I’ve been taking a break from writing for the past few weeks. It was a combination of several things that led me to do it, the primary reason though was that I just needed a break. I’ve spent several weeks binge watching sci-fi shows on Netflix, and I’ve also been editing a cookbook for our neighbor that’s been an absolute nightmare and far more time consuming than I thought it would be when I first agreed to do it. I think I can get that off of my back this week however, and I’ve pretty much binge watched all the shows I wanted to on Netflix for the moment, so I should be getting back to writing by next week.
On a side note, during this time I’ve stopped being a hermit. Well, I kinda stopped being a hermit anyway. I joined a local writers group and I’ve been to a few meetups. I met some really nice people, which is unusual for me because I’m generally a very introverted person. I’m finding that I’m quite looking forward to the meetups now that I’ve gotten started with them, and it gives me a chance to have a little social interaction, which is something that’s extremely rare for me. I’m the sort of a person who doesn’t seek out social interaction, but neither do I shy away from it when it presents itself. Some social interactions are more pleasurable or welcome than others however. For example, how eager would you be to spend time with someone you had either nothing, or very little in common with? With no common interests, it becomes tiresome, and quite quickly turns into an exercise in patience rather than a pleasurable experience, which is why I tend to avoid most social interactions when I can, and why the writers group has been such a breath of fresh air for me. I’m actually getting to spend time with some very nice people who have a common interest.
Part of the reason I needed a break from writing was a lack of sleep. When you don’t get enough sleep, you can become quite foggy and confused, which can lead to forgetting important details in what you’ve already written. Obviously it’s bad to forget such details, because then you can get things out of order, or perhaps give one of your characters knowledge of something they weren’t involved with and shouldn’t have knowledge of. I really need to be better about getting enough sleep, and I’ve been trying to do just that. Unfortunately, my mind has other ideas. It’s one thing to be tired, but to get your brain to shut off, especially during the day, which is my usual sleep time, is practically impossible unless you’ve reached a point of exhaustion where you simply can’t stay awake anymore. Unfortunately, if you reach that point and then sleep for two hours before you wake up rather than sleeping for a good, solid seven or eight hours, then you spend much if your time with a mental heaviness weighing down on your consciousness that takes away your motivation to do much of anything, and the focus you’d need to do it properly, even if you did somehow manage to find the motivation.
Anyway, things should ease up on me after this week, so I’ll get back to writing the next book. I’m thinking there’ll be one more book after that, and from there I don’t know. I may leave it open ended so I can come back to it from time to time when the inspiration hits me, because the next book will be about Jake and Lana’s experiences from right before the invasion up until they reach that town in Utah where book 17 begins. At least, that’s the plan for now. Anyway, I’m gonna sit here and browse around while I try to wake up enough to find the motivation to do the stuff I need to get done, so that’s it for now. I’ll post another update when I’ve gotten back to writing again next week.
I’ve been taking a break…
I’ve been taking a break from writing for the past few weeks. It was a combination of several things that led me to do it, the primary reason though was that I just needed a break. I’ve spent several weeks binge watching sci-fi shows on Netflix, and I’ve also been editing a cookbook for our neighbor that’s been an absolute nightmare and far more time consuming than I thought it would be when I first agreed to do it. I think I can get that off of my back this week however, and I’ve pretty much binge watched all the shows I wanted to on Netflix for the moment, so I should be getting back to writing by next week.
On a side note, during this time I’ve stopped being a hermit. Well, I kinda stopped being a hermit anyway. I joined a local writers group and I’ve been to a few meetups. I met some really nice people, which is unusual for me because I’m generally a very introverted person. I’m finding that I’m quite looking forward to the meetups now that I’ve gotten started with them, and it gives me a chance to have a little social interaction, which is something that’s extremely rare for me. I’m the sort of a person who doesn’t seek out social interaction, but neither do I shy away from it when it presents itself. Some social interactions are more pleasurable or welcome than others however. For example, how eager would you be to spend time with someone you had either nothing, or very little in common with? With no common interests, it becomes tiresome, and quite quickly turns into an exercise in patience rather than a pleasurable experience, which is why I tend to avoid most social interactions when I can, and why the writers group has been such a breath of fresh air for me. I’m actually getting to spend time with some very nice people who have a common interest.
Part of the reason I needed a break from writing was a lack of sleep. When you don’t get enough sleep, you can become quite foggy and confused, which can lead to forgetting important details in what you’ve already written. Obviously it’s bad to forget such details, because then you can get things out of order, or perhaps give one of your characters knowledge of something they weren’t involved with and shouldn’t have knowledge of. I really need to be better about getting enough sleep, and I’ve been trying to do just that. Unfortunately, my mind has other ideas. It’s one thing to be tired, but to get your brain to shut off, especially during the day, which is my usual sleep time, is practically impossible unless you’ve reached a point of exhaustion where you simply can’t stay awake anymore. Unfortunately, if you reach that point and then sleep for two hours before you wake up rather than sleeping for a good, solid seven or eight hours, then you spend much if your time with a mental heaviness weighing down on your consciousness that takes away your motivation to do much of anything, and the focus you’d need to do it properly, even if you did somehow manage to find the motivation.
Anyway, things should ease up on me after this week, so I’ll get back to writing the next book. I’m thinking there’ll be one more book after that, and from there I don’t know. I may leave it open ended so I can come back to it from time to time when the inspiration hits me, because the next book will be about Jake and Lana’s experiences from right before the invasion up until they reach that town in Utah where book 17 begins. At least, that’s the plan for now. Anyway, I’m gonna sit here and browse around while I try to wake up enough to find the motivation to do the stuff I need to get done, so that’s it for now. I’ll post another update when I’ve gotten back to writing again next week.
By Duane • Uncategorized 0