Seriously considering taking a legit break from all my writing. It doesn't have to be half a year or anything, but maybe a month...if I can manage it. ._. Fact is, I've been resisting burn-out for a while now. It hasn't been constant, but it has been frequent enough that it feels like my focus is entirely on the technical bits, and none of the creative aspects. I miss feeling strongly about the world; I miss near-constant conversations with my characters in my head--I miss being annoyed by the holidays pulling me away from my work. Things have become so forced, steeped more in impulse than desire, and while impulse has always been a part of it, the relationship between it and desire used to be a lot more symbiotic.
It was a Tumblr post that got me thinking about this, initially; mainly because what the blogger described of their own experience paralleled my own. I need to stop thinking of myself in terms of those casual writers who maybe write once every three months, and start thinking about how, for nearly five years, I've barely taken a few days off here and there. People in other jobs have taken a crap-ton more vacation time in half that time--so why do I constantly feel like I'm making excuses for something I obviously need?
There's a lot more to this, really, but that'd get pretty lengthy. The long and the short of it is, I need to take a break, consume other things I enjoy (shows, books, games, whatever) without that "you should be writing" guilt. It might feel like a creative death sentence (dramatic, I know--I don't like not working) but I think it'll honestly benefit me and my work in the long run.
Now let's see if I have the wherewithal to pull this off...
