Take a Break — August 31, 2025
Great Egret fishing, Monterey Bay — Aug. 2012 photo
“Sometimes doing nothing makes way for everything.” – Hiral Nagda
Sometimes I’m just tired of my novel. Writing, editing, looking for a publisher, I don’t want to do any of it. One thing I’ve noticed is that getting some distance gives me a new perspective.
For one thing, when I get back to work, I’m not as married to what I’ve already written. It’s easier to move things around and add a scene that I’ve always known needed to be there but resisted because I didn’t want to interrupt the flow I’d worked so hard to attain. I’m also better able to consider what might give my novel more depth and resonance because I can see it as a whole. Think of the egret in the picture above. It’s so focused on finding a fish in the tide pool it’s not going to notice much else outside its narrow range of vision. Yes, of course it will catch a fish – there’s a time for everything, a time to focus and a time to take the longer view.
Empty space and boring afternoons are great for the imagination. Remember when you were a kid? All your schemes probably developed under those conditions. Same for writing a novel. Take a break. The plot and the characters are there in your subconscious. Give your mind the space to work behind the scenes and show you something new.
