I used to think that only long breaks from my work in progress could have a detrimental impact. I’m quickly coming to understand that short breaks come at a cost too.
Longer breaks usually result in the overall breakdown in my ability to create. Not just inserting myself back into a WIP, but into any piece of writing. Even creating this post would be a struggle to scrape together. It’s like going back to basics. Shorter breaks are like a stick getting stuck in the spokes of a wheel. It stops the momentum completely.
Up until two weeks ago, I was making steady progress through a writing project. Checking in with it daily, even just for a little bit. That slowed down to every other day, every third day; until it had been almost 5 days since had last spent time in my story. Now that I’ve sat down to continue, I feel lost.
I’m still able to create. I’m not lost for words. But I have lost a grasp of the story that, not too long ago, was burning inside me. Here I am, purposefully making the time to sit and work on a story and it’s just not happening.
Reading over what I have already written, I feel disconnected from the voice I was using. I know I can fix this. I need to read over all the notes I have created so far, immerse myself in the vibe, and it will come back. But it’s the regressive nature of it that eats me.
Working on my writing is not as passive as it used to be. I have to intentionally make time for it. I struggle to concentrate at home and choose to work in coffee shops. It works out amazingly well; not just for the project but for my mood as well. It feels like a waste of effort to be sitting here and doing anything other than work on my story. And the worst part is that I can only blame myself.
I allowed the slowdown to begin. I didn’t push myself on the days that I didn’t feel in mood or when I could be bothered. And once you miss one day it becomes easier to miss another and another. Don’t get me wrong, there will be times when I can’t spend time at a coffee shop. Like on days when works runs longer or if, like earlier this week, there was a family emergency and I’m needed at home. But it’s the days I can and choose not to that create the distance between the story and me.
I guess this is just my attempt at offering further encouragement to be disciplined and to remind whoever is reading this that we make our own decisions. If we choose not to work on our passion when we can, we only have ourselves to blame.
xoxo