Aubergine

The things I say (blogathon theme day)

The 2012 Blogathon theme day today is Wordle.  Here is the Wordle for this blog.  I'm surprised at the relative size of words like "really" and "get."  A good reminder to do more pre-publish editing to tighten up my writing!

Critic, be gone!

 

Photo by @MSG via Creative Commons

Do you have a voice in your head that tells you that your work isn't good enough? That your time is better spent doing something actually productive? That you'll never earn a living doing this (writing/blogging/painting/etc.) and you might as well quit right now before you make a fool of yourself?

Yeah, I have that voice, too. The dreaded Inner Critic. Sometimes that voice can sound like a whole chorus of inner critics, all of whom know my weakest points and tenderest buttons.

When I look back on my life I see that I have wasted a lot of time letting that voice talk me into not doing things I really wanted to do.  I believed I wasn't good enough, or skilled enough, or creative enough.  I let myself believe a lot of excuses about not having enough time.

But these days, I don't have time for the voice.  I want to write.  I want to paint and cook and make things.  And also I want to be an awesome parent.  In order to make room for all of that I have to spend more time doing and less time waffling around, feeling bad because of the voice. 

Here are some of the things I do to help deal with my inner critic so I can get back to making.  I think they will help you, too.

Awknowledge It

As much as I want to hate my inner critic, I realize that voice comes from a valid part of myself.  One that is afraid both of failing and succeeding.  One that has strong opinions about what is "good" and what is not. One that can help me create high quality work, when the time is right.

But not when I'm writing a first draft.  When my voice is speaking up when I'm right at the beginning of a project, I channel my inner mama and talk to it like it is a toddler: "I hear you.  I hear that you have something to say.  But right now I have something I'm trying to write.  Will you go play over there for 30 minutes?  I will give you all of my attention as soon as I'm done with this." 

Make sure you do invite it back when you get into revision mode, because that's when that voice can really be valuable.

(I don't make my toddler play for 30 minutes without me.  My inner voice has a much longer attention span than my toddler does)

 

Drown It 

Sometimes the voice will heed my request to go play, but sometimes it is whiny and clingy. When that happens, I turn up the music, go to a coffee shop, change my scenery, or just set a timer and start writing.  Write really fast.  Don't go back to fix grammar or mis-spelled words.  

You can write faster than your ciritic can niggle and eventually you will leave the voice behind.

 

Listen 

When you have asked for a break and tried to outwrite it, but the voice is still there, give it a minute and check in with what it is saying.  

I was recently working on a draft of an article and my critical voice was just haranguing me.  "This is stupid," it was saying.  "This doesn't even make sense. Who would want to read this?"

My inner critic isn't very nice to me. 

A couple of days later my critique group suggested some major restructuring to my article draft.  And with fresh eyes, I could see that they were totally right.  My draft didn't make a lot of sense the way I had structured it, but by moving the pieces around it would flow so much better.

Which my inner voice had been trying to tell me all along. Sometimes it pays to take a minute to see if that voice is telling you something you can learn from.

Turn Toward (what am I most afraid of?)

Sometimes my inner critic is trying to tell me something bigger than editing tips.  Sometimes my voice is speaking up because I'm pushing my own boundaries, or because I'm delving into a subject that brings back bad memories or opens an old wound. This feels different than the standard inner voice.

When this happens, I stop.  I listen.  I soothe.  If my voice is my inner toddler, I take a moment to wrap her up in my arms and tell her I love her and that she is safe.  I pay attention to the fear, the hurt, and the sadness.

But then I go back to being an adult and I make a decision about whether I should continue or not.  Some wounds need air to heal.  Some boundaries need to be broken so I can grow.  My inner voice can tell me when I've reached a tender spot, but my grown-up self needs to decide whether it is safe to proceed or not.

 

Step Away From the Keyboard

If none of the techniques I've described above works, I do something drastic. I walk away for a while.  Do something else and set it aside.  Sometimes I just need a short break to clean up the kitchen or to water the garden.  Sometimes that's enough to shake loose the thing I'm stuck about so I can get perspective on it.  

Sometimes it helps to do something physical - go for a walk or go to the gym.  Don't even think about the project you are stuggling with or your bad feelings about it.  Just set it aside.  Try again tomorrow. Or the day after that.

This doesn't work if you have a deadline, of course, but sometimes your critic is acting up because your creative well is dry and you need to refill it.  Pamper yourself a bit and rest.  Return when your ideas start popping again and I'm willing to bet that critic will be quiet for a while.

