Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Many of you are either smack dab in the middle of Spring break or getting ready for it. If you have school age children you are even more aware of this pause in our regular schedule. For a writer it can be a bit unnerving to break routine, especially if the writing is at that point where the words tumble out on the page.
We all know about ramp time. It’s that slow, gotta-get-going time at the beginning of a project as we head up the ramp to peak productivity. And there’s ramp time as we slow down to take a break or begin to move toward finishing a project– the off ramp. Many of us begrudge these starts and stops because we know what it costs us in productivity.
But today, I want to make the case for taking that break, despite the cost in productivity. Here are just four things a break can do for you:
Refresh— Time away from the task at hand refreshes our outlook. We see things differently after stepping back. Hopefully, we’ve spent time with those we enjoy. We’ve talked and listened and come away with a fresh way to look at the task at hand.
Restore— Our break should also include time to rest and time to enjoy the people around us. Good times together, good food, great fun. . . all of this will help refresh our work when we get back to it.
Refuel— If we are writers, we are also readers. Our breaks ought to provide time to read, read, read. Nothing will enhance our own work more than filling up with books and stories.
Reinvent— Sometimes we need to reinvent ourselves or our project. We need distance to do this. Your break will give you that chance.
I’m taking a week off after Easter to spend with family. I fully plan to refresh, restore, refuel and reinvent. How about you? What restores you? Do you need a long break or will a few hours or a good nap do the trick? Let’s hear what you have planned and how it might affect your writing.
Note: The photo in today’s blog? I took it outside our room at a friend’s lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming a few years back. Talk about restorative. . .
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Ahh, the still waters and green pastures that restore my soul, when God says, “stop the busyness and lie down for a few minutes.”
Enjoy your Easter break with the family flock, Wendy. Joyfully frolic, peacefully snooze.
Yes. Soul restoration.
Have a wonderful Easter!He is risen – y’all can’t keep a God-Man down. (Sorry. Couldn’t resist.)
My ‘breaks’ have consisted of switching to a different form of work, and rest comes with exhaustion.
There’s a simple reason – I have pretty severe PTSD, and downtime is one of the worst things I can allow myself.
If I stay focused, I’m happy. If I detune for awhile, the focus automatically gets sharpened by memories of past experience, in ways that are deleterious for life as it is now.
It’s uncomfortable and tiring, but certainly no tragedy, and switching to another activity allowed me to step away from writing and gain a fresh and perhaps dynamic perspective on the story at hand.
There may be something in that – that a ‘kinetic’ break (bungee jumping versus taking a nap) offers different insights on returning to one’s WIP, and I’d love to hear about others’ experiences in this regard.
Any thoughts?
I don’t have experience with PTSD, but I can relate with the kinetic break concept. (I like the ‘bungee-jumping’ metaphor!) I’ve found that working on something else for a while gives me a mental reboot as well.
I loved your fitting pun, Andrew. 🙂
And I’m wondering how the airplane is coming!!
Slowly, but thanks for asking…I’ve been writing! 🙂
Please do NOT go bungee jumping. Of course, that is the equivalent of Charlie Brown’s mother “Wah wah wah WAH, wha wah…”
Take Bella for a walk. That’s a ice break, right? Or, go to Pete’s and get me the chicken recipe. 😀
I wouldn’t go bungee jumping. Rather go dirt-track racing, but a crash would probably kill me, and that would be irresponsible.
Walking Bella, yeah.
And I’m guessing for you, routine is soothing. It reminds me of Brother Lawrence (Practice the Presence of God) who found that he never took spiritual breaks. He said, “Men invent means and methods of coming at God’s love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God’s presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?”
Brother Lawrence spent his life in the kitchen when he was not mending sandals of his fellow brothers in the monastery. He found his restoration in the “little” tasks.
Wendy,
“routine is soothing”
I don’t have PTSD, but the above is totally true for me. Breaking my routine is one of the more stressful things I have to do now and then. Taking a break, pausing to celebrate, going on vacation, leaving the work for any reason, has as many minuses as pluses. I take a break by scaling back a bit, or limiting myself to the easiest tasks (reading finished chapters aloud, for instance), but not actually stopping.
