Tuesday, January 17, 2012

And sometimes, you just need to step back.

Maybe way, way, way back.

Today was Day Four of the great Book Blurb Writing/Tweaking. I didn't touch it yesterday, because I felt I needed a day to work on other things and not that. Apparently today was too soon to come back to it. I was just given instructions by my friend to not touch it for two whole days. (Which I needed to hear, seriously.) I have plenty of other things to do, so I am going to try to do this so I don't drive myself (and everyone else) insane.

It's not just book blurbs. Sometimes we need to remember there's a balance between pushing ourselves to do something and giving ourselves a break. Sometimes we need a break from writing, or editing, or rewriting, or book blurbing. Have some chocolate, watch a movie, read a book, work on something else. And sometimes,  if we have trouble getting ourselves to do this, we might need someone to tell us to take a break.

If you're in that place where you need to breathe, give yourself permission to rest.

If you're in that place where you're in the flow of the writing and things are clicking and falling into place, YAY! Go get that writing!

If you feel like you're pulling teeth to get anything written, but you know you need to keep on and that it's not time for a break yet, grab something yummy to munch on or to drink and conquer that sucker. You can do it!

No matter where you're at in the writing/plotting/editing/querying/throttling a blurb process, no matter how you're feeling about it, you're still doing it. (And yes, taking a break is still doing something in the writing process--you're recharging your creative juices!) You're writing a book and that is an incredible thing. Seriously, seriously incredible. You're starting from nothing and ending with a world, and characters, and a story you care about. Even on those days when you can only write ten words and you want to bang your head on your keyboard or throttle your characters--you're sticking with it.

Some people might say that makes us crazy, but I prefer to think it makes us awesome.

5 comments:

  1. I completely agree, Laura. I worked for a couple of months on my query, tweaking it and then submitting it for input (and even public humiliation) and then tweaking it some more. Even when I thought it was "there" I waiting and when I looked at it again I realized I still needed to tweak it some more. Your head has to be in the right place.

    Good luck! I'm enjoying the book, btw.

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  2. Oh yes, it totally makes us awesome ;-) It took me a number of tries (over several days) to get my blurb right (and it's likely that I'll still change it again at some point in the future! Oh, the joy of e-publishing!)
    Good luck with the blurb when you get back to it!

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  3. Enjoyed your transperancy on this one. I know just how you feel! I look forward to reading the blurb one day!

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  4. I took a really long break and now I'm back to writing again!

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  5. Hi Laura, I found your blog through the Origins blogfest, and I'm in the exact same blurb position as you. I'm finding new blogs instead of 'blurbing', although I know I'll have to get back to it soon. It's Day 2 for me. Good luck with it.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!