What techniques do you use to manage your inner critic? 

Blogging tips from an old dog

Photo by Jerry Bunkers via Creative Commons

I've been blogging for almost 10 years.  A lot has changed in the world of blogging since I started, and honestly a lot of it has just passed me by while I wasn't paying attention.  I'm terrible with SEO, I don't even try to monetize, I insist on writing a horribly unfocused personal blog (the experts say that's a total waste of time), and I'm honestly very half-assed about using social media or building networks.

But still, I've been at this a long time, and I've learned a few things.  If you are willing to take some tips from an old dog who insists on doing everything the hard way, I'll tell you what I've gleaned from the experience.

 

Quality over Quantity

I realize this is an odd thing to say when I'm in the middle of a post-every-day challenge, but bear with me.

I know that in order to fill my calendar for 31 days straight, I'm posting some light-weight stuff.  I can see which kinds of posts are getting more comments and higher page views, and it is safe to say it isn't the light-weight stuff.

In a way, that's really reassuring.  I've been putting my energy into the right places in terms of content. I don't need the filler (except when I'm participating in a blogathon!).

If you write well, you do not need to post every single day. Focus your attention on writing good, quality content and your readers will respond.

 

Respond to Your Audience, but Don't Be a Pushover

It has been interesting to watch page view stats and comments this month to see what pieces get attention and which do not.

My readers like essays about my life and my experiences. My readers think the list of links that I used to do on Tuesdays were totally boring. This helps me know what kinds of posts my audience will respond to best when I go back to a more sane posting schedule.

But a few years ago, I could have drawn a different conclusion from examining my stats. Most of my essays drew no comments but all my photo posts were popular.  I kept publishng essays because that's what I like best to write.  

Either my audience has changed, or I've become a better writer (or both), but if I had stopped writing essays back then my blog would have suffered and I probably would have lost interest in blogging and quit.

So write about what excites you, and write in the way that you love to write.  The right people will eventually find you.  Which leads me to...

 

Be Yourself

The longer I write - not just on my blog, but write in general - the  more confident I am in my voice.  The more confident I am, the stronger my writing is.  And the more I am myself, in my voice and in the stories I tell, the more positive feedback I get from my readers. 

The lesson?  Be yourself.  Readers visit your blog becasue they want to hear what you have to say.  You.  Not somebody else filtered through you.

 

Break the Rules

You can find the "rules" of blogging on ProBlogger and on any number of blogs with "Blog Tips" in their name.  Do a search on Google for "how to blog" and you will get hundreds of hits.  How to get more readers.  How to build a post.  How to write a title that will draw readers like flies.  How to go viral. Put outbound links in your posts. Don't put too many outbound links in your posts.

I've learned a lot by reading what other people do with their blogs, but I do what feels authentic and true for me and my blog.  So I blatently ignore a lot of the "rules" of good blogging.  

I'm not an A-list blogger and I have a smallish (but growing!) community of readers.  And that's OK with me.

Know why you are blogging and what your goals are.  If your goals are not served by following the rules, you have my permission to ignore them.

 

Except When it Makes Sense to Follow Them

And here I will contradict myself again.  My natural way of writing is long sentences in long paragraphs. Which doesn't work well on the web.

I am stubborn and was committed to being myself (see above), so I persisted for a long time.  

But then, as an experiment, I tried following the highly-recommended convention of paragraphs no more than 2-3 sentences long.  And I got more comments. Because people could actually read what I was saying without getting lost in a long block of text.

Know why you are blogging and what your goals are.  If your goals are served by following the rules, apply them.

 

Sleep on it, And Then Edit Again

A couple of times I have written something I think is achingly beautiful just the way it comes out of my fingers.  I loved it so much that I posted it immediately. 

And then nobody responded to it.

When I went back to read the piece again I realized it was full of grammatical errors, long, clunky sentences, and bad metaphors.  As first drafts usually are.

Don't post first drafts.  Walk away. Come back later and edit with fresh eyes.  Cut out a third and it will almost always be a better piece.

Appreciate Your Readers

There are millions of blogs out there. You could be reading any of them.  Instead you are here, reading me.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I try to respond to every single comment, though sometimes it takes me a while.  Know that I read them all and love you for leaving them.

Wherever you write, make sure to acknowledge your readers for giving you the gift of their time and attention.

 

Don't Just Live in Your Blog, See The World

This lesson is two-fold.  

First, in order to have interesting things to blog about, you have to live.  Do not let your blog take over your life.