Very true, Wendy. The balm of routine tasks is a great comfort.
What restores me? In smaller instances of overload, taking long walks or curling up with a book can work wonders. Sometimes, heading for the park with my toddler helps–just getting out of the house and getting some fresh air.
There have been times when I’ve stopped writing for days and allowed myself to work on other things. It does seem to help me look at my WIP with a whole new perspective when I get back.
I often feel guilty about taking breaks, but I try to remind myself that my life is about more than writing, and taking breaks is healthy and necessary.
Good reminder, Jennifer. And yes! We need to step away from our writing before we can adequately evaluate it, rewrite and polish.
Jennifer, I echo your comment about getting outside. There’s something about slicing through the neighborhood on my bicycle that gets the creative juices flowing. 🙂
As the mother of middle-grade boys, rest can be tricky. With a husband who travels, time for rest becomes sparse the weeks he’s gone. However, I will say that when my body demands a nap, I usually yield because I can’t concentrate if I don’t. 🙂
Our spring break was the week before last, and I took time off from most of my normal activities, including writing, to spend time with the family. We made some fun memories. Last weekend my hubby and I went away for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary. That was the most restful time we’ve had in awhile. I came back refreshed and ready to dive back into life as I know it.
Sometimes getting out of my normal routine helps restore me. Other times, it’s taking a break and escaping into a good book that refreshes. Trying something adventurous (not ready for bungee jumping yet!) invigorates and adds confidence to the daily routine.
I love that everyone has big breaks– like spring break or a time away with your husband– but also appreciate the small breaks of reading a book or taking a walk.
I hope that you have a wonderful break, Wendy.
Unfortunately, I work in a public school which had its Spring Break at the beginning of March, so I only get the weekend off for Easter. I have to teach the next day. Still, thank God I do get Easter itself off. So I will go to church in the morning and spend the rest of the day with my family. It’s a special day and I’m looking forward to it.
Early Easter blessings!
Thank you. It seems schools choose widely different times for spring breaks. Our school still uses Easter as the calendar determinant. The trouble with early March is the weather isn’t always conducive to enjoying spring. (Says Wendy whose temperature today is forecast to hit 91º)
Ah yes, the warmth is coaxing out all kinds of blooms. 🙂
Usually if I travel, it’s to one of several, set in stone, pre-chosen places. We do not vary the routine.
-somewhere for hockey. Definitely not restful. But it’s meals out and the hotel room gets cleaned. And it’s always cold.
-Bolivia for mission work. NOT restful, restorative, re-inventive or refueling. It’s utterly exhausting and heart-wrenching. And it takes at least 2 weeks to recover from that trip.
-Summer vacation at a cottage with hub’s extended family for 10 days. See above re mission trips. I bring my work.
And then, there was June of 2013. My mom took me on a cruise. To the Mediterranean.
Oh.
My.
WORD.
I’m a hockey mom. I can look at a vehicle and know how many hockey bags it can hold. I live in a house where I’m the only one who puts the toilet seat down. Belching is a competitive sport. When I watch Downton Abbey, I honestly don’t know what all the cutlery is for. Seriously, save your fork for dessert!
But last June? I turned 5 and Mom and I hit the road…ocean…she booked a sunset verandah suite so I could sit on the balcony and watch the sunset? EVERY night? Thanks Mom.
A spotless room, every day.
A room attendant who snuck me extra chocolates for my kids?
Buying jewelry in Italy? And scarves in Ephesus? Using my bad Spanish in Barcelona and having the hotel concierge flirt like it was his job? Actually, I think it was his job. He flirted with my Mom, too.
As the ship meandered through the Med, Mom and I kept saying things to each other like “did you ever think when we lived in the housing project, that we’d have chocolate gelato in an elegant hotel in Rome?” and “did Humphrey Bogart leave a real falcon in Malta?” But the most surreal was going to an art auction where the OPENING bid on the Rembrandt etching was 15,000$
HAHAHA! Mom nearly broke my arm when I fanned myself with my auction number.
