Being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane asylum.

- Graycie Harmon

Monday, July 19, 2010

The Value of Rest

Hi all!

My last post on Friday was brief (I'm sure you're all glad) and made a single point - I'm taking the day off.

Quite usually when I say that, my minds ceases for all of three seconds before it launches into overdrive and I find myself frenetically typing the latest scrap of an idea down... for six hours straight. Friday however was different.

I did indeed take the day off writing, or illustrating, or anything at all to do with The Dying God or any other work I have currently in 'the cycle.' I didn't even edit. All I did was rest. My mind remained quiet, my hands were still and suddenly I could breathe again.

The pace I had been keeping until Friday could only be described as 'break-neck.' I know a good number of you won't understand or appreciate the amount of work that writing, editing or illustrating can be. Some of you may see someone drawing and harken back to the age of three (or any really young age) and imagine it to be just fun. While drawing is fun, it takes a great deal of intense focus. Like writing, it is as frustrating as it is rewarding. And yes, it is hard work.

So, taking a break is sometimes necessary - even if the work seems like recreation to some.

I needed that break of Friday. It continued on into Saturday (the majority of which I was asleep - I don't know what came over me, but I slept a lot Saturday) and right through to Sunday. Sunday night, my brain switched back on, and the floodgates that held the ideas back burst open. I barely slept for everything whizzing through my mind.

That means today, it's business as usual. Working on The Dying God means that all the other ideas that raced through my head last night will have to wait. They've been parcelled off into little boxes in my mind. Right now, I have to do the last illustration for the anthology. I don't know what I'm going to draw yet, but it will come to me. Thus, without boring you about my sleepy weekend any further, I shall leave it here and get to work.

Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

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