How I spent my weeks off

I love to write. That may seem an obvious statement from someone who writes for a living, but believe me when I say, it’s not that apparent. I know several (would-be) authors who like the idea of writing a book more than actually writing it and others that don’t enjoy the process of writing a book at all but do it anyway. Many authors enjoy writing the first drafts but dislike editing or the other way around.

To be honest with you, I’m one of the latter. I’ve got so many story ideas in my head that I’d like to write them instead of fine-tuning my current WIP.

Anyway, the point is, I love writing; researching background information and outlining the plot for a new story (and series). Yet, as much as I love writing, my mind needs time to relax.

In the past few months, I worked on so many tasks that I didn’t take an actual break. Instead of taking time completely off, I reduced my scheduled workload some days, but I still worked every working day—and sometimes at the weekends, too.

There’s a school of thought that says authors must think about or work on their stories every day. I disagree. I believe our minds require variety, and, moreover, time to relax. We need to rest our minds to lessen the risk of burnout and increase our creativity.

That’s why I took time off from writing. Instead, I spent the past two weeks doing as little as possible—and it was hard. I had to fight the urge to work on writing-related tasks, even if they were small ones, like researching stuff.

That said, when I didn’t walk through the nearby park, I read through my gigantic pile of unread e-books and watched a lot of television. I watched Ted Lasso (I haven’t laughed so much in a long time), Rabbit Hole (so many twists I got whiplash), The Night Agent (predictable but enjoyable) and The Diplomat (Keri Russell as cussing US Ambassador to the UK is hilarious).

I also watched "The Gryphon", the German adaption of Wolfgang Hohlbein’s fantasy novel. I haven’t read the book, and after watching the series, I’m not inclined to start.

Anyway, now that I have given my brain a rest, I’m going to return to my normal writing schedule and finish Book Three in The Empath Series. As of today, I’m still on schedule for a fall release. I will reveal the name of the novel soon.

Buy "The Empath Series"

“The Empath Series” is a paranormal suspense series about a reclusive empath rejoining the world and the people he left behind. All three books are available on Amazon.

If you enjoy stories with a psychic investigator, serial killers, and an insolent dog, then you will love “The Empath Series”.