You see, Mom was ditched at 22, with 2 kids and 1 on the way. She was a kid herself, and everyone thought her life was OVER. Most people treated her like a pariah. But, she stayed faithful, and God intervened and sent Mom her own personal Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome.
And last year, we lived the high life for 2 crazy, fun, adventurous weeks. And each day, we did the 4 R’s, and a whole lot of Thankful.
That trip restored what the locusts had eaten, Mom and I talked about things we’d never, ever dared to discuss. It restored our relationship in ways we hadn’t imagined. It refueled our desire to spend time together. And it re-invented both our creative juices.
It wasn’t the cruise that did it, it was the 2 weeks alone with each other, free of all our other roles. We decided that we were going to travel somewhere again, soon. Not on that scale, because it was insanely expensive. But somewhere, just the two of us. We’d like to see Rome, and not just in one day.
I cannot help but think that in all those ten years when Mom carried the burden of providing for us, that God didn’t whisper to her to dream big. That He didn’t nudge her with words of encouragement, that one day, she’d be safe and loved, and well taken care of, that she could REST.
Because seeing her come alive? Made me bloom too.
Okay, that’s just beautiful! And I just wrote a mission article on a couple in Malta! I had so forgotten that was where Paul was shipwrecked!
Aw, thank you!!
Malta is beautiful, but very hot and dry. Did mention HOT?
Oh, Jennifer. How blessed you were by this two weeks.
I am so glad I was able to travel with my mother to Indiana to stay near the Limberlost, the setting for some of our favorite books. We stayed in an Amish B & B and were feted by the people at Limberlost since I was there to do a special fund raising event. Never to be forgotten.
Limberlost?? Oh how COOL!!! And what a lovely time together.
That’s incredible, Jennifer! Cruise vacations spoil you for every other kind of life. There’s nothing like it. I’m glad you got to share this with your mom. 😀
Yes, they do. For. Ever.
Me too, it was awesome.
What a great little story.
thank you!
How wonderful!! Priceless, actually, Jennifer. I love it when God shows off, don’t you??!!
Yes, it’s almost like He said “And today, we have the Aegean, where I picked my favourite colour of blue!”
Mmm… When I think ‘reviving’, I think ‘the Florida Keys’. For the past two years, my family and I have vacationed there, spending a week swimming with dolphins. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out this year, but even the memory of that bright sun and endless turquoise water refreshes me.
Sounds wonderful. Next year?
We’re planning on going next year. But… Its All in God’s hands. If he wants us to go, we’ll go.
In the process of driving south on the Overseas Highway, worries fritter away to be absorbed in the coral rock edging the islands. Sigh. I love it there too Crystal.
I know. Its like the whole world is right when you’re surrounded by Caribbean water.
March Madness was spring break for me. I had no idea I would be down in my health all of March, and I’m still trying to pull myself above water. Antibiotics are wonderful, but I discovered a high, long, double dose to wipe out one infection can invariably create other issues. Ugh. But, it’s all good. God has taught me much through this time. And as soon as I feel I can leave this house to eat out … I’m going to Saltgrass, even if I can only eat a quarter of the plate! My husband and kids have really stepped up … as he was doing dishes a few nights ago, he said, “Boy, this just never stops, does it?” I laughed and said, “That’s why I love Disney World once a year!” No cooking … no cleaning!
But my mental breaks come while pouring out my heart to God during soaking baths or lying down on my swing out on our 5 acre treed property (surrounded by two sheep … only on the swing, not in the bath!! Hee hee!).
And I’ve used this time of sickness to edit my WIP … a few pages a day.
Sometimes, we don’t choose to rest; we are forced to rest!
And that’s motherhood, isn’t it? Sometimes it takes ill health to cut our brake lines and grind us to a halt!
Can I come play in your yard?
Jennifer, you can come play anytime! Since I’ve moved back toward my home town, I’m tickled at the people, I knew as a child, who want to come out to see our property and spend time with me! They come out with intentions to walk our trail! I love it! Anytime you come to Texas … 🙂
So true, Shelli. Some of my deepest growth times have come out of seasons of illness– dark nights of the soul. Wouldn’t trade them for anything.
