02 May 2012

IWSG: Rest vs. Work

Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh for hosting the IWSG! It's good to get back on track after taking a break in April - well, not so much break...

April was a whirlwind. The A-Z Blogging Challenge was fun, and I appreciate a discipline like that (especially the form - it gave me a starting point, which is something I don't always have), but I need a breather.

Writing almost every day was something I hadn't done in quite a while. The pressure to post 26 times last month was evidently what I needed to get into a regular grove. However, it's clear that May will include much more rest.

There are a few things I want to accomplish, yet I want to maintain a balance this month - a balance that will continue to challenge me while I seek downtime. It's the same at school; I need to help my students finish strong, but I also want them to enjoy their last few weeks as 7th graders (when I say enjoy I mean read, they hear work or boring).

Balancing rest and work - at least in writing - is many times the difference between writing with ideas and banging my head against the wall. But it's such a fine line, because many times the ideas don't flow unless I've been writing a good deal.

So there it is: do I need more rest so my mind is sharp and ready to write, or do I need to write more so that the writing comes quickly and the ideas follow in the wake?

I know what I need this month - what about you? Do you need to put the pen down in order for your imagination to flow again, or is it the flexing of that imaginative muscle that will bring you ideas and freshness to your writing?

2 comments:

Annalisa Crawford said...

I'd planned to use May to read my WIP, from the beginning, easing myself back into it. I thought that was inspired, but I've yet to pick up said WIP!

Julie Flanders said...

I couldn't agree with you more, I really appreciate the discipline that the Challenge forced me to have, because I am the world's worst procrastinator, but I definitely need to step back a bit in May and take the time to get back to other writing projects. Thanks for coming by my blog, I'm really glad to have found yours and look forward to following. Have a good weekend. :)

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