Slavedriver
It’s weird, asking for vacation time when you’re your own boss.
I promised myself a few weeks ago to always write more each week than the week before. Last week I was up to 8046 words. Not horrible, if nothing to be impressed by. This week I was determined to hit 9K, even with Christmas shopping to do and appointments to keep and a house to clean before guests arrived.
I was on schedule until Thursday, when I essentially finished the last section of the current story arc I was working on, and was left unsure of where to start next. Keep working on the same character? Go back to a different one and examine what I’ve already written? Start a new POV?
There are so many threads to a novel, I feel like a juggler trying to keep up with them sometimes. Usually, it means I need to step back and get some perspective.
So I did. I spent most of the day on Thursday looking at the book as a whole. I moved chapters around to give rhythm to the POV shifts, and integrated some ideas more fully into the plot. I cut some plot points that were no longer needed, and added some better ones. I spent hours working, but at the end of the day, I had added a measly 410 words. Less than a third of my already modest daily quota. Not to mention that I had friends coming over for several days, and relatives to visit for the holidays next week, when I would need to produce OVER 9000 words.
I realized then that I was being insane. I was invalidating a day’s work because it didn’t adhere to some arbitrary measurement. More than that, I was about to cast a pall on my own holidays because I refused to let myself have time off.
If I were still working my day job, I would have fully expected the company to close early on Friday, and stay that way until after Christmas. I probably would have taken a few vacation days, too. If my boss suggested otherwise, or tried to deny my vacation, I would have taken it amiss.
And yet, here I was, perfectly willing to do that same thing to myself. Why?
So I’m giving myself a few days off. If I feel the writing bug, I’ll squash it here, on Peephole, and let the book sit and rest a bit. It’s not going anywhere. maybe I’ll keep importing old articles into the archives.
Happy holidays!
good call.
enjoy your time off, and have a great holiday.
I’d like to point out that it’s funny to be commenting on your blog from the computer in your library, where you write your blog entries. That is all.