Songs in the night, Wendy!
With everything that has been going on both personally and professionally, I decided that long overdue overseas vacation is what I need. It has been 10 years since I have been out of the courntry. I will be going this Summer to France. I will be in Chartres for a class for pleasure (maybe I can incorporate what I am learning into my book) that is about a week long and the rest of my time will be in Paris. Hopefully I will get all of the four “R’s” you blogged about. Already have a book picked out for the plane ride over (A Fall of Marigolds” by Susan Meissner). I will proably need another for the return trip. Any suggestons?
I have Susan Meissner’s book in my to-be-read pile, Lori. Now I need a long overseas plane ride to read it. 🙂 Sounds like a marvelous trip. Have a wonderful time!
Oh Lori! How exciting.
Not a “meaningful” read but I’m a murder mystery buff and I just read the newest Rhys Bowen mystery (Molly Murphy) which takes place in Paris. Title: City of Darkness and Light. I don’t know if it would be a good read as a standalone– if you hadn’t been reading in the series–but it wanders all over the art world of Paris.
Thank you, Wendy, for the permission to read. There are few things in this world I love as much as reading, and it is an integral part of being a writer. Yet, whenever I sit down with a book, I hear my mother’s voice. “Get up and do something productive.” She never did understand how much I learned from my books. My youthful (and ongoing) rebellion was reading, a rebellion I’ve passed to my children.
We take our Spring Break when my college professor husband does, so it was earlier in March. But I think I need another one…to read.
Meghan, when my girls were tiny, our church librarian encouraged us to read books to them with big words … Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit, etc. She used big English words. Even today, the girls read so much. I get tickled when they use big words … I know they didn’t learn them from me. They learned from reading.
That is precious that your youthful rebellion was reading. What a blessing!
Don’t you think we ought to all belong to a reading retreat club? Forget a one, night, once a month meeting. I want to find a book club that takes a retreat house for several days of marathon reading. Right?
I’m in!
I definitely relate to the thread of conversation here. For me, I have to remember that not all rest is rejuvenating. I need to prioritize and rest the way that gives me strength back, and as an introvert, that usually means being alone, and sometimes writing. Reading, for sure. I just started a book on Lewis and Clark and I’m looking forward to reading something different than my usual theology or fiction.
Interesting that you pointed out the difference between how an introvert finds restoration. I tend to see things through the eyes of the introvert. I forget that an extrovert gets energized by parties and people and ideas and swirling activity. My kind of break would be pure punishment for an extrovert .
If I don’t take intentional breaks, I will keep going until I get sick and my body demands one. I’m an introvert, so I definitely need alone time, but I usually spend those times writing. I need some reading breaks for sure! Thanks for the reminder. I hope your Easter break is blessed and peace-filled 🙂
Thanks, Angela.
Truth be told, before I can even think about Easter I have a week at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. Janet Grant and I are team teaching a major morning track on how to get published. That and taking appointments. By the time I get home next Tuesday I’ll be ready for a break but I’ll have three days to maniacally accomplish everything that piled up when I was at Mount Hermon. Gear up time!
Wendy, I’ll be at Mount Hermon where I won’t have time to read and will get worn out. But, unlike you, I won’t be doing any teaching, etc, so I expect to come home refueled and enthusiastic. See you there. 🙂
Wendy and Janet Ann Collins, I will be there too. I wish I was writing a nonfiction book so I could take your morning track!
I agree with Angela. Wish I wrote NF so I could hang out with you and Janet more this coming weekend. You can be sure I’ll plop myself in chair at your dining table though. 😉
It will be great to meet Angela and Janet Ann there.
I can’t wait to see y’all!
Me, too.
The photo in you blog gave me an internal “ahhh.” If I can’t actually be there, I had a wonderful time imagining being there. Thanks. Cris
It was so beautiful. I may never recapture the sight and fragrance of that moment again. I’m glad I have the photo.
