The Trials Of A Crime Writer: A Break Isn't Bad

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: A BREAK ISN'T BAD

I've always been a big proponent for breaks. I've talked about it a whole ton on my AuthorTube channel, and I've talked about it here too. Sometimes everyone needs a break, and it's not a bad thing, it's not a reflection on you as a writer or the like, you're human, you need time to rest. I will admit that while being a big advocate for breaks, I wasn't always good at taking them myself. The thing where you can give the advice, but just don't know how to apply it to your own life.

That said, I have gotten better at it in recent years. I now have at least two days off completely every month, and with the fact that I only work in the wee hours, it allows me to have a lot of downtime during the regular day to catch up with sleep and rest and books. It means that while I will work a lot during the month, I don't do too much, and I make sure that I have time to get my work done and still have a chance to rest.

Some of that is because of being chronically ill and disabled. Some of it is just my sleep schedule is messed up. Some of it is about having that healthy work/life balance, and some of it is just where the chips fall. I didn't ever set out to work in the wee hours, but my body just decided that wake up time was between 1am and 4am, and that's just the way it happens.

But I've also taken a break from drafting. I sat down the year I turned 40 and realised that I would finish my 40th draft in that year. I worked it out and then realised that if I kept going at the speed I was, I would have finished 80 drafts by the time I turned 50, and that terrified me. Like right now I could not draft until 2038 and I would still have books ready to revise and publish. I don't wanna leave stories untold, but I also don't want to get to a point where it would be physically impossible for me to publish the books that I've already spent time and energy on.

So I took a break, and started working on revising and rewriting older drafts that might have needed a little extra time to get into shape, and so far? I'm loving it. I only vaguely remembered the stories, and when I went back to reread them, I was anxious about how bad off they'd be, and while there are plot holes and pieces that needed to be changed and rewritten, they are, mostly, solid stories. It allowed me to get a new perspective on my writing, on the stories I've told and the stories I will tell in the future.

While yes, I have been hit with new story ideas, and yes I do have plans to eventually go back to drafting, I would, first, like to get to the point where I have a few more of my older projects somewhat revised and ready to eventually go to the editor. It would allow me to spend more time on upcoming projects that need input from sensitivity readers and the like and still manage to hit my own deadlines when it comes to them going to the dev editor and the like.

So while I didn't know what lay ahead for me when I made that decision to take a break two years ago, I'm so freaking glad I did. It's allowed me to fall in love again with stories I'd previously told, and also work things out so that the whole process makes things easier for me in the long run. Taking that break, or this break since it's still ongoing, has allowed me to really branch out and see what needs to be done, and doing it, rather than worrying about it instead.

So yes, breaks aren't bad, in whatever form they take!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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