It’s Okay To Take a Break

Today, we have a special guest for you.  Claire Banschbach has graciously agreed to share some of her thoughts here on my blog.  I love her blog and she has some great insights.  Like today’s, by chance.  I’m all too familiar with it.

So without further ado—CLAIRE!

Howdy!

Today I want to talk about something I’ve struggling with as a writer. I think we’ve all experienced this at some point. You finally have time from your busy schedule. You have a billion writing projects piling up on your computer and in notebooks. You know the next plot point. You can’t wait to sit down and write. And then, you sit down and find you don’t want anything to do with writing. You feel guilty. You have all this time. Your characters have probably been frozen mid-action for weeks! But you just don’t have the desire to do anything about it. Let me tell you what I discovered.

It’s okay to take a break.

Yep. You might think “but I’m a writer! I must write! Whole worlds depend on me!”

I had this epiphany a few months ago. I was in the middle of a busy semester, but I finally had a break from tests and assignments coming up. Leading up to the break, I was overflowing with story ideas and itching to open those documents to start writing away because I’d actually have some time to fully dedicate to writing. But once my last test was over, I immediately came down with a bad case of lethargy. I barely had the energy to do anything. I lost all interest in my stories. I truly felt guilty. I did the bare minimum on some projects that had deadlines approaching. For two weeks, I basically didn’t touch anything. Instead I sat down and read other books. I caught up on my TV shows. I actually *gasp* hung out with my family. I blogged about my problem and the response was what I’m telling you now.

It’s okay to take a break.

If you’re like me, writing is an escape, a chance to have an adventure away from ordinary life. But sometimes you need to rediscover yourself. Get out from behind the computer, take out the earphones, and let your overactive imagination rest.

So I took a break over those two weeks and guess what? I wanted to write again. I worked on a project and felt happy. And now I’m back to the regularly scheduled insanity and high stress levels that comes with grad school and dreaming about all the stories I’ll write when I have time.

Don’t worry if you’re stuck in writer’s limbo right now. Take a step back and trust that the words will come when they’re ready. I promise they will. You are a writer, after all.

 

I’m a Physical Therapy Student and a published author. I blog about writing and surviving grad school at The Overactive Imagination.

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