Friday, June 20, 2008

Rest and the Writer...

Wordplay and Witticisms: "Never be afraid to sit awhile and think."
~ Lorraine Hansberry
American Playwright, A Raisin in the Sun

My current writing soundtrack: Silence is golden...at least right now!



TGIF...and that means it is time for a "Fall Back Fridays" post.

Although this blog is called "No Rest for the Querying", today we are going to flout it and talk about the importance of taking it easy!

How many of us burn the candle at both ends? Yeah, that's what I figured!

In my experience, there are very few writers who just write. Many of us are the primary caregivers for our families or have jobs outside the home. So we sneak our writing in whenever we can grab a spare moment. And for many of us that comes in the early morning or late evening. Translation: we writers are seriously sleep-deprived!

So, today take twenty minutes and rest...

In his book Healthy Aging, Andrew Weil says:

"Napping is just one way of taking care of the body's need for rest. You can also lie in a hammock or just stare into space. The essence of rest is not doing - that is, being passive on both the physical and mental levels."

He goes on to say:

"The body needs rest, both to balance physical activity and to recharge the mind."

I take that to mean that resting, even a quick cat nap is good for my writing!

It's not necessarily easy to turn off our minds, and we'll address that in another post, but for today just find a place to plant yourself and "not do".

See ya' - I'm off to find a hammock!

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