Get away from the keyboard and live your life.  

Second, the best part about blogging is the community of people who can grow up around a blog and between bloggers.  But you have to interact - respond to your readers and comment on other blogs -  to facilitate that community.  

I admit that this is a hard one for me because my time a the keyboard is so limited.  But trust me when I say that it is worth it to get out of your editing window and see what other poeple are writing about.  

Find a new blog this week.  If you love the writing, leave a comment.  You will make that writer's day, and you might gain a new reader to boot.

 

What have you learned from blogging, whether you are new to it or have been doing it forever?

My 10 Favorite Writing Books

Image by Brenda Clarke via Creative Commons

I've been reading about writing a lot latey.  Some writers joke that this is their favorite procrastination technique and I can't say I'm always entirely innocent of that.  

But also I am the kind of learner who reads everything I can get my hands on when I want to know about something. I want to know about writing.  

I've found a lot of great books, and a few ho hum ones.  The most useful ones are the ones that give me a little information and then encourage me to go write.  Because that's the best way to be a better writer - just write.  A lot.

Here are my 10 favorite writing books I've found so far.  I hope there are some that you will enjoy, too!

Naked, Drunk and Writing, by Adair Lara

One of my writing teachers, Laura Davis, recommended this book to me recently.  She said she assigned it to her From Memory to Memoir workshop students. Lara writes about the importance of building a writing practice (and you already know how I feel about that), how to face down fear and "apply butt to chair," and also offers a lot of tips on craft (ie, not just writing, but writing well).  Throughout, she is friendly, warm and funny.  If you want to write personal essays, memoir, or a deep and compelling blog, read this book.

Anything by Natalie Goldberg

I can't pick just one book by this author, because she has written so much and so much of it is amazing.  Check out Writing Down The Bones for building your skill as a writer,  Wild Mind for finding time and your voice, and Old Friend From Far Away for writing memoir and personal stories. Throughout her books, Goldberg advocates cultivation of a writing practice - writing by hand from a evocative prompt for a timed period.  I have been using this method off and on for a while and I know it to be the very best way to get to the root of a scene, a memory, or an emotion.  It takes bravery and commitment, but is absolutely worth the effort.

Take Ten For Writers: 1,000 writing exercises to build momentum in just 10 minutes a day, by Bonnie Neubauer

As I've said, I believe in having a writing practice.  And I've listed books above that advocate it also.  If you are searching for what to write about, this book will keep you going for a long, long time.  There are 100 exercises, and each of them pairs a variable (you pick 1-10 and then flip the page to find out which one to use) with a set-up or a basic scenario. Most of the promts would work equally well for fiction or non fiction. The idea is to be quick - just write for 10 minutes.  Get your brain going and your creative juices flowing!

Elements of Style, by William Strunk and E. B. White

If you want to write better, read this book.  It is a classic for good reason. It is also kind of funny. 

Writing Motherhood, by Lisa Garrigues

I have a few books in the category of writing instruction specifically for mothers, but this is the one I come back to most often. Like Goldberg, Garrigues encourages writers to keep a longhand notebook and to to freewrite daily if possible. Her book is ful of evocative prompts and starters, examples by other writers who are mothers, and is organized into 

Crafting the Personal Essay, Dinty W. Moore

Moore teaches writing at the Universiy of Ohio, and his book is closer to a textbook than other books in this list.  And like a textbook, chockablock full of information. But unlike most textbooks I've read it is not at all dry.  I found myself wishing I could sit in his classes and soak up his lectures live.  I also found myself putting down the book every couple of pages to jot down notes to myself about ideas for pieces to write.  And that, really, is the best recommendation for a writing book right there.  

Full-Time Income in Part-Time Hours: 22 Secrets to Writing Success in Under 40 Hours a Week, by Gretchen Roberts

This ebook was by someone who manages to publish articles on food, wine, home and gardens for top national magazines and do marketing development and copywriting for companies like Lowe's and Costco - all while only working 20 hours a week and raising three young kids. I think there are a few things she can teach us!  It is short (67 pages) and a quick read.  The author focuses on management - of your time, your money, and your clients - as the method to get more done, more efficiently, and make more money doing it.  

The Renegade Writer, by Linda Formichelli

The idea behind this book is that you should question the "rules" of marketing, writing, and interacting with publishers.  The format of the book is a list of the presumed rules (like "you should always send an SASE") and then discusses why you should break the rule and when you should follow it.  What I like about the book, beyond the useful tips, is that it advocates freelancers to take responsibility for their business.  Stop following the rules, question the status quo, and figure out what works best for you, with your clients and your business.  Good advice, no matter what business you are in.

