: Re: Should I take breaks, or focus harder? I often have trouble deciding whether (or how often) to take breaks from writing, or to "double down" and try to write, and try to eliminate anything

@Kaufman555

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I have a leather-bound notebook with the words, ‘Quickly become feral’ embossed on it to remind me that that’s what works in progress do, because I’m an advocate of Annie Dillard’s advice:

“A work in progress quickly becomes feral. It reverts to a wild state
overnight. It is barely domesticated, a mustang on which you one day
fastened a halter, but which now you cannot catch. It is a lion you
cage in your study. As the work grows, it gets harder to control; it
is a lion growing in strength. You must visit it every day and
reassert your mastery over it. If you skip a day, you are, quite
rightly, afraid to open the door to its room. You enter its room with
bravura, holding a chair at the thing and shouting, "Simba!”

But, having said that, you do not need to write 2000 words every day, just enough to exert your mastery and exercise that muscle. Then you can go out, experience the world and bring new ideas into your consciousness.

Also, you can do both. Natalie Goldberg advocates writing everywhere: in the cafe, at the bus stop, in the park, on the train. That way, you exercise that writing muscle while bringing in new ideas from the outside world.

It really depends on where you are with your work in progress. If you are outlining and still searching for ideas it’s better to get out there, for a while at least, to take a break from research and writing. But if you’re editing, like me right now, I find it better to shut myself away in my study where I can concentrate on the work.

Do I follow the advice of Annie and Natalie religiously? I try. I believe they’re right. But sometimes the work is so hard, the words and ideas so elusive, that I procrastinate on here instead… it’s easier!!

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