing" then. Some days, or even weeks or months, writers want to push forward on their story but don't feel like actually typing the 200, 500 or 1,000 words in a day that they expect of themselves. At some point, it has to be done. But, that is not the only way be moving forward.

Some days, the best thing you can do for writing is not actually adding words but not resting, either. Some days, you need to research an area of your story that needs more detail. Some days, you need to read someone else's book on writing strategies. Some days, you need to talk to your writing buddy about the challenges you're facing. Some days, you need to brainstorm for that tricky scene in chapter 31 that haven't quite figured out yet.

These actions won't immediately add to your word count, but they are pushing your project forward. Don't feel like the only way for you to reach your personal finish line to type everyday.

Next week: In the spirit of taking time off, there will be no blog entry on Easter Monday.

Two weeks from now: Inspirations from anywhere