The Well-Fed Writer, by Peter Bowerman

This book is based on the premise that the basis of a thriving freelance business is not writing articles for magazines but instead writing copy for businesses.  My experience so far tells me this premise is exactly right.  Althought the author comes from a background in marketing and sales, he breaks down the process of marketing and selling yourself to write marketing and sales copy (among other things) to a level that even me, with my liberal arts, decidedly not marketing-savvy background, can manage.  If you want to make real money as a freelance, or even just build a stable base of steady clients to allow you to do the writing you are passionate about, you need this book.  The author also offers supporting tools and coaching packages via his web page.

Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success, by Kelly James-Enger

One of my frustrations with other "How-To Freelance" books I've seen is that I come away from them feeling like I have to be anexperienced freelancer to get work as a freelancer. Sample queries all list years of publishing experience over hundrends of publications, and sections on networking seem to assume you already have a network of editors at your fingertips. I'm not an editor leaving a print publication and striking out on my own - I'm starting from scratch.  

This book addresses that.  I have to be honest here - I've only read the first chapter so far, but that's enough to put this book in my top 10 list.  I have already implemented several of the suggestions from that chapter and I'm eager to start on the next batch.  I'm sure that if I implement only half of the actions suggested by James-Enger, I will be seeing a rapid growth in my business.  Even if you aren't a rank beginner like me, there are good tips in here for presenting yourself professionally, time management, and organization that will hep you push your business to the next level.  

What books are you reading about writing?  I'd love to hear your reccomendations!

Growing Good Eaters: a guest post on Green Child Magazine's Blog

I'm very excited to have an article on the Green Child Magazine's blog today.  It is about growing a vegetable garden with your kids and I'm really proud of it.  

While you are there, check out the rest of the magazine's offerings.  It is a great publication. 

And then come on back and tell me about how you garden with your kids.  Do you grow veggies? Flowers? How old were your children when they started helping in the garden?

Where I write about building a writing habit

I have a guest post up on Heather Craik's blog about how important it is to build a writing habit.  I hope you will visit there and let me know what you think of the article.

 

The Writing Habit, by Doña Bumgarner

Guest Post: Writer's Block - The Cause and The Cure

I am delighted to share with you a guest post written by Heather Craik, a fellow participant in the Wordcount Blogathon 2012. She has some suggestions for dealing with something anyone who writes has encountered - writer's block. 

--------------------------

I’m not a unique little snowflake in a blizzard.  I run a business with many facets, I write, I even have the obligatory half finished novel sitting in notebooks and on my hard drive. Like every other creative writer in existence - I get writers block.

Photo by Ravages, via Creative Commons.

Writing’s Most Famous Problem 

Since we all get it I don’t want to belabour the issue - we’ve all felt the blood pooling and dripping from our foreheads as we stare at a blank page. I’m sure you have experienced that gnawing in the pit of your stomach when you think about deadlines, the need to ‘escape’ and not do that writing thing - even if all you’re doing instead is organizing your files or cleaning the cupboards.

Some people say it’s not real, and it’s all in our heads. Some of those people have even done studies backing up those points, and still others are writers that have somehow conquered that particular dragon. They’re probably right.

My view is that even if it’s a construct we make up in our own minds it’s real to us, and as such we need a way of dealing with it.

After all - and I won’t belabour this either - we’ve all felt the holy grail of writing. Flow. The euphoria of picking up your pen and knowing that you can’t get the words out fast enough. And it doesn’t matter because it's all so... clear. 

More of that? Bliss.

 

What Causes Writer’s Block?

Assume for the moment that each block is caused by stress.

Stress at not knowing what to write next, or not feeling what you have is good enough. Deadlines creeping up and not having enough time. Characters doing the opposite of what you want them to do and mocking you all the way. Pressure, from yourself or from others or both.

The act of writing itself isn’t particularly hard. Wait, don’t throw the rotten fruit yet, hear out the theory!

The reason it isn’t hard is that when we know what we want to write, we’ve been doing it for years (you know that’s true), and we know the story better than we know what we’ll be doing with our own lives later it’s a simple matter of communicating all that to the outside world. Sure, you have style and all those other considerations too, but in its elemental form you’re telling a story using words and you already have the story.

And boy, do we care about our stories.

