By mid-morning Saturday on most weekends, I am in a full-on panic that I’m not going to get enough writing done. And that’s because I’m not. Unless I finish a novel in a weekend, it’s not enough for me. Add to that the friends I need to see, parties I need to attend, cleaning I need to catch up on, good-mother stuff I need to do… so, yeah, weekends are stressful.
This weekend I decided to turn off for a while. Or, rather, my body decided I needed to sleep most of Saturday afternoon and then unwind with a silly movie with the kids Saturday night. No writing at all. By Sunday I was really feeling lousy about it. But, since the kids had been away, I also wanting to spend quality time with them. So off my daughter and I went to kayak on Overpeck Creek, not more than a mile away from the house.
But what happened? Besides a wonderful afternoon just laughing and spending time together (plus a nice sunburn – check out the last slide), I also came back totally clearheaded. And… guess what? That totally made writing easier. I had a productive afternoon. WHY do I forget that? I push myself so hard that I forget that sometimes relaxing is the best thing for creativity. You’d think I would know that but I’m sure there will be another astonished post from me two months from now in which I’m discovering this fact for the first time yet again. Argh. For a smart girl I sure do need to learn things over and over again.
PS – this past week I found a new focus (and a new title) for the project I’m writing. More news soon. I’m really excited about it.
PPS – I also played around with the website settings a bit. I got this new “slideshow” plugin and tested it out with the kayaking pictures. The goal is to use it for the new author pictures I’ll be taking next weekend and for revealing the cover options, which should also be happening soon.
I also updated the new mobile-friendly version of the site… go check it out on your smartphone!
As always, thanks for reading!
M