I am terrible at this. But over the last year, God has really emphasized how much I need breaks by basically allowing me to work to the point I crave them. I almost never imagined that could happen 🙂
Getting a good break when you at the place you are, Cara– a professional and writer and mom to little children– well, it’s nearly impossible. I can’t believe you do all you do. A little break where everyone is in bed must feel like heaven to you. (And I’ll bet you wouldn’t trade this time in life for anything else, right?)
You’re absolutely right, Wendy. I love this time even when I’m exhausted.
As a technical writer, now turned to fiction, I used the following mantra for years:
“For a writer to write… a writer must read”, however, deadline allowing, and having read, “…a writer must sleep, rest, go walking, talking (to self) solving problems,savour Nature… then return to writing – and the energy flows!”
Amen, Jack. Amen!
Amen, Wendy. I am all for taking a break. The weeks leading up to Spring break are filled with so many projects for all of us that we do our best to rest and relax for the week.
I often spend that time catching up on reading. We also don’t schedule any appointments in the mornings, so we don’t have a reason to set the alarm. Sleeping in until 8 a.m. is a blessing for us night owls.
Have a blessed Easter.
The scary thing about spring break for active young families is that it heralds the mad dash till the end of school and summer break. I used to look forward to the summer and dread it all at the same time.
When I feel like my head is hitting a brick wall, I know it’s time for me to step away because sitting there banging my head doesn’t help. But giving things time to sit in my brain while I do something else always makes me feel better when I sit down again to face the wall.
And finding those break-like rituals can be the perfect self-soothing we need. For me, it’s often an afternoon tea break or a Starbucks run. It breaks up the intensity of the day.
Yesterday was a restorative day for me. I drove to the coast, read a great historical novel while sipping a latte, and then biked a serpentine path above the beach. Introverted bliss.
No doubt, the marketing morning track at Mount Hermon will challenge me to make over some of the ways I’ve been doing things. If I’m honest, I’m excited, but also a bit trepidatious.
http://jennibrummett.com/2014/04/07/unique-like-everyone-else/
Your day yesterday sounds wonderful, Jenni!
When I first began my business, the idea of taking a break sounded ludicrous. I had the energy, the ideas, the passion to keep going day after day. Year after year. After seven years passed (in the proverbial blink of an eye), my husband noted how long it had been since we’d had a vacation. There had been times away from the office, but not away from my computer or cell phone. I pooh-poohed the idea that a break was necessary. Then I was in a serious car accident. Nine months of rehab later I finally entered my home office able to function again. What a difference! I am a workaholic, something that makes my business succeed. But it isn’t my business that has relationships; its me. The truth that my business is successful, doesn’t mean I am. Nine months without being able to work showed me again the importance of relationship, not just a bottom line or progress toward a goal. What do I do now? 1 day a week, I cannot step into the office, nor open my laptop. 1 weekend a month is devoted to non-business tasks. One 4-day weekend per quarter is spent on an adventure with my husband. And vacations are planned for my “off” season in October. It was hard at first not to at least be thinking about work during these scheduled breaks, but what a blessing they’ve been! When I am tempted to compromise the break because of too much work, I am reminded of the car accident (the scars are visible) and refuel, refresh, and reinvent with joy.
Yes, a ramp is a perfect analogy. I’m heading into the last 1/4 of my book and I’m definitely ramped up to finish! It’s that crazy exciting time when you know exactly where the book is going, and you can’t write fast enough to finish it. I’m looking forward to some resting after I type The End in about a week!
I keep getting distracted by the “ramp” comments. In these parts if you mention ramps in April you’re generally talking about the garlic/onion plant everyone’s rarin’ to eat with some soup beans and cornbread. Oh right–an inclined plane. Got it!
You Deserve a Break Today
Okay. I’ll have a boys kids meal w/chicken stars and an apple juice please.
Spring Break in our house means 3 little boys at home. It is loud and rowdy and wonderful and puts me back into my “write at 4:00am” schedule. Less writing gets done, but I read more and go outside more and have more Nerf sword fights and see more frogs. Breaks are good.