We care about them so much that we worry other people won’t ‘get’ it if we don’t tell it right. And attach a bunch of other baggage to the act of telling.

 

What if we removed the baggage?

Willing to bet it’d be much easier, and certainly preliminary results (entirely anecdotal) support this.

Here’s how I do it when I’m struggling;

1. Grab a piece of scrap paper and write down everything that’s stressing me out. The whole lot, related to writing or not.
2. Make a single action for each ‘stressor’ that can be resolved and isn’t just emotional. Something that would take the edge off and remove it from the equation (thus removing the emotional energy I expend on it).
3. For each action that I can deal with in under 15 minutes I just do it. If I’m having a really bad day and I’ve not done the exercise in a while it’ll take an hour or so.
4. The remaining stressor tasks get put into my calendar to be dealt with later and removed from active memory.
5. THEN I look at the direct writing stress, ask a bunch of whys, and fix the problem so I can continue.

Problems in that last step are usually to do with confidence (a dancing montage usually helps with this. I kid you not), deadlines (complete the most important, easy bit so it ‘feels’ more done), or not knowing where to go next (this is almost always solved by a death, an attack, or some form of prophecy).

Over time you’ll figure out the best actions for each of your writing stress sources - I don’t for a second believe everyone is with me on the dance montage thing - the important part is to figure out what the source is. Once you have that done the battle is 90% won and you have the option of deciding whether its worth your time.

 

Next Steps - Your Challenge

In the spirit of fixing things right now - take a look at your current blocked project (you know you have one). What is the cause?

Figure that out, batter it out into a comment, and then see if you can ‘solve’ it and get started again. I’ll be around to help with that step too. Let’s get this thing done!

-------------------------

Heather is the founder of Writer, Compose Yourself! and has been flirting with the idea of blogging for years now. She’s half way through her first novel, setting up a writing resource (for the good of all), and has fingers in many cakes.

 

Book Review: You Are A Writer (So Start Acting Like One!) by Jeff Goins

When I was at Blissdom a couple of months ago I had to choose between seeing Jeff Goins speak about falling back in love with writing and a session with Tyler Merrick about working with intention.  I chose Merrick and it was a great session.  But a couple of friends who attended the Goins talk told me it was the best session of the weekend. So I was really glad to hear he had a ebook coming out, and really delighted that he sent me a copy to read and review.  And you know? It is one of the best books on writing I've read in a while.  And I've been reading about writing a lot lately.

In You Are a Writer, Goins doesn't cover craft. He doesn't suggest what topics will sell best. He doesn't roll out his long writing career and long list of editor relationships as credentials.  He writes about how his path as a writer has been hard at times, how he has had some success, but also been frustrated and burnt out.  And then he describes how he found his way out from there and how.  He writes about how the writing and publishing paradigm can - and should - be different, and how straightforward it is to shift it. At the root of it, he offers simple advice:

1. Write. A lot.

2. Write for yourself.

3. Fall (back) in love with writing.

4. Put your work out into the world consistently.

This book is a reminder to stop writing what we think others want us to say how we think they want us to say it. Instead, he recommends we find our individual voice, build a platform, and make connections with people who will help get our work in front of more people. When he did these things, he says, readers (and publishers) came to him. He believes his methods will work for others. And I have just enough experience at this game to believe he is right. 

Of course I am over-simplifying because I want you to read the book for yourself. Goins' voice is warm and encouraging.  He doesn't make promises of easy success.  He doesn't pretend that the writing life is easy or that you will get rich living it. What he offers, instead, is a encouragement to come back to your passion for writing.  A reminder that we writers write because we have something to say. We have voices and we want to leave a mark. And he suggests ways to keep our passion alive while also building a legacy.  He encourages us to believe in ourselves. To know we are writers no matter how big our audience is.  He encourages us to keep writing.

I've been struggling with the process of querying and submitting, trying to figure out what to write about and who to write for. This book's message lands in my lap at just the right time.  I chose writing as a path because I love to write.  I know I have things to say - stories to tell, experiences to share, things to teach.  But in the effort of chasing a paycheck, I'm already starting to lose confidence in my voice. 

Of course the pay is important.  I don't have a full-time job, like he did, to support me while I build a platform.  But I do have the cornerstone of a platform already in this blog.  I believe I am a good writer and I am committed to improving.  After reading this book it is clear to me that the puzzle piece I'm missing is the connections.  This is where I need to focus my energy.  But at the same time I need to keep writing.  Keep showing up at the page and exercising my voice.  I have been slipping at this habit and I miss writing for the sheer joy of words.

