Breaks

I haven’t been present much in the blogosphere recently for a number of reasons. Along with my temperamental internet connection – which is hopefully fixed – I’ve been taking a small break from writing, editing and blogging in general. It won’t last for long. I’ve been better with checking my Google Reader, as earlier in the week I wasn’t keeping up to date at all. For my lack of comments on blogs I’ve missed, I’m sorry.

But I’m not sorry for taking a break. I’ve had a busy week returning back to work, going on a trip to the theatre, lacking sleep, and frankly, I’m exhausted. This weekend I’ll be able to finish editing Part Two and Three of Resisting Wonderland and send the MS to my first test readers. Then I’ll probably take another week or two off.

I need this break. I’ve been working almost continuously on the Resistance series since last summer. With the initial edits over for RW, and the first two drafts written, along with my side project that wasn’t planned until a month before I started working on it, I’ve spent a large amount of time in my MC’s world.

I need to escape. For a short while, I have to set myself apart from Alice’s world. I’m not tired of it at all, nor am I begrudging to work on the final novel - I can’t wait to work on it, as I’ve said many times in my blog. But if last year has taught me anything, it’s that I cannot keep rushing into projects. I already know that this novel may be difficult to write in places because it will be emotional; I already know I’ll have to manage a lot around it, and more sleep will go amiss; I already know I won’t be able to charge through it like I have some of my earlier novels. I’m expecting a lot from this project, and it isn’t something that can be written quickly, despite how much planning I’ve done for it.

Basically, I need time to prepare myself for jumping into my MC’s world. I’m going to be spending a lot of this year working on the series. At the moment I’m resting, not letting myself think too much about it, and simply enjoying the time I've granted myself off. You could say I’m building up my strength.

While writing isn’t something that is amazingly physical, there is a lot which can affect you. Being so immersed in a project isn’t an easy thing to try and balance with reality. The lines begin to blur. I end up spending half my time thinking about a project and another half actually working on it. I’ve come to expect that when I become deeply involved, and this novel will be no different – actually, I expect to be even more so.

Writing, while a great experience, can be draining. Knowing this makes no impact on how eager I am to begin; it only makes me realise that I need extra time to recharge. Neither creativity or endurance are things which are easily found. I may be impatient in some aspects of my personality, but this I cannot afford to be impatient about. My writing will only suffer for it.

I won’t hesitate to say when I’m beginning my next novel. You might even be able to guess in the tone of my blogs whether or not I’ve started, as I’ll constantly want to get back to it and spend all my free time working on it – which I know I can’t do.

Again, thank you to all the bloggers who commented on my No Kiss Blogfest post. It was the first time I had shown anything of my side project, and one of the first times I had ever shared my projects with anybody other than my writing partner. Your comments meant a lot, and I loved reading your feedback. Thank you all for being so kind and genuinely interested in my characters – it makes me incredibly happy to think other people care about them like I do.

On this subject, I'll ask: have you ever taken a break from a project, and if you have, why did you make the decision to do so?