I'm rerunning this post from last winter while I launch my fall semester of online classes this week. Enjoy!
Over the years, despite thinking I was the only one, I've learned that almost everyone who writes, professional or not, faces a time-out occasionally.
Time-outs are just the creative self needing a break. Most are useful--they give us time for processing next steps in our writing. We can consider whether it's going where we want it to go, we can muse over a dilemma that needs heightening or a character that needs fleshing out. Every creative activity needs these kinds of time-outs, what some call "filling the well."
But getting started again--that's another story.
Over the years, despite thinking I was the only one, I've learned that almost everyone who writes, professional or not, faces a time-out occasionally.
Time-outs are just the creative self needing a break. Most are useful--they give us time for processing next steps in our writing. We can consider whether it's going where we want it to go, we can muse over a dilemma that needs heightening or a character that needs fleshing out. Every creative activity needs these kinds of time-outs, what some call "filling the well."
But getting started again--that's another story.