The Value of Taking a Break From Writing

Writers are under more pressure than ever to produce, produce, produce, not only because of the way book sales drop off a few months after an initial release, but also because social media has created an atmosphere where people see consistent sharing as necessary for good visibility in the midst of growing content noise. The old unspoken expectation that a writer should push through writer’s block as quickly as possible still is present, too.

But sometimes, giving yourself permission to take a creative break can be a good thing for your writing. I give details why in this video.

[Transcript summary]

Hi, everybody. Wanda Thibodeaux of takingdictation.com here, and what I want to talk to you about today is the importance of creative breaks.

Now, I think we’re a little resistant to that as writers. If we think we have word block, we’re just like, “No, no.” We don’t like the idea of not being able to produce content and be creative. But what I have found — I’ll just explain. I have three websites that I’m running. I’m doing work for clients. I run my podcast. So, I am constantly putting out content. And what happens if you don’t take those breaks and just let yourself not for a while, is that, over time, the writing and the craft starts to feel like, ick, like, not like, it’s work, and that’s all it is. So, the joy just kind of sucks out of it.

But if you take those creative breaks, you’re able to step back every once in a while and keep the joy of what you’re doing alive. So, I really just encourage you, when you start kind of feeling like you’re a little bit burned out, listen to that. And it is okay to step back and just not be on your manuscripts for a while. That is okay. And I promise you that when you come back to those, you’ll be on them better than ever. I promise you, with just that little bit of rejuvenation that you’re going to get. Take care, everybody. Bye.