Bwah! I am be return! < (Yes, I know that’s not proper English, it’s a reference, you don’t have to get it.) So my blogophiles, bloglolites, bloglings, and fellow readers of this blargh, sup?

Today I’m going to talk about taking time off for yourself. Because guess what? Authors are not superheroes, they, we, us, yous guys, get worn out. We do. It happens, we’re human. So what do you do then? You take time off. It’s okay. Yes it’s great to write everyday, but life happens, and sometimes it doesn’t care about your writing plans. You get strung out and worked up, frazzled, pushed to the neurotic edge and you’re itching to punch someone, or hyperventilate. Why settle? Do both! But, you’re left in a tizzy, a daze, and it’s fine. Ssssh there little author, tis fine. Take a day or two off. Recharge your batteries. This is a permission post.

You have my permission to relax and recover, okay? So do it. Read a book, that’s still writing practice. It’s the only apprenticeship we have. It’s like Skyrim, you can’t be a master black smith making a million iron daggers….well you can… but no one wants a million iron daggers. You got to read other things, and just read, and have fun. Make an orcish warhammer, read a new novel. Same thing, right? My point being, sometimes you need down time to let the ole brainpan untangle itself and see things in a new way. Maybe a new book will give you new ideas, show you a new way to write something. It happens. Trust me. Writing is not supposed to be a grind.

Stephen King said it best, “Writing is not life, it’s a way back to life.” It’s a part of life, not life. That’s true. Authors write about life, but we have to have one to do that. You have to experience and live it to narrate one. Now this is now a write what you know bit. I’m not saying you need to live a dragon slaying life to write about that. But you need to live so you can properly translate whatever emotions you do want to convey—onto paper. So take time off, when in a daze, take days off. It’s not as bad as you think. The whole, I’ll lose momentum thing is a mindset, a writers block. It’s not real. I used to think that until I realized, hey, I’m making my story up anyways, I don’t know the next bit now, but if I write, I’ll figure it out. Why wouldn’t that be true two or three days from now if I took a break?

See my point. And if you have an outline, then what’s your excuse for worrying? It’s life. If you make it up, you’re making it up anyways, you don’t need to worry about two days off. You didn’t have the next bit anyways. Nothing is magical about writing on Saturday, if you miss it, so what? Relax, come back maybe Monday, then make it up. Hmmm?

So take time off when you need to, write hard when you can, remember to enjoy life. Writing is part of it, so make sure you’re in tip top shape to write when you can. Yes writing everyday is awesome, I want to do it too. Sometimes, I just can’t. Even authors who claim to do it, have off days, they just do. I mean, disasters happen. Stress occurs. It’s life. Live it. Writing is flexible, it’s here for you always, that’s its job. So breathe. Write. Take time off and come back ready to whoop your word counts butt. Okay?