“God, this job is boring. I wonder when we break for lunch . . .”
Happy Labor Day, everybody! It’s time to celebrate all the hard-working men and women that really, really need to take a break or they are going to lose it completely one of these days. Let’s face it: as a nation, America works too hard. The economy is yucky, we have more responsibilities than ever, and fun time often gets put on the back burner. And while writing isn’t exactly “hard labor,” struggling with a manuscript certainly takes a mental toll.
I hope you have today off to take some time for yourself. But even if you don’t, it’s important to get regularly re-inspired with your writing, book, or life in general. Below are some of my favorite ways to do so. I hope some of them work for you.
How to reinvigorate your love for writing and life
- Get into nature. Then get back out before it bites you, or starts raining.
- Take a break from your project. Don’t write every day. Gasp! Yes, I said it. Your MS will not disintegrate in Word if you skip a day. They disabled that feature.
- Play with your kids. It’s hard to love them when they’re viewed as the disease writus-interuptus. Which, granted, they can be.
- What gave you the idea for your MS? A movie? Re-watch it. A book? Re-read it. In fact, just spend a day watching movies, reading books, and shoveling popcorn into your mouth.
- Make it low-fat popcorn if the thought of having too much fun brings guilt.
- Draw.
- Paint.
- Dance.
- Sing.
- Play board games.
- Play with your pets.
- Play board games with your pets. Since they don’t have opposable thumbs, it’s only fair to let them win.
- Write in a journal. Do not write about writing. Unless you want to. But try not to. You’re taking a break, remember?
- I’m adding “14″ here just so I don’t end on an unlucky number. Insert your own tip here.
Final thoughts on the “labor” of writing
A lot of people say you can’t just wait for inspiration to strike, that you have to press on through your writing anyway. But I think that’s bunk. If you can actively find ways to re-inspire yourself, the writing (and living!) process is automatically easier.
But what do you think? How do you re-invigorate yourself when your motivation and energy flag–for writing or other things? Let me know in the comments.
(Top image by Biblio Archives/Library Archives)