Thank you, Mr. Goins, for reminding me that I am a writer.  I just need to write. And keep writing.

You can find the ebook on his You Are A Writer page (in Kindle, Nook or PDF formats, but sadly not for iBooks).  He is also offering great packages that include worksheets and additional audio content and interviews along with the book. 

 *The links above are not affiliate links and I received no compensation for reviewing the book other than the opportunity to read it.

 

Reading essays

Recently I have been making a study of the essay. 

The form goes by a few names these days: creative nonfiction, personal essay, short first-person nonfiction, memoir.  I visited the library and pulled a few books that would give me a selection, such as The Art of the Personal Essay and In Brief: Short Takes on the Personal. I selected two editions of The Best American Essays, one edited by Adam Gopnik and the other by Mary Oliver.  The Mary Oliver edition, as seems appopriate considering a poet’s ability to whittle, was half the size of every other edition on the shelf.

Sometimes reading this way, critically, to learn craft, is hard on my ego.  "I will never be able to do this," I think. "I can't put words together that well, I have nothing to say, my stories are not interesting, what do I even know about writing?" 

But sometimes I read something that inspires me to shove that whole whiney voice in the closet and get out my fastest pen and my most comfortable notebook.  In the middle of an essay by Harriet Doerr called "Low Tide At Four," in In Brief, about a memory of a summer's day at the beach with her family, I found this gem of a paragraph:

"Mrs. Winfield has survived everything: her husband's death and the death of a child, earthquakes, floods, and fires, surgical operations and dental work, the accidents and occasional arrest of her grandchildren.  All these, as well as intervals of a joy so intense it can no longer be remembered." 

Essays are hard.  Or, more correctly, good essays are hard.  You have to show conflict, change, character, scene.  You have to tell your very personal story in a way that is universal.  The way I love my child has to really be the way you, my reader, love your child.  I’m not very good at it yet.

Mostly I go running at the topic, clearing the phlegm, and write my way through it.  I don’t always know what I’ve learned until I write it.  Or sometimes until after I write it three or four different ways.  I forget to show in my eagerness to tell, and I bang you over the head with my learning. 

I’m still learning to be deft, like I aspire to be.  But they say reading is the best way to write.  And so I am reading.  And reading and reading.

 

In between: The importance of refilling the creative well

I finished a writing assignment on Saturday and submitted it to my editor.  Sunday and Monday are not working days for me, so today was my first day back at the computer.  My work hours are precious - I have only 14 of them each week - so when I have childcare I usually hit the ground running and don't stop until I absoultely have to leave the keyboard.  But today I gave  myself permission to do nothing.  

For the last few days I have been dragging. I have felt emotionally and creatively drained. My courage has been iffy and I have been questioning how I spend my time and energy.  I have a scratchy throat and I long for my cozy bed.  Preferably with no squirmy toddler in it.

Back when I was a project manager of really big projects, I grew to love the in-between-project time.  After you ship and after you celebrate there is this little slip of time in which you can take a great big breath and re-fill.  Re-juice.  In that space, if you give yourself permission, you can find the most wonderful things.  New ideas.  Things you've learned but haven't had time to assimilate yet.  Epiphanies. The energy to design new processes and strategies if you need them.

So today, instead of anything that looked much like work, I caught up on all the articles I had filed away in Safari Reader.  I sat on the couch and sipped a cup of lemon tea while the cats warmed my hip.  I made a turkey and gouda sandwich and ate it sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table while I flipped through my writing notebook.  I organized my list of ideas for essays and got them all in one place.  I started a few new draft posts for this here blog.  I stopped in the middle of what I was doing to grab my camera and photograph a flower on the kitchen windowsill that was catching the afternoon sun just so.  I cleaned off my desk and paid the bills.  I sat in the sun and read a letter (on actual paper!) from a friend who lives half a world away.  I updated both of my computers with all the recent software updates. I cleared out my email inbox.

I didn't have any epiphanies this time.  But I did decide to write this post, and I did remind myself that I have lots of ideas churning. So many! I thought a bit about what kind of writing I want to do next and how I want to build my business. And I reviewed my organizational methods and decided they are working for me still.

Most importantly, though.  I feel better.  My throat is still scratchy, but I'm sitting up straighter. I'm smiling, and I'm excited to start working again.  And I still have 40 minutes until I go pick up the kid.  

Do you do this?  Do you pause between projects?  What do you do to refill your cup right after you have finished something big?