Comments on: More on Allowing Yourself Not to Write

By: David B. Coe

David B. Coe — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:01:52 +0000

Thanks, Kelly. It’s true: I write more efficiently and more effectively when on an even keel. That’s not to say that I don’t sometimes channel emotional pain and stress into my creativity, but I need a bit of distance before I can do it.

By: Kelly McCullough

Kelly McCullough — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:19:25 +0000

Very wise, David. It’s important to remember the normal impediment as well as the extraordinary ones. Especially since successful writing and good mood is such a one-to-one correlation for most of us.

By: More on Allowing Yourself Not To Write At Sf Novelists

More on Allowing Yourself Not To Write At Sf Novelists — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:53:20 +0000

[...] do other stuff. That’s okay. The writing will be there when the other crap goes away. …Continue Reading Cancel [...]

By: David B. Coe

David B. Coe — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:04:19 +0000

Hi John. Sorry — your comment posted after Dave’s for some reason. Yes, there are those the times when it’s just impossible to fit it all in. And kids should take precedence. Characters stay just as they are while you’re away doing other things. But kids grow up way, way too fast….

By: David B. Coe

David B. Coe — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:09:06 +0000

Dave, I usually take most of Sat and Sun off. I have too much other stuff to do — family, house stuff, etc. — to work all the time. Writing for me is a job, a job I love, to be sure, but a job nevertheless. I need my weekends for me. So yeah, taking time off is an excellent idea.

By: NewGuyDave

NewGuyDave — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:09:38 +0000

David,
I find that sometimes a short break is what makes me most productive. I usually take Sundays off, though not always. On those Mondays after a Sunday break, my writing is usual crisp and fluid, the words arrive less struggle, and they often need less revisions.

I’ve often wondered if my quality and productivity would be better if I didn’t write Mon-Sat and instead wrote Mon-Wed and Fri-Sat with breaks on Thursday and Sunday. I know they’ve experimented with a mid-week break in Japan as a way of improving employee productivity (and cutting costs), but I’m not sure how it would work for a new writer who has a long way to go to reach their 1,000,000 words of crap.

Maybe I’ll experiment with that and let you know how it goes.

Cheers,
Dave

By: John Rea-Hedrick

John Rea-Hedrick — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:35:41 +0000

David,

Sometimes I can go days without even those short little snatches of writing time during lunch while at my day job or on the weekends between any number of activities in a home with four children under 13. Not that I would trade any of it, of course.

Thanks again for the encouragement!

By: David B. Coe

David B. Coe — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:59:25 +0000

Lisa, first off, I hope that the flooding ends soon, and that you (or your loved one) came through the surgery in good shape. I beat myself up about not writing all the time — I need to take my own advice to heart. I’ve had a series of colds/respiratory infections this winter that I haven’t been able to shake entirely. I’d probably be better off resting for a few days and not working. But I have a deadline looming and I cant make myself take the time off.

We all struggle with this. I absolutely get down on myself when I don’t write. But there really are more important things in life than work — Family, friends, health, love, laughter…. I could go on.

Hope the universe gives you a break sometime soon!

By: LJCohen

LJCohen — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:38:46 +0000

David–you could have written this post for me today. And I thank you for it. In the midst of one of those ‘perfect storm’ times in a life, which culminated in a flooded basement last weekend, with more rain on the way today and tomorrow. Oh, and an emergency appendectomy to spice things up a few weeks before that. . . and. . . and. . .

You get the picture.

I am working hard to *not* beat myself up about the writing, while the universe has taken my attention to other things.

I know the words and the stories will be there and I know all about focus and dedication to the craft. Still, it’s hard not to feel like some kind of loser for not being able to put words on a page.