Your feedback is proving to be a great inspiration for my writing. Like a siren, it sends out a glorious song that my muse doesn’t seem able to refuse. I wrote two chapters in the last week and started a third. Unfortunately, my personal monster – the doubt – also decided to make a comeback and I need your advice. Recently I’ve been finding it very easy to write. Not only that, writing seems to happen without much intervention on my part. Sometimes, I feel that somebody has uploaded all the information into my head and I’m simply relaying it onto computer screen. I’ve done some reading on the topic, but couldn’t find a definitive answer. There’s, of course, the infamous NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) approach where participants write 50,000 words in a month, though that’s not quite it. Still, there many published writers out there who insist that writing ‘on a single breath’ (as we Russians say) leads to plot stagnation and monotony in narrative. I would like to hear your opinion on the question. Is it necessary to take regular breaks while writing, even when you have plenty to write about?
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Taking regular breaks are paramount, especially if you’re writing while working fulltime. You might be feeling a certain writer’s high, but if you keep going at a pace too fast for you, then you’ll quickly burn yourself out. However, don’t forget that a break doesn’t mean a total withdrawal. Keep a notepad, or two, handy. Maybe even a voice recorder, if you can afford one. And jot down or record your ideas as they come to you. Take a note of everything. If an idea doesn’t seem to fit into the book you’re writing right now, you might be able to use it in your next book. I assume you are going to write more?
ReplyDeleteWhat break?! Write while you have something to write about. It’s much worse trying to write when you don’t know what to write (like an office report ;-) ). It hurts your brain. I don’t know about others, but personally I can’t fall asleep if I can’t find an answer and if I do fall asleep, I feel hangover like after a good party, but without the pleasant memories.
ReplyDeleteNever put off until tomorrow what you can avoid doing all together!
If a person is striving for success, they should plan. It’s not important what you’re doing as long as you know what you want to do and that you can realistically do it. Rest is extremely important, especially if you are doing few things simultaneously. But rest can be different. One person might feel an hour is enough, another will not be satisfied with a whole weekend. You should listen carefully to your own body. Don’t write when you don’t feel like writing, because it might badly affect the quality of your work.
ReplyDeleteRolling up your sleeves and getting your hands onto a problem gives you fifty percent of the solution. If you want to become a writer, you should remember one golden rule: Always rest your brain, but keep your writing hat on. Thoughts are like birds, they fly around all the time. The question is: Can you catch them?
ReplyDeleteFrom too much hard work even horses die.
ReplyDelete